Page 56 of Hunting the Truth
“Because it’s been planted. I don’t know what you have or haven’t found.”
Juniper let out a whine and stared at Maya. She knew her dog was getting tired, having done a track and now guarding. Maya rubbed her head, reassuring her, and wanted to tell her they would get out of here soon, but she wanted more information while she had the chance.
“A piece of my mother’s jewelry was also found. She was wearing it the night she died.”
“Was it her bracelet?”
“Yes, how did you know? Did you plant it to mess with me?”
“No, I’m not messing with you. I swear. I knew because I arrested her. Several times for prostitution and possession of narcotics. She always had it on, and it was always the first thing she wanted back when she received her personal belongings.”
Maya swallowed and fought back more emotions. “Well, it’s logged into evidence now and I’ll probably never get it back.”
“I’m sorry,” Torres said. “But I swear I didn’t kill her. I’ve been framed for the other murders too. Look into them. Two cops and a judge. They were having a party, and someone gunned them down, but it wasn’t me. Call up to Montana and ask to see the files. You’ll see that I’ve been set up.”
Torres came across as genuine. The usual signs of a suspect lying weren’t there, but then she remembered the warning about Torres being a good manipulator. For all she knew he’d planted his own evidence just to toy with her like a cat with a mouse, or just left the evidence by accident, like most criminals. If what he was saying was true, Maya could follow up and look into the case like Torres said. She decided to change tactics and get away from the personal parts of these cases. “What about Kendra? Why did you kill her?”
“Kendra? I didn’t kill her either. That was another setup.”
“Was it? When we responded, we heard someone in the woods. A twig snapped and Juniper and I tracked you.”
At the mention of her name, Juniper gave a low growl and locked eyes with Torres.
“I’d look away if I were you,” Maya said. “When she locks eyes, that’s not a good sign.”
“I hope you can call her off.”
Maya shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. You never know about these high drive working dogs.”
“Look,” Eric said. “I’ll admit I was there and had a talk with Kendra. I needed to get information out of her. I was trying to convince her to help me.”
“A talk? What’s your definition of a talk? Does it include torture, by any chance?”
“In her case, it did. She’d promised to get me information and then changed her mind.”
Surprise registered in Maya. She wasn’t expecting Torres to be so candid about it. “Did you kill her by accident then? Maybe you went a bit overboard on the torture?”
“No, I didn’t kill her. I just needed some information out of her. I suspected she’d been hired by someone to watch you and gather information. I needed to know what she knew and who she’d told it to. Like I said, there’s more people involved than you realize. But Kendra was just a pawn and I wanted to know what she’d found out. I didn’t think it would get her killed. I swear, that’s the truth.”
Maya didn’t know what to think or say. Because of her conversation this morning with Denise, part of her believed him. She was getting ready to ask her next question when Juniper suddenly started growling.
Juniper turned and faced in the same direction that she and Maya had come from earlier. Her body tensed and while Maya couldn’t see anyone coming, she trusted Juniper. Maybe Josh was finally here or maybe Eric had another person he was working with that was trying to surprise them. She grabbed Torres by his arm, staying behind him, and marched him over to an area where he wouldn’t be out in the open, then sat him down.
“Stay here. I’ll be back to get you,” she said to Torres. Then to Juniper she said, “Let’s go see who’s there.”
They moved forward together, and Maya drew her gun. Juniper pointed her nose up in the air. The day was still and quiet with hardly any breeze, but the humidity was low, making the scent more difficult. Maya knew, though, that Juniper was used to this environment and could manage this.
A shadow moved in the trees to their left. Juniper air scented again and then started wagging her tail.
“It is Josh, isn’t it, girly?” Maya asked, noticing the change in her dog.
Juniper’s tail wagged harder as a figure stepped out from behind some trees.
Maya saw the dark blue sheriff’s uniform and lowered her weapon, holstering it. Juniper jumped up and down and went over to Josh to get some pets.
“I’m glad you’re here,” Maya said. “There’s so much I need to fill you in on.”
“Apparently so,” Josh said.
