Page 48 of Tracking Down the Lawman's Son

“About a month or so before she died,” Manny answered.

Luca had studied the photos of Brighton’s lifeless body, and while there had been bruises on various parts of her torso and arms, there hadn’t been any that resembled marks made by fingers. A month though would have been plenty of time for them to have healed.

Manny lifted his arm and clamped onto the fleshy part between his elbow and wrist. “There with the thumbprint underneath and the other four on top. I was furious that someone had hurt her like that, and I wanted her to come to my office so we could talk about it. She wouldn’t. She said the bruises were nothing and that I should mind my own business, but then she admitted she was having trouble with someone she was seeing.”

“Did she specifically say she was seeing Nathan Bagley?” Luca asked.

“No.” Manny sighed. “But one of the bruises was bigger than the other, and when I pointed to it, she mumbled something about the guy wearing a class ring and that the stone in it was tilted to the side on his finger.”

Luca tried to picture Nathan’s hands, trying to recall if he had worn a ring with a stone, but he couldn’t recall one. Apparently, neither did Bree because she shook her head again.

“I was trying to rein in my temper because I knew if I got mad, Brighton would just walk away,” Manny went on, “so I tried to get her to tell me more about the bruise by saying it must have been a big ring. She said it was one of those chunky gold ones from Texas A&M.”

Bree took out her phone, and Luca knew what she was doing. A couple of moments later, he got confirmation when she showed him the hospital information page with Nathan’s bio. There it was.

He’d attended the Texas A&M School of Medicine.

Again, that was nowhere near proof that Nathan had murdered Brighton, but it was a connection that needed further investigation. They already knew from the receipts that Nathan had been at the bar the night Brighton was murdered, and if he had been involved in a volatile relationship with Brighton, then that would give him motive.

“Any reason you didn’t tell us sooner about seeing those bruises on Brighton?” Duncan asked.

“Because I forgot about it. Hell, it’s been five years, and I’d moved on with my life. Or rather I had moved on before you guys started trying to accuse me of things I didn’t do.”

“Then why didn’t you tell the original investigating officer?” Duncan pressed. “You hear about a woman you claim to have loved had been murdered, and you know someone bruised her up just a month earlier, and you didn’t think that was something the cops should know?”

Some of the color drained from Manny’s face, and he shook his head. “Her death gutted me, and I wasn’t thinking about anything but my own grief.”

Duncan made a sound to indicate he wasn’t totally convinced of that. Neither was Luca. Manny had had plenty of time to work out what to say so he didn’t sound like a killer. And maybe he wasn’t. But Luca wasn’t taking him off the suspect list, and he doubted Duncan or Bree would either.

“I need to have a word with my client,” the lawyer said.

Duncan nodded, stood, and Luca, Bree and he went back into the hall. “I want to get old work schedules for the hospital,” Duncan said, keeping his voice low. “I need to see if Nathan was possibly on duty when Brighton was murdered. We know he was at the bar that night, but we don’t have an exact time of death for her. I want to know where he was in the hours leading up to and after she was killed.”

“Good idea,” Bree muttered. “If he wasn’t on the schedule, then he can’t claim that as an alibi.” She paused. “Nathan could have murdered her,” she added. “Not premeditated but in the heat of the moment.”

Luca turned to her so fast, he heard his neck pop. “You said Nathan never got violent with you.”

“He didn’t,” she insisted, “but I thought maybe the potential was there because of his temper. It was always there, simmering just beneath the surface.”

Luca had to rein in his own temper over hearing that. Not anger aimed at Bree but at the SOB Nathan. And anger wasn’t going to help solve this investigation.

“Did you ever see Nathan wearing a Texas A&M ring?” Duncan asked her.

Bree shook her head. “And I think I would have noticed. Those class rings are usually big, and since I went to A&M’s rivalschool, University of Texas, I probably would have made some kind of joke about it.”

Luca considered that for a moment. “You dated Nathan long after Brighton had been murdered so maybe he quit wearing the ring after he killed her. He might have believed the ring had left a mark on her. Like the bruise on her arm.”

Both Duncan and Bree made quick sounds of agreement. “Nathan might not have thrown the ring away,” Bree added. “He could have just stopped wearing it.” She looked at Duncan. “What are the chances of getting a search warrant to go through Nathan’s house?”

“Nil on the evidence we have.” Duncan groaned, shook his head. “Which as you know isn’t much. Yes, he was in the bar the night Brighton was murdered, but with her estimated time of death, she wasn’t killed until about four to six hours or so after she left Hush, Hush. Nathan could have been home. Or at work.”

Bree groaned as well, not because she was disagreeing with Duncan, but because she knew all of this was true. It also wasn’t a mark of guilt that two people had seen Nathan talking to Brighton. Neither was Manny’s speculation that Nathan had put those bruises on her.

So, yeah, nil chances on the search warrant.

“We can’t just ask Nathan if he has a ring like that,” Luca spelled out, “because if he’s guilty, he could toss it. If he hasn’t already done it, that is.”

They all went quiet, and Luca knew they were trying to figure out a way around this.

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