Page 30 of Twin Jeopardy

Wednesday morning, Tammy sat at her desk in the office of theEagle Mountain Examiner, reviewing the photos she had taken the night before. She was supposed to be selecting the image from the rescue to run with the story she had already turned in. But her attention kept returning to the shots she had taken of Vince’s vandalized car.You thought I was dead, didn’t you?And that slash of aVbeneath. If it was possible for a painted message to look angry, this one did.

She replayed those few seconds when the figure had run past her in the dark—slender body, long hair—and something about the way they moved had made Tammy certain it was a woman. Who would be running away from the accident, unless it was the person who had vandalized Vince’s car?

Tammy had arrived at the scene after all the rescue personnel were in place. Law enforcement was either stationed at the highway barricade or near the accident site. Could one of them have seen the same fleeing woman?

She stood and walked to the open door of Russ’s office. He was hunched over his desk, frowning at his computer monitor, but looked up at her approach. “What?” he asked.

“I’m going out to do background interviews for a story I’m working on,” she said.

“Go.” He waved her away and returned to scowling at the monitor.

She slung her handbag over one shoulder and headed on foot to the sheriff’s department. It was the kind of perfect summer day that made tourists congratulate themselves on having chosen such an idyllic spot for a vacation—sunny but not hot, with cloudless turquoise skies and blooming flowers everywhere you looked.

The atmosphere was less sunny in the lobby of the sheriff’s department. Office Manager Adelaide Kinkaid looked up from her command center at the front desk, her expression stern. “What can I do for you, Ms. Patterson?” she asked.

“I’d like to speak to the sheriff,” Tammy said.

“Sheriff Walker does not have time to speak with the press,” Adelaide said, her response to every request Tammy had ever made to speak with the sheriff.

“Then I need to speak with one of the deputies who responded to the accident at Carson Canyon last night.”

Adelaide’s eyes narrowed. “What do you need to know?”

“I need to clarify a couple of facts for the article I wrote.” Pause, and an earnest expression. “I would hate to get anything wrong.”

Adelaide’s frown tightened, but after a few seconds, she picked up the phone and asked a deputy to come to the lobby to speak with “the reporter from theExaminer.”As if everyone in town didn’t already know Tammy was the sole reporter—well, except for the high school student who covered school sports each year, and Russ, who did write his share of news stories.

Deputy Jamie Douglas smiled when she saw Tammy. Tammy returned the smile. She and Jamie were friends, and she didn’t have to worry about her friend being evasive. Jamie glanced at Adelaide. “Come on back, and we’ll talk at my desk,” she said.

As they walked down the hallway to the crowded bullpen where Jamie shared a desk with other deputies, the two friends exchanged the usual pleasantries. “How is Olivia?” Tammy asked.

“We think she’s going to start crawling any minute now,” Jamie said of her three-month old daughter. “And she’s growing like crazy. Nate says she’s going to be tall like him, but I think it’s too soon to tell.” They arrived at Jamie’s desk. “Adelaide said you had some questions about the accident last night?”

“Yes. I wanted to know who was working the barricade where they closed the highway.”

“I was.”

“Did anyone try to get past you? On foot, maybe?”

“No. You and the rescue personnel are the only people we let through.”

Maybe the woman she had seen had slipped through before the barricade went up. “Did you see anyone leaving the area?” Tammy asked. “Anyone you didn’t recognize, or who wasn’t authorized to be there?”

“No. Why?”

She explained about the running woman who had passed her as she hiked up the hill.

“I didn’t see anyone like that,” Jamie said. She looked over Tammy’s shoulder. “Dwight, come here a minute.”

Deputy Dwight Preston joined them. “Hi, Tammy.”

“Dwight, did you see anyone come or go past the barricade last night who you didn’t know? Anyone who wasn’t with search and rescue or highway patrol?”

“There was the other reporter,” he said.

“What other reporter?” Tammy asked.

“With theJunction Sentinel. She said the couple in the truck were from Junction, and she was covering the story.”

---