Page 3 of Deputies Under Fire
“They’ll run it through the database to see if they get a hit,” Rory added a moment later.
Good. But Eden knew the limits of the database. The majority of people weren’t even in it unless they’d committed a crime or worked in a job, like as a cop, that required a sample of their DNA to be on file. Still, it was possible they’d be able to get a match so they’d know whom they were looking for.
He slipped his phone back in his pocket, and they resumed the search. Eden got another jolt when a rat skittered across the floor right in front of them. She was silently cursing it when she heard something. A moan, maybe? Or maybe just the wind.
Rory must have heard it, too, because he stopped, and they both turned in the direction of where the sound had come from.
The very last stall.
They moved toward it, quickening their pace but still making cursory glances inside the stalls they passed along the way.
The sound came again. Definitely not the wind, and it caused them to move even faster. When they reached the stall, they aimed their flashlights inside.
At first, Eden didn’t see anything. Not until she directed the light over the far right corner.
Then, she spotted her.
A woman.
Oh, mercy. And she was covered with blood.
“I’ll call for an ambulance,” Rory said, snatching out his phone.
Eden hurried to the woman, and she stooped down so she could check for a pulse. It was weak, but she was alive. She had also obviously lost a lot of blood. It wasn’t just on her face and clothes, but had pooled around her.
The woman lifted her eyelids, barely, moaned again and shivered. “Help me,” she murmured, her voice barely audible.
“We will,” Eden assured her. “Who are you?” she asked.
No response, and her eyelids drifted back down.
Eden studied her, taking in the long blond hair, what she could see of it, anyway. The torn black skirt, red top and heels. The clothing looked expensive.
And those stab wounds looked lethal.
Since adding pressure to the wounds could do more harm than good and potentially cause internal injuries, Eden focused on what little she could do. She yanked off her jacket and draped it over the woman to stave off what had to be a chill from the shock of the blood loss.
Behind her, she heard Rory finishing that 911 call for the ambulance, while she checked for any obstructions in the woman’s airway. There weren’t any. And the blood on her face and hair appeared to have come from a cut on the scalp. Maybe a sign of some kind of blunt-force trauma.
“An ambulance is on the way,” Rory informed her, and he came into the stall, kneeling down beside the woman.
“Who did this to you?” Eden asked her, hoping this time she would get an answer.
But the woman made no sound.
However, Rory did. He groaned, causing Eden to snap back toward him.
“Hell,” Rory muttered. “I know her.”
There was something in his voice, in his stark expression, that had Eden dreading what he would say next.
“She’s Brenda Watford,” he added.
Eden repeated the name a couple of times, but she had to shake her head. It didn’t ring any bells. “How do you know her?”
He swallowed hard. “She’s, uh, my father’s girlfriend. Ex-girlfriend,” Rory amended. “And the last time I saw Brenda, Ike was threatening to kill her.”
Chapter Two
