Page 38 of Barbed Wire and Burglary
Only after she took off did A.J. return to the task of examining the sides of the building for tire tracks. It wasn’t hard to locate them, since whoever had been driving the SUV had mowed down a trio of rose bushes.
Aaron joined him, and they took photographs and dirt samples.
Maggie watched them, looking sad. “It wasn’t enough to destroy everything inside the store,” she mourned. “They mowed down my grandparents’ prize rose bushes, too.”
After a short pause, she started speaking again in a voice clearly intended to come across as casual, though it fell short of that. “Elise Hathaway seemed nice.”
Aaron merely grunted.
“You seemed to know each other pretty well,” she pressed.
“She’s my ex-girlfriend.” Aaron pointed at the ground. “What’s that?”
A.J.’s gaze followed his gloved finger to a shard of broken blue porcelain. It was half-buried in the mud. A little digging uncovered a bigger pile of shards that they were able to piece into a tacky-looking candlestick.
“Oh, my goodness,” Maggie squealed, instantly recognizing it. “That old thing has been starring in my grandparents’ product displays for decades.”
Product displays?A.J.’s chest thumped with excitement. “You mean it wasn’t for sale?”
“Definitely not,” she affirmed with a sad chuckle. “My grandmother would’ve never willingly parted with it. She found it at an estate sale years ago and fell in love with it.”
Estate sale. Check.
Item not for sale. Check.
Another smash and grab. Check.
Unfortunately, it meant the burglar had most likely gotten what he’d come for.Bummer!
Moments later, A.J. and Aaron uncovered a four-inch piece of barbed wire embedded in the same muddy tire rut. It was identical to the piece of barbed wire A.J. had found in the dumpster behind the pawnshop.
It was the connection the sheriff had insisted was present when A.J. had first driven up to the crime scene. He glanced toward the front entrance of the store. “I think we found our reason for the karate chop session inside the store.” He lifted one of the porcelain shards to give it a tentative sniff. “Smells like honey and wax.”
“You have a good nose.” Maggie gave him an admiring look. “It’s one of our handmade and hand-dipped candles. They’re very popular and sell like hotcakes.” She received a phone call and walked away from them with her phone held to her ear.
Aaron scooped the barbed wire into a specimen bag andthe remaining shards into another bag. “We’ll get all of this to the lab for testing. If we’re lucky, they might be able to pull some forensics off the pieces.”
Or evidence that a gem had once been sealed inside it, which was A.J.’s current theory. He met Aaron’s gaze. “Guess I’ll be dropping another pin on that map I showed you earlier.”
Aaron shook his head resignedly. “You still blaming this on me?”
A.J. wasn’t sure what to think anymore. “All I’m doing is following where the evidence leads.”
“I hear you, but…” Aaron worked a kink out of his shoulder blades. “What’s it going to take to convince you I want these jokers behind bars as badly as you do?”
“The truth.” A.J. pounced on the question. He’d been waiting for this moment. He kept his voice down so that the sheriff and other first responders couldn’t hear what he said next. “How else would you explain your presence at so many related crime scenes?”
To his surprise, Aaron adopted a pained expression. “It’s not my story to tell.”
A.J. scowled at him. “Not yours to—?” And then he knew. “Aurora?” he croaked. Was Aaron actually claiming it washerstory to tell? Because that would mean…no! Absolutely not! His brain refused to substitute her name and face for everything he’d been building a case against her brother for.
Aaron gave him a pitying look. “A word of advice. Accusing her of anything criminal could make your relationship with her…difficult.”
A.J. gaped at him in alarm as another possibility slammed into him, one that made even more sense. “I can think of only one other explanation that would put bothyou and your sister in the vicinity of so many crime scenes.”
Aurora Cannon wasn’t a perfumer. Not even close. Nope. Nada. Negatory. She was a security consultant for Diamondback!
A.J. swung away from his companion, eyes glazing over.She’s been lying to me!The woman he’d kissed and held and confessed his love to. The woman he’d been daydreaming about proposing to. The woman he wanted to take ring shopping.
