“Instead, you risked getting yourself killed.” She probably didn’t appreciate the scolding. But he couldn’t help it. Allowing herself to be lured alone to a dark and deserted park was just plain reckless, no matter the circumstances. “What if it had been a trap?”
“I thought of that. But what choice did I have? If I would have ignored his instructions and Autumn would have been hurt or killed, I’d never have forgiven myself.”
He released a pent-up breath. “If anything like this happens again, don’t charge off alone. Please call me.” He was trained. He knew how to trail someone without being noticed. And what to do if things went horribly wrong. Of course, he couldn’t tell her that.
She didn’t make any promises. He didn’t expect her to. If Jess was anything, she was honest. If the situation arose again, her choice would be the same. She’d never put her own safety above someone else’s. That selflessness was one of the things that drew him to her.
She sighed. “All of that happened after I dropped my phone into a sink full of dishwater. It wasn’t a good night.”
He winced. “I take it your phone is dead.”
“The case protected it, even though it’s not waterproof. I snatched it out of the water, dried it off and put it in a bag of rice all night. When I powered it up this morning, it actually worked.” She frowned. “It was my calling Autumn from Prissy’s phone last night that led the bad guys to her. There’s something important on that phone, and my gut tells me it’s that photo of Hammy and Spike and the mystery guy.”
“We need to find out who that third guy is.”
“My guess is since he was with Hammy and Spike when Prissy took the picture, he’ll show up sooner or later, possibly at the factory.”
“I’ll keep my eyes open. But I’ve only got another three days there, if that. Spike was pretty firm with Tom. If I’m still there at the end of the week, Tom and I will both be gone.”
Jess crossed her arms. “He’s such a bully.”
“I did some more snooping but didn’t come across anything interesting. I did wander outside at lunchtime and looked at the airstrip. There’s about a fifteen-foot stretch of asphalt behind the factory, then a narrow row of trees. The strip is behind that, pretty well hidden unless you’re standing at the corner where the offices are. It’s a short runway, but plenty long enough to land a small plane.” Like the one that went down in Lakeland a few weeks ago. The problem was, there was nothing connecting that plane to the Driggers brothers. Nothing he’d come across so far indicated that the company was a front for running drugs.
He glanced over at CJ’s as they passed. The business was locked up, the “closed” sign in the window. There were obviously no late customers picking up their vehicles. “You didn’t happen to get a good look at the guy in the park last night, did you?”
“I wasn’t able to get close enough. But Autumn said he was wearing a ski mask.”
His heart squeezed at the thought of Jess alone and unprotected while a dangerous masked man waited in the shadows. “Did you report all this to the police?”
“Oh, yeah. Not that it did any good, because I got Branch again. It’s as if he knows when something has gone down and makes sure he’s the one who takes the call.”
“Do you think he might be intercepting them, keeping the other officers from investigating?”
“It sort of looks that way. Of course, I haven’t been back long enough to know whether that’s how they do things here now. Who knows? Maybe the other officers are on reduced hours, making it necessary for Branch to shoulder more of the burden, you know, budget cuts.”
“See what BethAnn knows.”
“I’ll ask her tomorrow.” They turned from Main onto Oak, and Jess continued, disdain in her tone. “Branch always swaggers in with that touch of annoyance, as if I’m bothering him with trivialities when he’s got so much more important stuff to do. This time I told him if it’s too much trouble for him to do a thorough investigation, I’ll talk to Tommy or Alan.”
Shane grimaced. Branch wouldn’t take kindly to threats, even if he did deserve them. “I’d be careful about ticking him off. He could make your life miserable.”
“Let him try. It’s not like he can arrest me when I’ve done nothing wrong.” She pressed her lips together. “Actually, I guess he could.”
Either that or have her killed. He’d already threatened her. He probably wasn’t responsible for Priscilla Parker’s murder, but he likely knew who was.
The identity of the third man in the photograph was still unknown. It clearly wasn’t Branch. The man was younger and thinner, with a close-cut beard and mustache and dark hair pulled into a short ponytail. But the belly and chin at the right-hand edge of the picture could belong to the chief. The chin was clean-shaven, like Branch’s, and the chief had as much of a potbelly as was visible in the picture. The photo showed the front edge of a light-colored sweater rather than the blue Harmony Grove police uniform, but that didn’t mean anything. If Branch was involved in any illegal dealings, he probably wouldn’t arrive dressed as if on duty.
Shane frowned. “I wouldn’t mind looking more closely at the other pictures on her phone, but I guess it’s too late for that.” Unless Priscilla used some kind of online storage. With nothing to go on, finding a way in wouldn’t be easy.
Jess grinned up at him. “Actually, it’s not too late. I uploaded her whole photo gallery to my Dropbox last night before this happened.”
He narrowed his eyes at her. “You’ve had your sister’s phone for a week and a half and just
