Page 20 of Tracking Down the Lawman's Son

“No, not yet. Manny, I want to put this call on Speaker. Is that okay? I’m with Sheriff Duncan Holder and some of the other deputies from Saddle Ridge. They’re all looking for the person who attacked us, and anything you can tell them might help find him or her.”

“Sure,” Manny said after a brief hesitation. “But I’ve already told the Austin cops everything I know.”

“Yes, and they’re looking, too,” Bree assured him, switching to Speaker. “But the more people searching, the better.”

Manny made a sound of agreement. “All right. But I don’t know what more I can say. Someone in a silver truck rammed into me, that’s it.”

“This is Sheriff Holder,” Duncan said. “And we believe we’ve found the truck. It’s being examined now by CSIs to see if there are any paint flecks on it that match your vehicle.”

“You have the driver?” Manny quickly asked. “You know who tried to kill me?”

“No, we don’t have the driver, but we might have a description soon that’ll help with that,” Duncan explained. “What will help, too, is if we know why the attack happened.”

“I don’t know why.” Manny’s voice took on an agitated edge. “But since the same thing happened to Bree, I have to figure it’s got something to do with all the questions she was asking about the dead woman.”

Duncan didn’t confirm that. “Who else knew Bree was asking questions about Brighton Cooper?”

Manny muttered some profanity. “Well, I didn’t exactly keep it a secret. Anyone who works for me knew. And my financial guy, too, since I asked him to get the old credit card statements Bree wanted.”

Bree sighed. She’d hoped that Manny and Tara had kept this close to the vest, which would have significantly narrowed their pool of suspects. But when Bree had spoken to them, shehadn’t known there’d be attacks. If this was all connected, then someone had gotten spooked and wanted to silence Manny and her.

That, however, still didn’t explain her mother’s kidnapping.

“It’s possible I’ll soon have sketches of your attacker,” Duncan told Manny. “I was hoping you’d be willing to come to Saddle Ridge and have a look at them and so I can get a statement about what happened to you. Then I’ll compare it to Bree’s statement to see if it can help with an arrest.”

Manny certainly didn’t jump to agree to that. “I guess,” he finally said. “I can’t get there today though, but I can come in the morning, maybe around ten. I should have those old credit card statements by then and can bring them with me.”

“Good,” Duncan said just as his phone dinged with a text. “We’ll see you at the sheriff’s office in the morning.”

Bree thanked Manny, ended the call and kept her attention on Duncan while he read the text he’d just gotten.

“The CSIs have found no prints other than Sandra’s in the silver truck,” Duncan explained. “There was a box of plastic disposable gloves on the passenger seat.”

So, the kidnapper had gloved up. That shouldn’t have surprised her, but Bree had hoped the woman had left some part of herself behind. And maybe she had. It would likely take the CSIs a while to go through the entire truck and then process whatever they found. Including those paint flecks that Woodrow and Carmen had seen.

Luca walked toward her and sank down on the sofa next to Bree. “It’s been a hellish long day,” he pointed out. “If you want to try to get some rest, I can watch Gabriel.” He brushed his fingers over Gabriel’s hair.

It had indeed been hellish, and since she was exhausted, Bree didn’t want to turn down his offer, but she figured Luca wasworn-out as well. Plus, she didn’t want to pull him away from the investigation.

“I’ll put Gabriel in his crib for the rest of his nap, and then I’ll lie down,” she said to offer a compromise, though both knew Gabriel might wake up the second she tried to put him down.

Luca sighed and went with her out of the room and toward the stairs. “Are you okay about being here with your mother?” he asked, keeping his voice barely above a whisper.

“Yes.” That was the truth. Mostly, anyway.

“You believe everything she said about what happened to her?” he pressed.

She considered her answer while they went up the stairs. “I want to believe her. That’s not the same thing.”

His quick sound of agreement told her they were of a like mind on this. “Sandra had no obvious motive to kill her husband. No reported marital problems. No history of violent tendencies.”

“All true. But that doesn’t mean the unthinkable hadn’t happened. An argument that went horribly wrong. An affair that none of us knew about.” She stopped. “But that doesn’t feel right.”

Luca made another sound of agreement. “This is a wild what-if, but what if your dad learned your mother had something to do with Brighton’s death? That could have spurred a violent confrontation.”

She considered it and dismissed it just as Luca added, “But that doesn’t feel right either. Your mother was looking out for Brighton. She was almost like another of her children.”

Again, that was true, and hearing it spelled out like that helped convince Bree that her mom had been a victim in all of this. Just as her father. And it was connected. It had to be. She just didn’t know how yet.

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