Page 35 of The Sheriff's Baby

“Possibly.” Duncan added a heavy sigh to that response. “But it could have been someone else. I’ll try to come up with a way to get Willie Jay to open up about that. Hell, to open up about anything because right now, he’s refusing to say a word.”

“Has he lawyered up?” she asked.

“Not so far, but he also won’t confirm he even understands his rights. That means a psych eval. I’ve already scheduled one to give the official determination that he’s competent enough to be charged with kidnapping, forced imprisonment, attempted kidnapping of another police officer and any other charge I can tack onto that.”

The attempted kidnapping charges would definitely stick since there were plenty of witnesses. A crime like that would send him to jail for a long time. But it’d be a heck of a lot longer if they could prove he’d been the one to take and hold Molly.

And if he’d killed her father.

She doubted Willie Jay was just going to confess to that.

“We could maybe build a circumstantial case for murder if we can connect Willie Jay to those photos,” she said, thinking out loud. “Because only the killer or someone who had knowledge of the killer would have those.”

Even if Willie Jay was only an accomplice in that particular crime, it would carry the same penalty as the murder itself. Which would put Willie Jay on death row. Joelle wanted that. She wanted her father’s killer to pay.

But she also wanted answers.

Why had her father been gunned down? And had Willie Jay orchestrated that, or was he merely a hired gun? Added to that, why had he wanted her? As she’d told Duncan earlier, he could have killed her, and he hadn’t. He had intended to kidnap her. It was possible that was so he could get the baby, but there had to be an easier way to get his hands on a pregnant woman.

And that circled her back to the pictures.

Then, back to their suspects.

“If Brad, Kate or Hamlin are connected to Willie Jay,” Joelle said, hoping this idea made sense when she spelled it out, “then, maybe you can use that as a trigger to get Willie Jay to talk. Maybe let Willie Jay believe you’ll let one of them get access to him.Bad access,” she emphasized. “As in the kind of access to have him murdered because he can link one of them to the attacks, Molly’s kidnapping and my father’s murder.”

Of course, there was no way Duncan would actually allow a prisoner to be hurt or killed like that, but it might work if Willie Jay thought Duncan would do something that drastic. Judging from the sound Duncan made, he agreed.

“Willie Jay might tell us something that’ll pinpoint who’s responsible for what happened. Including your father’s murder,” he added. “Because I think it’s highly likely that someone hired Willie Jay. There’s nothing in his background to lead me to believe he’s capable of putting together something like this. I could be wrong, but I don’t think so.”

Since Joelle hadn’t had a chance to pour through what they’d learned about Willie Jay, Duncan’s assessment was enough for her to believe the man was a lackey. It was his boss they wanted.

“What about Brad?” she asked as they continued to eat. “Is he still at the sheriff’s office?”

Duncan shook his head. “His lawyer showed up and insisted Brad had to leave to make funeral arrangements for Shanda. Brad apparently broke down, and Carmen thought he might need to be sedated.”

Joelle raised an eyebrow, and Duncan must have picked up on the question she was about to ask.

“I have no idea if Brad’s grief is real,” he said, “or if he’s the one who killed Shanda, but since we had so much going on, I had Carmen reschedule the rest of the interview for tomorrow. Ruston arranged for some SAPD cops to tail Brad to make sure he doesn’t try to flee. By the way, Ruston’s on his way here to check on you.”

She didn’t groan, though Joelle hated that her brother was taking the time to do that. Especially since there were so many other things that needed to be done. But she also knew that talking Ruston out of a visit would be impossible. He was her big brother, and he no doubt felt an obligation to make sure she was all right.

“Kate is clamoring to get out of the hospital and go home,” Duncan said a moment later, continuing the update of all three of their suspects. “She claims she’s in danger.” He lifted his shoulder. “She might be if Brad or Hamlin want her dead, and that’s one of the reasons I’m keeping a deputy on her door.”

Yes, and the other reason was to make sure Kate didn’t leave before they had a chance to find out if she was the mastermind behind what was going on.

The silence came again. So did some memories. Recent ones. Or rather a recentone. And Joelle knew they needed to talk about it.

“I should apologize for kissing you,” she said.

Duncan laughed. “Joelle, you never need to apologize for that. But I know where this is leading,” he was quick to add. “Kissing me brings back a lot of bad stuff for you.”

It did. But it brought back good stuff, too. Specifically, the heat. “It’s a distraction neither of us need right now,” she pointed out.

No way could Duncan disagree with that, but he certainly didn’t jump to say she was right. “There are a lot of different distractions,” he said, his gaze sliding to her stomach. “The baby’s the top priority.”

Joelle was thankful he’d spelled that out. Despite the bitter feelings between Duncan and her over her father’s murder, she knew he was committed to this baby. That he loved her. And right now, Joelle very much needed that.

“I always figured when I had a baby, that my parents would be around to share the experience,” she said. Of course, that brought on a wave of bitter memories. “They very much wanted to be grandparents.”

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