Page 34 of Hunting the Truth
“Likewise,” Daryl said. “Have a good rest of your day.”
Maya nodded and headed back to her patrol vehicle and drove to the sheriff’s office. Juniper had flopped over on her side and was still blissfully snoring, so Maya let her be and walked back to Josh’s office. She found him typing on his computer; yet another stack of paperwork was in front of him.
“Hey there,” Maya said.
Josh looked up and smiled, but she thought it looked forced. “Hey back,” he said. “Come on in, let me finish typing this sentence.”
Maya sat down and waited for Josh to finish. When he did, she said, “Lots of paperwork, huh?”
“Yeah, I’m trying to find a stopping point for today. You know how it is with being the deputy sheriff.”
“Well, actually I don’t,” Maya said, trying to tease him a bit, but he didn’t laugh. “Did Lucas go back to Denver?”
“No, he’s actually around here somewhere. I found him an empty room about the size of a closet to work in. He’s getting a warrant to try pinging Kendra’s cell phone and see if we can locate it. Maybe then we can find her vehicle too.”
Maya rubbed her forehead, feeling a headache coming on. “What all did you find in her apartment?”
Josh sighed and said, “That’s some of my paperwork. She was definitely obsessed with you. Pictures, notes, maps marking where you patrolled most frequently and a log she kept with your schedule.”
“Holy shit,” Maya said, flopping back in the chair. “Any indication why?”
“No, nothing obvious. Is there any chance your paths would have crossed in the military?”
“Not that I know of, but I’ll think about it more tonight,” she said. “Did you find any next of kin?”
“Still working on that. From what I’ve found, it looks like her dad did murder her mother. She was telling the truth about that. No relatives stepped forward to take her in, so she was in the system and in and out of foster care. Arrested a couple times, but then got her act together and joined the military. Seems like she had a decent career there.”
Maya didn’t know what to say. Once again, she only had questions, no answers. “No obvious connection to Eric Torres?”
“As a teenager she was in foster care in the same town he worked as a cop. Her records are sealed because at the time she was a juvenile and it appears maybe the judge even threw out some of the charges or else she might not have been able to enlist in the military. If I can get a court order to open up the records, maybe we can see if Eric arrested her, but other than that, all I can say is they’re from the same town. But you and I both know there are very few coincidences. He had to have known her. I bet he arrested her at some point.”
Maya stared up at the ceiling and then back at Josh. He was keeping a poker face. No emotion. She hated it when he did that. It made it hard to know what he thought.Now would be a good time for me to apologize. But what do I say?
“Okay, that’s at least a start,” Maya said, thinking that maybe it would be better to buy Josh dinner and apologize then. “You want to grab some dinner at the Black Bear Café? It’s burrito night. Our favorite.”
“No, thanks for the offer, but I’m buried here. I have so much to get done.”
“Okay,” Maya said. She clasped her hands together and was about ready to say something along the lines of an apology when she sensed someone behind her. Lucas.
“Uh, sorry to interrupt,” he said, “but I was able to locate the last ping on a cell phone tower from Kendra’s phone. It’s not far from where her body was found. I thought I’d go see if I could find it. Anyone want to go with?”
“Yeah,” Maya said. “Juniper is resting and I bet by the time we get back to the area, she’ll be ready to go again. If we bring the scent article from the crime scene, she might be able to help us locate the phone. If the evidence is fresh enough, she may also be able to find other items too.”
“Sounds good to me,” Lucas said. “Josh, you want to go since this is really your jurisdiction?”
“Yes, anything to get away from this pile of paperwork. Let’s do it,” Josh said, standing up.
He walked past Maya and she placed a hand on his arm, stopping him for a moment. She waited for Lucas to walk down the hall and out of earshot, then said, “I’m sorry, Josh. I didn’t mean to hurt you when you offered to help me. I appreciate you doing that.”
Josh shrugged. “It’s okay, I understand wanting your own space, but I really care about you. A lot.”
Maya took a deep breath. She had to start being honest with him, even if it was difficult. “I care about you too. I just don’t know if I’m ready to stay with someone or have you stay overnight with me. I’m sorry about that.”
“It’s okay. Just promise me you’ll be careful. You always talk about losing me, but I don’t know what I’d do if I lost you, Maya.”
“I’ll be careful and I’ll ask for help. I promise.”
Maya followed Josh and Lucas to a trailhead parking area where Kendra’s phone had last pinged. This trail was farther down the road from Big Gulch and many people used it to get back to some good fishing spots both along a creek and at a reservoir. The problem with finding the phone was that the ping happened on a cell phone tower. That meant the phone had been in range of that tower, which left a lot of open space where it could be. There were meadows all around the area.
