Page 27 of Hunting the Truth

“I honestly don’t remember that guy,” Josh said. “Sorry, but I’ll call the department in Montana that has the warrant out for him. They may want to come down here and be a part of this investigation. I’ll run it by your grandfather first, of course.”

“I’ll let Todd know too,” Maya said. “And maybe when I’m out on patrol, I’ll spot him.”

“Just be careful,” Josh said.

“I will. I promise.”

Josh’s expression told Maya that he didn’t quite believe her. Not that she blamed him. She knew she could be impulsive at times, but at least she had Juniper. Juniper was better than any backup officer, in Maya’s opinion. Although since Josh was often her backup officer, she thought she’d keep that opinion to herself.

“I wonder if Kendra knew him somehow,” Maya said.

“I’ll start looking into Kendra’s background,” Josh replied. “Not only for the death notification, but also to see if I can find any ties to her and this Torres guy or if this was a random wrong place, wrong time kind of thing.”

“I think she had an apartment near Fort Collins,” Maya said. “Maybe we can get a search warrant too and see what we can find there.”

“Good idea,” Josh said. “I’ll work on that too.”

“Sounds like a busy day,” Miranda said. “Call me if you need anything else. I’ll keep processing the other evidence from the crime scene and see what I find.”

“Thanks,” Josh said.

“Yeah, thank you,” Maya said.

“No problem.”

Miranda headed out the door and Maya found herself staring at Josh again. She decided to end the awkward moment and head out herself, but before she could say goodbye, her phone rang.

Her caller ID readLucas.

Chapter Thirteen

“It’s Lucas from the CBI. Maybe he has some results from the DNA he submitted to CODIS.” Maya hit the answer button on her phone along with the speaker button so Josh could listen in. “Hey there, Lucas. What’s up?”

Josh put the folder about Eric Torres on his desk. Maya sat in the chair on the other side of his desk.

“Hey, Tree Cop, I’m so glad I caught you. I was worried you’d be out of cell phone range for the day playing in the forest or something,” Lucas said.

“One of these days, I’ll let Juniper bite you for calling me a tree cop. Lucky for you, I’m still in town, so you have good timing. I’m in Josh’s office right now and have you on speakerphone.”

“Oh, cool. Hey there, Josh. Are you both sitting down?”

Maya worked hard to keep her patience. Lucas would only sound this excited if he had news about the DNA. “We are both sitting down and I’m guessing you got a hit in CODIS.”

“I did. I can’t believe how lucky we were and how fast that came back. I have a name for you and get this, he’s an ex-cop from Montana.”

Maya sucked in her breath.

No way. Could it be?

She glanced at Josh, who also had a puzzled expression on his face. “Ex-cop? Does he have a record? Wanted for murder?”

“He is.”

Maya shook her head. No way could it be Eric Torres. “I don’t suppose his name is Eric Torres?”

“How did you know that? Good grief, Maya. You’re always one step ahead.”

She didn’t know what to say at first. How could the DNA from her mother’s and Nana’s crime scenes connect to Eric Torres?