Page 49 of Tracking Down the Lawman's Son

“I can pay Nathan a visit and try to have a discreet look around,” Bree threw out there.

Luca gave her a flat look and was sure Duncan was doing the same. They both voiced a firm “no” together.

“I wouldn’t take the ring if I spotted it,” she went on. “I could leave it in place and then you could get a warrant. If the ring is still there, it could have Brighton’s DNA on it since she was stabbed to death.”

“No,” Duncan repeated, and Luca shifted his flat look to a narrow-eyed stare.

“You’re not going into the house of a potential killer,” Luca insisted. “And even if he didn’t murder Brighton, Nathan has a temper and a short fuse. You could be hurt. Or worse.”

“I could have my phone on,” she suggested. “And Duncan and you could be waiting nearby to run inside the house if anything goes wrong.” She stopped and shut her eyes for a moment. “Look, I don’t want to be around Nathan, but these attacks have got to stop, and this might be the way to do it.”

“No,” Duncan said for a third time.

Bree clearly didn’t like that because she huffed. “Then, what? We can’t just ask around to see if anyone recalls Nathan wearing a ring because it’d get back to him and he’d ditch it.”

True, but an idea flashed into Luca’s head. “We can search through social media and look for any photos of Nathan that might have been posted of him wearing a ring. Coupled with Manny’s statement, that might be enough to get a warrant.”

Duncan didn’t look convinced, but he nodded. “Let’s do that.” He took out his phone. “I can get Joelle started on it right now. She’s been chomping at the bit to get more involved in the investigation.”

Yes, she had, and when Bree and Luca got back to the ranch, they could search as well. Newspaper archives might have something as well.

At the sound of footsteps, they turned to see Brandon making his way to them, and the deputy had his attention on a laptop he was carrying.

“We just got back the footage from the bank camera,” Brandon explained, turning the laptop toward them and hitting Play.

Luca watched as Main Street came into view. Not the sheriff’s office since it was tucked just out of sight of the camera, but as the feed advanced, he saw the smoke billowing out of the parking lot.

He soon spotted the woman.

Luca instantly recognized her because he’d seen her driver’s license photo. It was Aubrey. She was on the sidewalk, moving in the opposite direction of the sheriff’s office and the fire, but she was glancing over her shoulder.

And she smiled.

Luca cursed. The woman was actually happy that she’d put them in danger like that.

“I want an arrest warrant for her,” Duncan snarled.

“I’ll make that happen,” Brandon assured him. “For now, keep watching,” he instructed, though he sounded just as angry at the smile as the rest of them were.

Someone had already zoomed in on Aubrey so they watched as she lifted her phone that was already in her hand, and she made a call right before she walked out of camera range.

“The techs believe they can enhance the footage and get the number she called,” Brandon said. “What do you bet she was calling her boss to let him or her know the job was done?”

There were no bets because that would have almost certainly been what she’d done.

“What are the odds they can get the number?” Duncan asked.

“Good,” Brandon verified. “In a couple of hours, we might know the name of the killer.”

Chapter Thirteen

Back at the ranch, Bree glanced around the living room and saw nothing but frustrated expressions. Her own expression fell into that category as well. For the past four hours while the nannies and Sandra had watched the babies, Luca, Joelle, Slater and she had been digging through social media and newspaper archives to try to find a photo of Nathan wearing the ring.

They’d all struck out.

There’d been plenty of pictures of Nathan, but so far, his hands hadn’t been visible in any of them. So, Bree had moved on to a different approach. She was calling jewelers who specialized in making and selling rings for the A&M School of Medicine. So far, she wasn’t having much luck with that either, even though she had introduced herself on the calls as legal counsel for the Texas Rangers and was looking for information pertinent to an investigation. The people she’d spoken to had all been cooperative, but none had a record of Nathan purchasing such a ring.

Duncan was clearly getting some frustrating news as well because he’d started pacing and muttering under his breath while he listened to the latest call he’d received. Bree seriously doubted he was hearing anything that would give them hope that this case would soon be solved.

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