Page 51 of Justice for JoElla

There werefour uniforms at the convenience store when they rolled up, all from Bellevue, one of the townships in Newport, and two deputies’ cruisers. “What have we got here?” Mick asked as the two strode up. JoElla had agreed when he said he’d take lead. Their department was cool with her role, but women as detectives still weren’t widely accepted in many places in the state.

“Clerk said something wasn’t right. Said the guy came in, paid for the gas in cash, then went back out. While the guy was in the store, the clerk heard a lot of racket and could see movement in the back of the SUV. He tried to crack a joke, like, ‘Hey, your dog’s pretty worked up,’ or something like that, and the guy said, ‘Yeah, bitch is a lot of trouble.’ Then he went out and opened the tailgate. Clerk said he was sure he saw a human foot.”

“Sounds like our guy. And the plate matches?”

“Hard to tell. You guys need to watch the footage and see if you recognize him.”

“Will do. Point us.” In seconds, Mick and JoElla were in the store’s tiny office, staring at the grainy footage. “Oh, yeah, that’s him,” Mick murmured.

JoElla nodded. “Absolutely.” She leaned out and yelled, “So after you saw this, he came back in?”

The man nodded from the front of the store and called back, “Yeah, but just for a second. Said he forgot smokes. Got some cigarettes and then left.”

“You didn’t ask about what you saw?”

“Hell no! You seen that guy? He’s a foot taller than me and outweighs me by at least a hundred pounds! I’m not getting my ass pounded. That’s why I called you guys.”

JoElla turned back to the screen and mumbled, “Figures.”

“Hey, the guy did what we’ve tried to tell people to do,” Mick pointed out.

“Yeah, yeah. I know.” She pointed at the screen again. “Look. He threw some stuff away. Has anybody recovered that?”

“They’re going through the trash now,” one of the deputies offered.

“Who’s ‘they’?” Mick asked.

“One of our forensics guys.” Well, at least the uniforms weren’t contaminating evidence. She’d seen enough of that in her lifetime.

From outside somewhere she heard a voice call out, “Found something!” Mick’s footsteps were right behind her as she hurried that way.

The tech stood there with a pair of hemostats in his hands, a piece of some kind of bloody cloth dangling from them. JoElla looked around. “Which can?”

“This one.”

When the tech pointed to the can, JoElla nodded. “That’s the one in the video.”

Mick stroked his chin. “We don’t have blood evidence on the mother, do we?”

“No,” JoElla confirmed, “but with the son’s, we can show a familial match, if we can just get the lab to pull their heads outta their asses and get on the stick.” There was movement in her peripheral vision and JoElla turned. “Hang on. I’ll be right back.” A tall man stood at the edge of the area they’d cordoned off, and he seemed to be looking for someone. As she neared him, JoElla called out, “LieutenantAxton?”

“Yeah! You must be DetectiveTompkins.” He held out a hand and JoElla took it. Something about him made her feel comfortable immediately.

“JoElla. Thanks for coming. I know it was a change of plans…”

“But a good one. Did you get anything you can use?”

JoElla started filling him in, and he asked to see the video. When he was finished, he joined them outside. “Yeah, that’s our guy too. I found out Friday that they’re looking at him on domestic violence charges in Oklahoma from back in twenty twelve. Worked the woman over pretty good. She survived, but she’s disabled. Turns out he’d had DV charges brought against him in a couple of other states too, but he’s gotten off on most of them. The ones he was convicted on didn’t carry enough time to teach him a lesson, if that’s even possible.”

“I personally don’t think it is, but nobody cares what I think,” JoElla added, thinking back to when Boyd had worked her over because the beans were saltier than he liked. The way the law enforcement officers she’d called had treated her was the reason she’d become a cop. She wanted female victims to have someone they could talk to, someone who’d understand, and while none of them had been rude or dismissive, they just couldn’t comprehend why a woman would stick around and let herself be used as a human punching bag. JoElla understood it all too well.

They talked for a bit, and she was telling him about the way she’d found Derek that morning when her phone rang. One look at the screen and she sighed. He knew she was busy. Why the hell was he calling her? It was hard, but she tried to temper her voice when she answered. “I’m busy.”

“You’re not too busy for this call. I just came back from a run, and you won’t believe who it was.”

I don’t have time for riddles, she wanted to bark, but instead, she asked, “Who?”

“Two gunshot victims. Both dead. Burton and EmmaCase.”

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