Page 28 of Deputies Under Fire (Renegade Canyon #2)

Eden stood in the shower and let the pulsing jets go to work on her tight muscles. She was sore and bruised and had some scrapes from both the barn explosion and having to dive onto the road after the firebombs.

The romp on the floor with Rory had maybe added a few new bruises, but the sex had made that all worth it. In fact, the sex had made a lot of things worth it.

Including the doubts and regrets.

Being with Rory had definitely muddied the waters of their already complicated relationship, but there was no chance of regretting it. She’d needed him, and he’d given her exactly what Rory was capable of giving.

Which was pretty much everything.

Rory cared for her. He loved their son. And he was a good man. Soon, she was going to have to decide if being with him was worth the daily battles that Ike would dole out. Then again, if Ike was in jail, then he couldn’t make trouble for them.

But she still couldn’t see Ike committing these murders.

No, and that meant eventually the evidence would clear his name. Eventually, the real killer would be caught and put in jail. And then life would get back to…

“Normal,” she muttered.

That should have made her feel better, but there were some question marks on catching the killer. It was possible that once the killer had run through the list of Ike’s enemies, the murders would stop. There might never be justice for Mellie, Brenda or Carter.

And as for going back to normal?

That might not happen. Not after these emotional barriers had come down between Rory and her. They might never go back to the way things had been just a few days ago. Now, she needed to decide how she felt about that.

With that thought weaving its way through her mind, she stepped out of the shower to a variety of sounds.

She could hear Rory and Tyler on the baby monitor that she’d brought into the bathroom with her after they’d all had breakfast with Dutton, Grace, Leslie and Nash.

Tyler and Rory were now back in the nursery, and her son was babbling while Rory was reading to him.

But there was another sound—her buzzing phone.

And on the monitor she could hear Rory’s buzzing as well.

Despite her son’s happy sounds, the dread raced through her, and she steeled herself to hear more bad news. She prayed there hadn’t been another murder.

It wasn’t that early, already a little past ten, and Livvy and Bennie had been sending them text updates, but this was the first call of the morning.

She looked at her phone screen and saw not only Livvy’s name, but also that it was a group call to Bennie, Rory and her. On the monitor, she heard Rory answer, muttering to Livvy that he was going to leave Tyler with Leslie in the nursery and step out in the hall so they could talk.

Eden answered as well, putting it on speaker so she could dry off and get dressed in the clothes that Dutton had had brought over from her place. She needed to be ready since it was possible she and Rory would be leaving soon to put out another fire.

Maybe a literal one.

“I’m here,” Eden said to the group. “Did something happen?”

“No one else is dead,” Livvy answered, clearly picking up on Eden’s concern. “But I thought you should know about the latest on Garrison. And the searches that are going on as we speak at Frank’s and Helen’s.”

Yes, she definitely wanted to hear about Garrison.

Eden had known about Aileen coming through on the search warrant.

They’d gotten that info in a text while they were eating breakfast. Aileen had also let them know that SAPD would be the ones executing the warrant and sending in their own CSIs, so none of the deputies would have to go into San Antonio to do it.

But Eden hadn’t been aware that the actual searches would take place so soon.

“Garrison’s still in ICU,” Livvy began, “but his condition is improving. The doctors are a lot more optimistic about his condition now than they were last night. They believe he’s going to make it.”

Good. Eden hoped that he made a full recovery, and once he was out of ICU, she would try to go see him.

“I haven’t heard anything back yet on Helen’s search,” Livvy went on, “but Bennie wants to give us an update about what he found at Frank’s.”

“Or rather what I didn’t find,” Bennie interjected.

She heard the man huff. “I know in one of the reports that Helen said Frank had lots of magazines about guns and explosives, but we didn’t find anything like that anywhere in his house.

In fact, no magazines, just a handful of nonfiction books about histories of various wars. ”

“Maybe Frank hid or destroyed them?” Eden suggested.

“Yeah, I considered that so I checked the attic and any possible hidey-hole I could think of. Nothing there, and there were no fresh ashes in the fireplace or the barbecue grill,” Bennie informed them.

“The man’s not a pack rat, that’s for sure.

There was practically nothing in the attic.

That minimalism applied to the house, too.

No clutter, everything in its place and I didn’t see a spot where a bunch of magazines had once been.

Of course, that doesn’t mean he didn’t get rid of them before I showed up. ”

“True,” Rory agreed, “but it also could mean Helen was lying. And there’s only one reason I can think of for her doing that. She wants Frank to look guilty.”

“I think I’m going with that option,” Bennie muttered. “While I was looking around, Frank and I chatted, and I got the feeling the man was scared of Helen. Maybe not actually scared for himself but for anyone who crossed her.”

“Diedre,” Rory and Eden said in unison. It was Eden who continued. “Both Frank and Diedre want to keep their relationship a secret, but if Helen found out, she might have wanted to get back at Frank by making him look guilty.” She stopped, groaned. “Has anyone checked in with Diedre this morning?”

There were more groans. “I’ll do that now,” Livvy said. “Just stay on the phone with Bennie, and I’ll use a landline.”

“Bennie, did Frank happen to mention Diedre?” Eden asked after Livvy had left the group chat.

“He didn’t bring her up, but she’s something else I worked into the conversation while I was searching. I asked him the last time he saw her, and get this—he said it was night before last.”

“The night of Brenda’s murder,” Eden muttered. It was also when Carter had taken those photos of Diedre returning home in different clothes.

“Yep. That puts Diedre in Renegade Canyon at the time of the attack,” Bennie said. “Well, it does if Frank is telling the truth.”

And that was the problem with this investigation. Someone was lying, since Diedre had said she wasn’t in town that night. Unfortunately, Eden didn’t think they were going to get the truth from the killer.

But what exactly was the truth?

“Diedre’s not answering her phone,” Livvy said, coming back on the line. “Should I have SAPD check on her?”

“Yes,” Rory said immediately, and Eden knew why.

If Diedre wasn’t the killer, then she could be the next target. Then again, the same could be said about Rory and her.

“Did anything else turn up in the search of Frank’s house?” Rory asked, obviously directing that question at Bennie.

“Not a thing.” But then the deputy paused.

“It seemed too clean. Maybe that’s just Frank’s thing, and I could way off base here, but to me it looked as if everything might have been…

staged,” he said. She heard him gather his breath.

“I’m about to check in with SAPD on the search at Helen’s.

If anything turns up, I’ll let you know. ”

Rory thanked Livvy and him, and he ended the call. Seconds later, just as Eden was putting on the rest of her clothes, there was a knock at the bathroom door.

“It’s me,” Rory said.

She opened it, and despite the serious conversation they’d just had, Eden had to deal with the stomach flutters she got whenever she was around Rory. The flutters must have shown on her face because the corners of Rory’s mouth lifted.

“You do the same to me,” he muttered, and then he leaned in and melted her with a kiss.

She was toast.

No way could she not sink into that kiss and make it last a whole lot longer and turn a whole lot hotter than it should be. Apparently, she was going to continue to muddy these relationship waters with him.

He eased back, that slight smile still in place on his clever mouth, and he smoothed his hand over her cheek. Again, she must not have had a poker face because he seemed to know exactly what she was thinking.

“Let’s not overthink this,” he muttered.

“Good. Because I don’t believe I can cram anything else into my head right now.” Eden didn’t get a chance to add more because their phones buzzed again, and this time it was Bennie who’d initiated the call.

“The CSIs going through Helen’s house found something,” Bennie blurted the moment they answered. “And it’s not good.”

Eden and Rory both groaned, and Eden could think of many incriminating things they could find in the house of a possible killer. “What?” Rory asked.

“They found some traces of the supplies that were used to make those IEDs,” Bennie explained. “They were in a plastic bag at the bottom of her trash can.”

Rory’s gaze met hers, and she saw the relief. And the sickening dread. They might finally have their killer, but it was horrific to think of his blood kin committing these horrible crimes.

“There are also some deleted computer searches on how to make explosives,” Bennie added. “Her laptop will be sent to the lab to see what else they can find on it.”

“They’re certain it’s the same supplies as those in the IEDs?” Rory asked.

“They seem plenty certain to me. Of course, everything will be tested, but they had the components of the IEDs from the bomb-squad guys and matched them to what they found in that plastic bag.”

Rory stayed quiet a moment, obviously processing that revelation. “What did Helen have to say about that bag and the computer searches?”