Page 47 of Deputies Under Fire
Rory ignored her sarcasm, but if she was innocent she shouldn’t have anything to hide. Well, unless she was truly worried that something had been planted. If so, they needed to find whatever that was and try to sort everything out.
“If you don’t agree to a search, I could request a warrant,” Rory told her.
Helen didn’t react. She just seemed to hold her ground, though he figured there was a firestorm of anger boiling inside her.
“Get the warrant,” she growled. “And I truly hope your mother isn’t watching you right now from her grave because she’d be sick at what her son is trying to do to her only sister.”
Rory had a comeback for that. “She’d be even sicker if her sister didn’t cooperate with a murder investigation that could save lives. Maybe even Eden’s and mine.”
Helen opened her mouth to say something, but with her jaw clenched, she was going to have trouble speaking. Maybe that’s why she didn’t add anything else for several long moments.
“Is there something else you want to badger me with, or am I free to leave this witch hunt?” Helen demanded.
Rory glanced at Eden to see if she had any other questions, and when she shook her head, he gave Helen a nod. She didn’t waste a second throwing open the door and heading out.
And nearly ran into Diedre.
The two women seemed to startle each other, and then they both stood there for a couple of seconds as if waiting for the other to speak.
“Your turn in the box,” Helen finally muttered before she walked away.
Part of Rory wanted to go after his aunt because, after all, she was his mother’s sister. But he had no idea what to say to her. He certainly couldn’t assure her that everything would be all right because there was a killer still at large.
And that killer could be Helen.
However, if it turned out not to be her, then he was going to owe her an apology when this was all over. But for now, he had to do his job, and part of that job was turning over every stone to stop a killer from striking again.
“You didn’t say anything to Helen about Frank and me, did you?” Diedre whispered, casting an uneasy glance at Helen from over her shoulder.
Rory was about to answer and let her know that he hadn’t, but he saw Livvy making her way to him, so he and Eden stepped out of the office to see what Livvy wanted.
“Wait in the office,” Rory told Diedre. “We won’t be long.”
Livvy waited until Diedre was out of earshot before she spoke. “The ME just called,” Livvy whispered, “and he used facial recognition to confirm that the body is Carter Rooney.”
Not a surprise since both he and Eden had recognized him, but the official confirmation from the ME was a necessary step in this process.
“Did the ME find anything else?” Rory asked.
Livvy shook her head. “Not yet. He hasn’t actually examined the body yet. The bomb squad just arrived, and they’re checking the area first. Once it’s clear, he’ll go in and do his initial assessment before the body is taken to the morgue for a postmortem.”
Good. Rory didn’t want any of the responders at risk because of other IEDs. Which made him think of something Helen had said.
“See if Bennie has the time to do some more digging into Frank’s background,” Rory said. “Helen told us that he was into explosives, and I’d like to know if that’s true. And if so, just how into it is he. I need to know if Frank has the expertise to have made those explosive devices.”
Again, Livvy nodded. “You also want me to try to get a search warrant for Frank’s house?”
Rory thought of the workload that was already on Livvy since she’d be the one who had to deal with Ike. “Have Bennie do that, too. And we need to try to get a search warrant for Helen’s house.”
Livvy sighed. Not because she was shocked by the news. She was aware Helen was a suspect. But the sigh was no doubt because the woman was his aunt, and that meant two of his family members were suspects in a triple murder.
“I’ll let Bennie know,” Livvy assured him, and then she showed him the sticky note she was holding. It had the names and contact number for Reva and Harry Rooney. “They’re Carter’s parents, but they live in Tucson.”
Part of Rory was relieved that he wouldn’t have to be doing a death notification, but it also meant losing out on the opportunity to ask the couple questions about their son. Still, he figured the Tucson cops would be doing that and passing along any info they got from the parents.
Rory took the sticky note. “When we’re done talking to Diedre, I’ll call Tucson PD and ask that someone there go out to speak with the Rooneys. Maybe by then, we’ll have a bit more from the ME that I can pass along.”
“All right. Let me touch base with Bennie on getting those warrants and doing the research on Frank,” Livvy said, checkingthe time, “and then I’ll go in and see if Ike is ready to give a statement. Anything specific you want me to press him on?”
