Page 24 of The Sheriff's Baby

Brad didn’t seem especially bothered by that. “I’ll give you permission,” he said, making Duncan silently groan. It meant any communication Brad might have had with hired guns had likely been done through a burner. Maybe one like the ones Molly’s kidnapper had been using.

Next, Duncan went with an outright lie, something he was allowed during questioning. “We have footage from security cameras up the street from Shanda’s. It’s being analyzed as we speak, but I already know there was a vehicle in the area. A vehicle matching the description of one registered to you.”

Brad sprang to his feet. “It wasn’t mine. I wasn’t anywhere near Shanda’s this morning.”

That might be true. Might be. But Brad could have hired someone to kill her. And that led Duncan to motive.

“Here’s my theory,” Duncan started. “You arranged to have Deputy McCullough killed or kidnapped. Ditto for the dispatcher who was also a deputy during Shanda’s arrest two years ago. Shanda either found out what you’d done or you told her, and when she said she was going to the cops, you made sure she wouldn’t be talking to anyone.”

If looks could have killed, Brad would have finished off Duncan and Joelle on the spot. He sank back down into his chair. “This interview is over,” he insisted, taking out his phone. “I’m not saying another word until I have my lawyer here.”

Duncan didn’t press, and he figured he could use the time before the lawyer arrived to assemble as much of a case as he could against Brad. What he needed was some physical evidence, something that would get him an arrest warrant so he could take Brad off the streets. Of course, if Brad was the killer, it was possible he’d already set hired guns in motion for another attack.

Joelle and Duncan stepped outside the interview room, closing the door behind them, and they looked at each other. “You believe him?” Joelle whispered, taking the question right out of Duncan’s mouth.

Duncan had to shrug. Then, he groaned and scrubbed his hand over his face in frustration. “I want to believe he’s the killer, but I’m not sure.”

Since he didn’t want Brad to overhear any part of this conversation, he motioned for Joelle to follow him back to the break room.

“Everything we have on Brad is circumstantial.” He took out his phone. “I’ll have Carmen get Brad to sign the agreement to get his phone records. If he’s still willing to do it, that is. And there might be something in his call history that could help us get a warrant for his financials.”

Duncan fired off a quick text to Carmen, but before he got a reply, his phone rang with an incoming call from Dr. Benton. Duncan couldn’t answer it fast enough.

“Kate is awake, and she’s insisting on seeing Joelle and you,” the doctor said without a greeting. “Obviously, I’d like for her to hold off on that for another hour or two, but she got agitated when I suggested it. Can the two of you come to the hospital now?”

“Absolutely,” Duncan readily agreed. “We’ll be there in about ten minutes.”

Joelle and he hurried back to the bullpen, and Duncan saw the instant alarm on the three deputies’ faces. “Brad decided to wait for his lawyer,” Duncan explained because the deputies had obviously thought Brad had done something to provoke them. “Joelle and I need to get to the hospital to question Kate Moreland.”

“I can go with you for backup,” Slater immediately volunteered.

Duncan nodded and got them moving toward the door. After he’d checked to make sure there were no threats lurking around, they got into the cruiser with Joelle in the back seat, Duncan in shotgun and Slater behind the wheel.

As expected, it was not a peaceful, relaxing ride. They were all very aware that the hired guns could be nearby, ready and waiting to strike. It was the reason Duncan had considered asking Joelle to stay behind. But not only wouldn’t she have agreed to that, Kate had asked specifically to see her. It was possible the woman would say something to Joelle that she wouldn’t to Duncan.

When they reach the hospital, Slater parked by the ER doors so that Joelle and he could hurry inside. Slater got out as well, and Duncan knew he would stand guard, watching for any kind of danger. Simply put, if any hired guns came into the hospital after Joelle and him, Slater would be the first line of defense against that.

Also as expected, there was a reserve deputy outside Kate’s room. Anita Denny. Since she obviously recognized Duncan and Joelle, she opened the door and motioned them inside.

“She’s waiting for you,” Anita, the reserve deputy, informed them.

They stepped into the room and saw that Anita was right. Kate was, indeed, sitting up and clearly expecting them. She didn’t look drowsy but rather alert and very worried.

“A friend of mine called the hospital and left a message to tell me that Shanda had been murdered,” Kate immediately said. “Is it true?”

Later, Duncan would want to know the name of that friend. For now, though, he basically did a death notification.

“I regret to inform you that Shanda was murdered earlier this morning,” he told her while he carefully watched her reaction.

A reaction that included widened eyes and a shudder of her breath. Kate touched her fingers to her mouth that trembled. “I’d hoped it wasn’t true. I didn’t want it to be true,” she amended.

Duncan didn’t have time to treat this like a normal death notification. He needed to jump right into questions that had to be asked. And he had to start with the basics.

“I’m going to Mirandize you,” Duncan stated. “It’s to cover the legal bases and make sure you’re aware of what your rights are.”

Kate didn’t ask why he was doing this. She merely sat and listened while he finished, and then she nodded when he asked if she understood everything he’d just spelled out.

Since Kate didn’t voice any kind of objections, Duncan continued, “From what I’ve heard, Shanda and you didn’t have a good relationship. You were at odds. In fact, when I spoke to Shanda before she died, she claimed that you loathed her.”

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