Page 45 of The Sheriff's Baby

Luca no doubt was, too, because he had downed multiple cups of coffee since getting up and was now at the other end of the kitchen table while he worked on his laptop.

Like Duncan, the deputy was digging for anything and everything that would help them make sense of this. Joelle had almost certainly done the same. She just hadn’t surfaced for coffee yet, probably because she could no longer have a morning jolt of caffeine. The pregnancy had apparently put a temporary halt to that.

“The tox report came in,” Luca announced just as Duncan saw it pop into his inbox. As promised, Slater had pressed the lab hard to get those results ASAP. No easy feat since it had taken the ME nearly two hours to arrange for the body to be removed from the jail and transported to the county morgue.

Duncan was scanning through those results when Joelle came hurrying into the kitchen. Her focus was on her phone screen, and her hair was damp, but she was dressed. She was wearing the clothes she’d washed and dried the night before after she’d borrowed one of his shirts and a pair of boxers to sleep in. Once they’d gotten the news about Willie Jay, Joelle had known she wouldn’t want to be scrounging up some loaner clothes today, that she’d want to focus on the investigation.

“You saw the tox report,” she said after glancing at them.

Duncan made a sound of agreement. “Cyanide in the form of a capsule.” Part of the capsule had still been in his mouth. “Since Willie Jay was searched before he was locked up, that means he must have had the pill concealed somewhere on him. And that he must have intended to end his life rather than spend time in jail.”

That, in turn, added slightly more credence to the murder-suicide of the other two gunmen. The angles of the shots were still off, but now Duncan had to consider that the men had been willing participants in their deaths.

Why?

That’s what both Luca and he were digging to find out. Joelle likely would be doing that, too.

“We start with Kate. I want to find out why she called Willie Jay last night,” Duncan said, checking the time. It was nearly eight o’clock. “I’ve already called Dr. Benton, and he said Kate had a rough night and requested sedation. But we’ll be talking to her this morning.”

That seemed to be Joelle’s cue to get moving to the fridge, and she grabbed an apple, and after checking to see there was no milk or yogurt, she went with some cheese. “Did Dr. Benton say anything about what had caused Kate’s rough night?”

“More or less. He told Kate that she’d be going home today. She asked if the deputy guarding her would be going with her, and the doctor said he didn’t think so, but he didn’t know for sure. He said she became agitated after hearing that and insisted she’d be in danger if she left the hospital. He left her for a while because he had to see another patient, and when he came back, she asked for the sedative.”

“Does the timing work for when Kate would have tried to call Willie Jay?” Joelle asked.

“According to Benton, it does, and he said she was holding her phone when he came back in the room.” Duncan paused. “And speaking of her phone, the request came through for us to get her records.”

“They just arrived fifteen minutes ago,” Luca supplied, looking up from his laptop to glance at both of them. “In the half hour before Kate tried to speak to Willie Jay, she got two phone calls. One from Brad and the other from Hamlin.”

Joelle huffed. “Obviously, we’ll be doing a lot of interviews today.”

“They’re already set up,” Duncan assured her. “As soon as you’re done eating, we can head to the hospital and knock out the one with Kate. Then, I can have an actual breakfast delivered for you from the diner while we wait for first Brad and then Hamlin to come in.”

Duncan expected they’d have lawyers with them and would deny everything. But the pieces were there, and maybe, just maybe, those pieces would fit so one of them or Kate could be arrested today.

“I do have one bit of good news,” Joelle said. “I had a text conversation with Bree before I got in the shower, and I convinced her not to come home right now.”

Good. That was one less person who might get caught up in this messy investigation.

“I can eat my apple on the way to the hospital,” Joelle insisted. “I’m eager to hear what Kate has to say.”

So was he, but Duncan took a moment to make sure Joelle was up to this. One glance at her and he knew she was. He couldn’t say she looked rested, but she was clearly raring to go. So, that’s what he did.

With Luca grabbing his laptop, Duncan headed to the window—again—to make sure there wasn’t anyone lurking around. When he didn’t see anyone, they went to the cruiser and started the cautious drive to the hospital. Only a couple of minutes. But if the missing gunman and his boss had realized Duncan and Joelle had spent the night at his place, then they might have set some kind of booby trap on the road.

Luca and Joelle no doubt expected the worst, too, because they kept watch. Joelle did the entire five-minute drive with her hand over the butt of her weapon. Thankfully, though, they made it to their destination without anyone trying to kill them.

Despite the early hour, there were already several cars in the parking lot, but Luca parked close enough to the door that Joelle only had a short distance out in the open before she hurried in through the ER doors. Duncan was right there with her, and he did a sweeping check of the ER. No one suspicious.

With Luca staying close behind them, Joelle and Duncan made their way to Kate’s door, and Duncan was pleased when he saw Clyde Granger standing guard. Clyde was in his sixties now and a retired deputy, but Duncan knew the man was still plenty sharp.

“She’s whining,” Clyde said, his tone indicating this wasn’t the first time. “She won’t leave without police protection.”

“So Dr. Benton told me,” Duncan verified. “I’ll consider it.” He was stretched thin with manpower and was surprised that Kate hadn’t just hired private security. The woman certainly had enough money to do that.

Luca stayed in the hall with Clyde when they reached the room. Kate immediately sat up in bed, and she had her phone gripped as if ready to call 911. She audibly released her breath when she saw it was Joelle and Duncan.

“Dr. Benton said he’s releasing me this morning,” she said like a protest.

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