Page 14 of Deputies Under Fire (Renegade Canyon #2)

Rory didn’t look at the phone that Carter thrust at him. He kept his attention pinned to the man himself, waiting to see if this was a ruse to try to murder them.

After all, Carter was a person of interest in Brenda’s murder. Had to be since there was a restraining order against him. But other than not having an alibi, SAPD hadn’t found anything to hold him, and Rory hadn’t gotten around to questioning him.

Well, he sure as heck had some questions now.

“Why are you here?” Rory demanded, and he lowered the window just a fraction so the man could hear him better, but not so wide that he could get the barrel of a gun through the opening.

“Oh,” Carter said, suddenly not as eager as he had been just seconds earlier. “I’ve, uh, been keeping an eye on Diedre.” He motioned toward a small pull-off area on the other side of the neighborhood sign. “I’m parked over there.”

Since that explained exactly squat, Rory repeated the question. “Why are you here?”

Carter huffed and lowered his phone to the side of his leg. “Because I’m worried the cops might try to pin Brenda’s murder on me. I didn’t kill her,” he added quickly, “but they asked me a bunch of questions, and they think I’m guilty. I could see it. It was all over their faces.”

“They believe that because you were stalking Brenda,” Rory pointed out. “Or do you deny that?”

The man took his time responding and finally shook his head. “No. I followed her around. I called her and left threatening messages.”

“You stalked her,” Eden snapped.

“Well, if I did, it was because she deserved it,” he added without a pause. “She deserved worse. Brenda destroyed my business.”

Rory had read all about that, and it was true.

Well, it was mostly true, anyway. Because she had been friends with Carter’s late mother, Brenda had loaned Carter about fifty grand to open a pub near the downtown River Walk.

However, after Ike’s antics had cost Brenda a good chunk of her income and customers, she had called in the loan.

Carter had fought repaying it, but it was a fight he’d lost. And without any working revenue, the pub had gone belly up.

Yet another casualty of Ike’s dirty dealings.

“I asked Brenda just to wait a couple more months, and then I could start repaying the loan,” Carter went on. “But she wouldn’t. She took me to court.”

“Because she had no choice,” Rory pointed out. “She was on the verge of having to declare bankruptcy.”

“She had a choice,” Carter practically shouted. “She could have gone into business with me. Then, we both would have had an income.”

“Maybe,” Eden said, “but that wasn’t the decision Brenda made, and you stalked her because of it.”

Carter looked ready to spew out some obscenities about Brenda, but he must have realized that wouldn’t do him any good. He clearly had something he wanted them to see. Something on the phone he held in a white-knuckle grip.

“After I lost the pub,” he went on, his voice and demeanor much calmer now, “I started following Brenda, looking for something I could use to have her arrested. I wanted her punished.”

“You stalked her,” Eden repeated, and it was obvious she had no sympathy for this guy. Neither did Rory.

“Yes, I’ve already admitted that,” he said, still in the calm mode.

“And after she got a restraining order, I kept my distance but continued to watch her through binoculars and the long-range lens of my camera.” Now, he did pause.

“I was watching her the night she was murdered. I think I saw when she was taken.”

Everything inside Rory went on high alert. “You saw who took Brenda but didn’t tell the cops?”

“No.” Carter held up his hands in a stop gesture. “I didn’t actually see the person. I saw a car speeding away from her place, and in hindsight I think she might have been in the vehicle. I’m not sure when she was attacked, but I believe the timing would fit. It was maybe around five p.m.”

Yes, that could fit. Could. But Carter didn’t seem at all certain of the time. Then again, he could be feigning uncertainty and knew the exact time that Brenda had been snatched or lured.

“Tell me what you saw,” Rory demanded. “And then when you’re done, I want you to cover both investigative bases by going first to SAPD and then to Renegade Canyon to give a full statement.” SAPD would need to be involved since the possible abduction would have taken place in their jurisdiction.

Carter gave a shaky nod, and he didn’t look at all sure he would do that. Eden must have thought so, too, because Rory saw her send two texts. No doubt to someone at SAPD and at Renegade Canyon who’d make sure Carter showed up to tell them this latest information.

Or this lie.

Rory wasn’t sure which.

“Like I said, I was watching Brenda’s place,” Carter explained, “but I must have fallen asleep because I didn’t see the car go to her house. But I woke up when I heard an engine revving, and I saw it speed past me.”

Rory huffed. “So you don’t know if the vehicle was even at her place?”

“I think it was.” There was more uncertainty, but then something lit up in his eyes. “But the car isn’t what I wanted to tell you about.” He dragged in a long breath. “I tried to follow the vehicle, but when I lost it, I decided to drive by here.” He motioned to Diedre’s house.

“Why?” Eden asked. She had finished her texts, put her phone on her lap and slid her hand back over the butt of her weapon in her holster.

“Because Brenda had been coming over here a lot, and I thought maybe the car was Diedre’s.” He lifted the phone again. “There was a car in her driveway. I’m not positive it was the same vehicle I saw leaving Brenda’s, but I believe it could be.”

Carter showed them the photo that he’d taken of a dark green Jeep. The heavily tinted windows made it impossible to see inside, but the man had gotten a shot of the license plate.

Eden immediately snatched up her phone again and ran a search on it. “The car’s registered to Diedre.”

Rory had to stop himself from rolling his eyes. “It’s not a crime for a person to park their car in their own driveway.”

“Yes, but I think a crime might have been committed. Look at this,” Carter insisted, showing them another photo.

It was of a very harried-looking Diedre coming out of her house and heading back to the car. Her hair was scraped back in a messy ponytail, and she appeared to be fumbling with her keys.

“Notice what’s she’s wearing,” Carter added.

Rory noted the woman’s slim black pants and gray top. “So?”

“That wasn’t the outfit she had on when she came home,” Carter explained. “She was wearing this.”

In the next photo he pulled up, Diedre was wearing baggy sweatpants and a T-shirt that looked like workout clothes. Again, there was no crime in someone changing clothes, but then Rory looked at the time stamp of the photo.

Eight p.m.

If Diedre had been the one to attack Brenda, that would have given her time to get to Renegade Canyon with Brenda, stab her and leave her in that barn to die.

Hell.

Had that happened?

Had Diedre taken this damn hit list so far that she’d murdered two women?

Rory not only didn’t have answers for that, but he also had another question to add to it. “Why didn’t you immediately take this to SAPD or to us?” he asked Carter.

“Because like I said, SAPD think I’m guilty. I don’t want to go to them with anything. And when I saw your Renegade Canyon cruiser, I thought maybe you’d be more objective, that you’d believe in innocent until proven guilty. I’m not guilty,” he added.

Maybe. Rory was going to hold out judgment on that.

Rory tipped his head to the man’s phone. “Text us those photos,” he instructed. “Then, show them to SAPD. It’s possible these pictures can clear your name,” Rory added when he saw the hesitancy in Carter’s eyes. “The time stamps could show you weren’t near Brenda when she was attacked.”

Of course, it might show just the opposite, but Rory was going to keep that to himself.

He rattled off his phone number to Carter, and the man began forwarding the photos to Rory’s phone.

Rory passed his phone to Eden so she could have a closer look and send them to the county crime lab for analysis.

Of course, SAPD would be doing the same thing, but it wouldn’t hurt to have two sets of eyes on these.

“One more thing,” Rory went on, aiming a hard stare at Carter. “If you don’t show up at SAPD within the hour, they’ll come looking for you, and it’d be best if that didn’t happen.”

Carter gave another of those unconvincing nods, and he’d just finished sending the pictures when his gaze whipped in the direction behind the cruiser. Rory looked in his side mirror and saw Diedre heading their way.

“I have to go,” Carter blurted, and the man took off running toward his car.

Rory considered going after him, but with Diedre and Carter as suspects, he decided for now to leave Carter to SAPD. Renegade Canyon PD could get a crack at him later.

“I’ll give SAPD a heads-up about the photos,” Eden murmured, taking care of that while Diedre stepped up alongside the cruiser.

“What’s going on?” Diedre demanded, stooping down and staring at them through the window. “Why are you still here, and who is that man?”

Rory debated how much to say, and he decided to see how Diedre would react to Carter’s accusations. “It’s come to my attention that there was some unusual activity at your house the night Brenda was attacked.”

Diedre’s frown deepened, and she glanced at Carter, who was now speeding away. “That man told you something about me? Who is he?”

Rory didn’t intend to spill that since Diedre might go after him. “Was your Jeep parked in your driveway at any time in the past twenty-four hours?”

Diedre froze for a couple of moments. “Why?”

“Just answer the question,” Rory ordered.

After a long hesitation, she nodded. “I believe it was.”

“But you don’t know for sure?” Rory persisted.