Page 73 of Chasing Justice
“So if Juniper knows Jenna that well, you’re thinking Jenna is Doug’s secret girlfriend and not Bobbi?”
“Maybe. And she’s about the size and build of the person I saw at the cabin when we were bombed.”
“But if she was dating Doug, why would he have set the bombs? His prints were the only ones on the explosives. Do you think he was trying to kill her? And from what you said, she set those bombs off deliberately, so maybe she beat him to it? Possibly a lovers’ quarrel?” Josh said.
“I don’t know. None of this makes sense, and I can’t figure it out either. I don’t think he would have killed her, but love can make people do strange things.”
Josh’s cell phone rang, and he handed Maya the bags with their lunches. Then he answered his phone. “Yep. Uh-huh. Okay, we’ll be right there.”
“Who was that?” Maya asked after Josh hung up.
“Miranda. She said she got some results, but she wants to tell us in person.”
“That was quick. Let’s go.” Maya, Josh, and Juniper sprinted back to the station. Maya put Juniper back in the car and they hurried into the sheriff’s building to the crime scene lab.
Miranda was working on cleaning up some of the dust from the fingerprints. Maya had to admit she kept a very clean lab. “Here’s your lunch,” Josh said, holding up a bag.
“You can put it over there,” Miranda said, pointing to an office.
Josh followed instructions and came back. “What did you find?”
“Believe it or not, there were a couple of good prints on the knife you found in the bushes, but there was no match in the system as of now. I also used Ninhydrin on the cash and found some good prints. Have a match for those. They belong to Officer Leyton. Those came back quick since he was definitely in the system.”
Maya let out a breath and felt disappointment and anger at the same time. Dougwasinvolved. What was he thinking? Did he start dating Jenna and let her pull him into this? Maya didn’t want to accept that Doug might not be the person she thought he was, but it was a fact she had to deal with.
“You could take the print we can’t identify to the feds and see if by any chance they get a hit in their system,” Miranda said.
“Before I do that, would you mind running the print on this glass and seeing if it’s a match to the print that’s not in the system?” Maya asked.
“I can do that, but I have some other things to get done today. I may not get to it until tonight, unless it’s a rush pertaining to the sheriff again.”
“It’s a rush,” Josh said. Maya gave him a grateful look and he said, “If this print matches Jenna, then we might be able to get a search warrant.”
“Even though Juniper isn’t certified and is the one who found the knife and cash?” Maya asked.
“I’ll plead it to the judge. I’ll explain that we used the K-9 in an unusual circumstance because of the missing sheriff and that we didn’t have any other dogs available. It’s worth a shot,” Josh said, adding, “And the glass was obtained without using the dog, in a legal way, so that helps too.”
“Agreed,” Maya said.
“Okay,” Miranda said. “I’ll get this going and let you two know what I find and if the print matches.”
“If it does, then we’re one step closer to finding Pops,” Maya said, feeling a little bit of hope for the first time.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Wayne woke up, rolled over and struggled to sit up, his body aching. As he moved, he heard clanging and clinking. Chains. His captor had learned: don’t tie him with a rope.
He forced his eyes open. It was almost like he was waking up from surgery. He must have been drugged. How long would it take to get his mind out of this fog?
He took in his new surroundings. He was in some sort of outbuilding. A barn or an old shed? He let his eyes adjust to the dark and breathed in and out slowly, working to get his brain to come out of the effects of the drug.
His left arm was sore and there was enough light to see a needle prick. He was lucky to still be alive since the person had injected him with who knows what. How long had he been out?
His lips were dry and cracked. If he got dehydrated, he couldn’t live for long. What did she want with him? His brain was foggy, but he remembered her face. Not who he was expecting. Damn. He went to rub his face, but he hit the end of the chains and couldn’t reach.
Wayne scooted back, trying to find a wall to lean against, fear welling up inside him—something he hadn’t felt in a long time. He was going to die, and Maya would never know the truth about Doug and her grandmother. He should have told her everything. She deserved to know. He also wanted to say he was sorry about being so mad about the funeral. Didn’t he always tell her that funerals were for the living? Had he stopped and thought about the pain she might be in? She wasn’t the same. War did that to a person. He should know. He had served in Vietnam. Maya wasn’t the only person with nightmares.
Wayne had been too wrapped up in his own grieving to tell her that he loved her and was proud of her, and most of all forgive her for not coming home for her grandmother’s funeral. She’d been through so much in her life, including the snippets of memory she had from her mother’s death, but he’d been selfish and hadn’t seen that. Doug had tried to tell him. He hadn’t listened.
