Reed and Austin shared a look. Emma’s stomach ached. They pulled on gloves and started peering into the windows. Reed tried a door handle. It creaked open. The car had been left unlocked.
Sadie started barking. With lead feet, Emma circled around to her dog. Her heart stopped and then thundered. Sadie was signaling at the rear of the vehicle. Emma gave the release command. Her dog immediately backed off. She whined, her ears down.
Oh, no. No.
Emma pulled a treat from the bag at her waist out of habit and tried to give it to Sadie. The dog wouldn’t take it. Instead, she whined again. She backed up farther from the car as if wanting as much distance between her and the vehicle as possible. Emma couldn’t blame her. She ran her hands over Sadie’s soft fur. A prayer left her lips, as automatic as the comfort she gave her dog.
Feet crunched the ground behind her. “There’s something in the trunk, isn’t there?”
Reed’s voice was hollow. Emma bit her lip and turned. Their eyes met. She would spare him this if she could but there was nothing she could do. “Sadie’s trained to find live people, but there have been times she’s located a recently deceased person.”
Had Bonnie been alive until last night? It was possible. Bile rose in Emma’s throat.
Reed’s spine went rigid. He gestured to the deputy waiting at the driver’s side door. “Find the latch to open it.”
Austin placed a gloved hand on the trunk. “Reed, maybe you shouldn’t be here—”
“Open it, Austin.”
The order was sharp and caustic. Reed was holding it together but just barely. Emma reached out. She grasped Reed’s hand. His posture didn’t change but he interlocked their fingers, drawing her closer until she was at his side. She could feel the tension in his muscles. The pulse at his neck was racing.
Austin sighed and nodded to the deputy. He fumbled before finding the release. The latch snicked and the trunk lid swung open.
Emma gasped.
Mike Young’s body was stuffed inside, a bullet wound on his forehead.
SIXTEEN
The next morning, Reed guzzled his third cup of coffee as he paced Aunt Bessie’s backyard. Last night’s thunderstorms had given way to a beautiful spring day. Bees flitted in a nearby flowerbed. He shifted the cell phone against his ear. “What do we know so far?”
“Well, Mike was killed sometime in the early morning hours yesterday,” Cooper said. His voice sounded weary. “Initial ballistics tests conclude the gun in Joshua’s nightstand doesn’t match the weapon used to kill Mike.”
“Maybe Joshua took it with him.”
“Possible, but we’ve got another problem. Joshua never made it to Dallas, and so far, both he and his truck are missing.”
Reed’s gaze shot to the enclosed porch. Emma was rocking on the swing with Lily in her lap. Vivian leaned on the railing. The two women were having what appeared to be a deep conversation.
“What about the blood on the lamp?” he asked.
“Same blood type as Joshua’s, although DNA is going to take a bit longer.” Cooper sighed. “I gotta tell you, Reed, something about this isn’t sitting right with me. The whiskey bottle we recovered from Joshua’s room didn’t have any fingerprints on it. It’d been wiped clean. I think it was placed in his room to make us believe the mess was the result of a drinking binge.”
Reed’s steps faltered. The niggle of doubt he’d been feeling since yesterday in Joshua’s house grew. “You think someone’s trying to frame him?”
“I think it’s something we should consider. Emma and Sadie went over all of Joshua’s property yesterday and didn’t find a trace of Bonnie other than the car. If that’s what Joshua was hiding, why stick Mike in the trunk? It seems like a guaranteed way for us to locate the vehicle.”
“He didn’t know we’d get a search warrant. Besides, his fingerprints were on the glass in Mike’s room.”
“About that. We initially thought those glasses were from the hotel. They weren’t. We recovered a matching set from Joshua’s kitchen cabinet. Normally, that would indicate Joshua took them to Mike’s room, but...the move is sloppy. Everything about this perpetrator has proven he’s smart. It doesn’t fit.”
“Let me get this straight. You think someone broke into Joshua’s house, attacked him, loaded him into his own truck and...then what? Took some glasses from his kitchen to place in Mike’s hotel room?”
“Yes. If we assume for just a moment that Joshua isn’t involved, then there’s only one person who knew where Bonnie’s car was. The person who took her.”
Reed set his mug on the concrete sidewalk and rubbed his head. “Cooper, Bonnie’s vehicle was parked on Joshua’s land.”
“We can’t assume he knew it was there. That part of the property was overgrown. Without Emma and Sadie, it would’ve been difficult to find it.” Cooper paused for a long beat. “Reed, Judge Norton was at the sheriff’s department looking for you this morning.”
“I know. He texted me this morning—” Reed cut off, his tired brain catching up to Cooper’s insinuation. “No way.”
“I don’t like it any more than you do, but we need to keep an open mind. Joshua bought that property from Judge Norton. By all accounts, Bonnie and the judge were close.”
“Which doesn’t give him motive.”
“No, but...”
“Just spit it out, Cooper.”
“Will came to me after we located Bonnie’s car. He remembered there was a strange incident between Bonnie and his uncle a month or so before her disappearance.”
Reed stiffened. This was the first he was hearing about this. “What kind of incident?”
“An argument between Bonnie and the judge. Will wasn’t sure what it was about—neither of them would tell him—but he had the vague impression Bonnie was very upset about it. She fled the office as soon as Will arrived.”
“That’s extremely vague.”
“I know. Will was being careful with his wording, but finding Bonnie’s car and bracelet in such close proximity to his uncle’s land clearly got him thinking.”
“We need to take what
