“You’re probably right, but I’m gathering every video of the border crossings and putting it through facial recognition. I want to know for a fact she’s gone before I call off the manhunt.”
“Female-hunt,” she teased, needing a lighter note, or she wouldn’t sleep at all that night.
“Whatever. Can I ask you a question?”
“Shoot.”
“Why did you never suspect Lucy?”
Jo thought back to their investigation of the first death. It was as plain as day looking at it now. The anger in the stab wounds of Mark’s body. How the break-in could have been easily staged. Back then it had seemed random with small electronics, gold, and jewelry missing. “She was on the original list, but they had broken up the year before.” She hummed as she dredged the dates up. “They broke up just after school started in August and he was killed in April of the next year.”
“That’s cold.”
“Exactly. It’s like she planned it now that I’m looking back. But back then there was just so much time that had passed, and the two had remained friends based on Lucy’s statement and Mark’s parents’ statements.”
Redden sighed. “I know the feeling of seeing it all in hindsight. What made you take her off the suspect list?”
“She had, what we considered, an airtight alibi.” She shook her head. “She and her new boyfriend were supposed to head up to his grandparents’ house for Easter weekend.”
“Supposed to, but didn’t?”
“No, they went up, but it was a day later. The boyfriend’s hot water heater broke, and he needed to meet the repairman. So while they waited, they . . . as Lucy put it, ‘screwed each other on every available surface’ until they fell asleep.”
“The repairman?”
“Came late in the afternoon and Lucy was there.”
“You think they had sex earlier and she what? Drugged him to sleep longer? How far away was Mark’s house?”
“Less than a mile. And yeah, I think she drugged the guy and then slipped away.” It was the only explanation unless the boyfriend was in on it. But if that were the case either he’d be dead by now or still helping Lucy.
“What was the boyfriend’s name?”
“Jason Treadmore.” She folded the belt of the robe end over end. Maybe Redden would catch something they had missed. “I already had Sullivan check the man out. He’s in Montana. Happily married with one kid and a baby on the way. To be safe, we pulled his IP address and his bank records going back to the first murders. We gave the information to Legends of Stone, and according to them, Jason has never played the game.”
His sigh ghosted over the line. “Well, if I hear of anything, you’ll be my first call.”
“Thanks, Redden. I’ll see you at the wedding. If I don’t hear from you before and if you head this way again, we’ve got a bed waiting for you.”
“I know we’ve always had a contentious relationship, but it really has been interesting working with you, Rayburn.”
“Same here.”
She hung up with a smile on her face. At least something positive came out of this entire mess. She and Redden had made amends, and it was nice having a contact she could trust at the Bureau.
Chapter 14
It was the first time Jo had been home in time for dinner in weeks. Follow that up with an early bedtime, and she was in heaven. Late nights spent on cases and wedding fittings was her life now.
She felt as though she had just dozed off when a horrifying scream rent through the entire house. Scrambling from the bed, Jo and Rhys knew the sound well. Rian or Evan was in the middle of another nightmare.
“I’ll take Rian,” Jo said taking the stairs two at a time. Evan did better with Rhys and Rian seemed to do better with Jo.
“Okay.” Rhys cracked the door of Evan’s room while she opened Rian’s.
Whimpers and sobs poured from the kid, and she hurried to his bedside to turn on the lamp. Even though Rian wore a man’s face with a shadow of a beard pushing its way across his sculpted jaw, he was still a kid to her.
“Hey, Ri. Another nightmare?” Jo watched until his brown eyes peered at her from under his sleep-mussed hair.
“Yeah.” His voice was deep and rough but held a note of fear.
Jo perched on the edge of his queen-sized bed and pushed his hair back from his eyes. “You know I’m going to catch her, right?”
“I know.”
“But until then, you’re safe here. You and Evan both. Joseph and Jenna have so much security blanketing this place that no one will get through, and if they do,” Jo pointed to Lisa who hovered in the doorway, her gun held confidently in her hand. “They’ll have to get through all of us first.”
A quiet sob then her lap was filled with a six-foot-two-inch kid. Compared to Jo’s five-foot-three-inch skinny frame, Rian was like a St. Bernard trying to seek comfort in the lap of a Chihuahua.
“I’m so sorry, Jo. I really didn’t mean for this to happen.”
She shushed him and wrapped her arms halfway around his bulky mass. “No more sorries, remember? How about if Lisa sleeps in here with you tonight? Hmm? And tomorrow you’ll be with Mom and Pop so even if Lucy comes back, she doesn’t know where my parents live.”
He froze. “That’s true.”
“Exactly. Besides, you know Carl was the chief of police so he’ll be ready for anything. And his dog will bark at anyone who comes close to the house so you all will have plenty of time to hide.”
Rian’s head bobbed on her shoulder. “I forgot about Jasper. He’s a
