Page 12 of The Deputy's Secret Double
“I’m on my way.”
* * *
JJ switched herhigh-heeled sandals for flats the second Price Collins was gone.
DeputyCollins.
“How bad is my luck?” she asked the house, grabbing her purse and then locking up behind her.
As far as she could tell, Price, at the very least, hadn’t seemed too suspicious of her. Not of her car troubles, the pain she had been unable to hide or her appearance. She wasn’t sure how aware of her height, or eyes for that matter, he had been during their run-in earlier that day, but was glad he had gone when he did.
She didn’t like being caught off guard, and she had been twice that day.
And by the same man too.
It was unsettling.
JJ tried to push the feeling off as she started her drive to the café. Like she often did on her way into and out of work, she let her mind wander down a familiar path. The list of five addresses she had memorized before coming back to Seven Roads.
Josiah’s house had been low on the list. JJ had only moved it up when she heard about someone digging in his backyard by chance that morning while picking up some milk from the grocery store. Josiah had been wondering to the cashier if he should call the sheriff’s department. Apparently, he had.
Their speed and attention had definitely surprised JJ. She should have waited to do her own search until they had come and gone.
But…if anyonehadbeen snooping around Josiah’s home… Did that mean that it really could be him?
That possibility had lit a fire under her backside. So much so that she had been careless. Price sneaking up on her had been the first and—she vowed—last time she let her guard down.
JJ rolled her window down, put her hand out the window a little and sighed into the humidity that came in. Despite her clumsiness, she believed she’d executed a thorough search. Josiah didn’t have a safe, so his official documents had been easy enough to find. Nothing was out of the ordinary or suspicious. Even his personal laptop had been boring, aside from a heavy indication that he was a more than avid gamer. He had a family photo album next to his coffee table and those pictures were of people that JJ didn’t recognize at all. Though, she had taken her own picture of some of the faces, just in case.
The only thing she hadn’t had a chance to check had been the backyard.
If Josiah had been hiding something, would he have buried it?
And, if he had, then who had dug it up?
Why had Josiah reported it if so?
JJ didn’t often drink, but she sure felt the urge as her frustration rose. At the same time, however, she was thankful for it. If she was having this much trouble finding her brother, then hopefully that meant they were too.
She took that thought to heart again and focused on her drive. It wasn’t until she was passing the Lawrence Neighborhood entrance sign that she realized she had taken the long way to the café. It was the road that led between Lawrence and Becker Farm. A nice little drive with scenery that opened up to fields and trees on either side. Good for a cluttered mind.
JJ decided that today must have been a coincidence. That Josiah Teller wasn’t special, just someone who had made a big deal out of nothing. She would go to the next person on the list in a few days, after her run-in with Price settled down.
Her gaze wandered from the trees at her right to the field on her left. There were no other cars on the road ahead or behind her, so it was a leisurely thing to do.
It was a miracle she saw him at all.
Movement in the field pulled her attention. At first, JJ wasn’t sure what she was seeing. She lifted her foot off the gas pedal and squinted at the thing stumbling toward the road.
When she realized it was a person, stumbling through the tall grass, she put on her hazards and pulled off onto the shoulder.
It wasn’t just a person. It was someone who was obviously struggling.
They moved a few steps, fell a little, caught themselves and then kept coming.
It wasn’t until she was out of the car, cell phone in hand, that they saw her too.
The man stopped.