Deceptive Truth: Cowboy Justice Association (Serials and Stalkers Book 4) by Olivia Jaymes (reading women .txt) 📕

stood a few houses down from Hedgcock's home, watching the police coming and going. Every now and then one of the officers would exit with a brown paper bag but they couldn't see what had been removed from the house. They were on tenterhooks, waiting for the head detective to tell them what they'd found.

It was a warm morning and Knox had started it out by grabbing three coffees on the way along with a box of donuts. They might be sitting in the car for a long time. Executing the warrant could take hours.

He was shocked when he pulled up to find one of his three bosses, Jason Anderson, already there along with his brother West, who used to be a detective in Tremont but was now the mayor. West explained that he was good buddies with the chief of police in Rocky River where Hedgcock lived, and he had been invited to observe the activities. The chief of police was also open to them being a part of the investigation, as this would be the first murder case in their tiny town. They didn't have any experience with that sort of investigation and wanted to make sure that it was done right.

Inwardly, Knox was glad that Brett Hedgcock didn't live within the Douglas town limits because he sure as hell didn't want to deal with Mike Bauer. Twenty miles had made all the difference today.

"Are they checking the backyard?" Eli asked quietly. Jenna was chatting with West. "He could have hidden a body back there right under the flowerbed."

"They are. The house, the garage, the property, and right now they should be checking his desk at work."

"Is she going to be okay if they find a body?" Eli asked, glancing over at Jenna. "I hope you gave her a warning."

Knox had pulled Jenna aside this morning as they'd been getting ready to leave the house. He'd cautioned her about what could happen and what she might see. She'd said she was ready. He believed that she was. She knew that the truth might hurt but in the long run it was better than not ever knowing what had happened.

One of the local detectives strode over carrying three brown paper bags.

"I'm Detective Sheridan with the Rocky River Police," he introduced himself. "We have a few items and we'd like Ms. Waters to take a look at them. We need to know if they belong to her sister."

Jenna had already hurried to Knox's side. "I'm Jenna Waters. What do you have?"

"Some personal items that appear to be female," the detective replied. "We'll bring you whatever we find, but we ask that you not touch anything. It's all going to the state lab."

She nodded. "Of course."

Knox wrapped his arm around her waist, hoping to show support. This had to be incredibly difficult. Jenna turned to him and gave him brave smile.

"I'm ready. Let's do this."

"Okay, this first one has a woman's handbag. Can you tell us if it belonged to your sister?"

The rubber gloved officer opened the bag and lifted out a cream-colored purse. Jenna gasped, her body stiffening next to his, and for a moment she reached out before snatching her hand back. She'd remembered not to touch.

"Yes," her voice choked. "Yes, that's Lori's purse. I gave it to her for her birthday."

The detective nodded and closed the bag. "We had a feeling it was your sister's, Ms. Waters, because we did remove the items inside. Your sister's wallet with her driver's license and credit cards were found, but we needed you to confirm."

He opened the second bag and showed them the various items that Lori Waters had carried in her purse. There was a bright yellow leather wallet, two tubes of lipstick, a notebook, a brush, a small bottle of perfume, and some hair ties.

"Her phone?" Jenna asked. "Those definitely belong to Lori but she always carried her phone in her purse too."

"We're still looking for it," the detective replied. "But we do have a few pieces of clothing to show you."

The third bag was opened to display the sweater that had hung in Hedgcock's foyer and also a paisley print silk scarf.

"Yes, those are Lori's too. Michelle and I were with Lori when she bought that scarf. It was one of her favorites."

Jenna's fingers clutched at Knox's arm, her expression changing from one moment to the next. Happy, sad, angry, and a few more that he couldn't identify. Of course, she would be happy that they'd found some of her sister's belongings but there had to be sadness as well there too. Any hope of Lori being found alive had to be quickly draining away this last week.

"Why don't we go back to the car?" Knox suggested. "You can sit down and I'll get you a bottle of water."

Jenna's gaze never faltered, steady on the house the police were searching. "I'm fine. I need to see this through."

"You can see anything they bring you. I was just thinking that you might want to rest a little."

This time she did turn to him, her eyes bright with unshed tears. "Thank you, but I'm okay. I'll fall apart later. Right now, I'm here for Lori."

He leaned down, brushing her temple with his lips. "And I'll be there for you when you do. You're a strong woman, Jenna Waters."

"I guess we'll see if that's true."

It certainly was true. For the next two hours, the detectives brought out about a dozen items for Jenna's perusal. About half of them she was able to easily identify. The other half Jenna wasn't sure about. They were all going to be processed at the state lab for blood and DNA.

It was