Page 49 of Final Inning

“No. But…don’t you think it was a little odd that my brother’s truck was run off the road the very next day? Guess who the responding officer was?”

One name came to mind. And he was going to check in with Miranda. The idea she was there in Buckbert alone, with just Lindhour to act as backup…no. Something wasn’t just sitting right, right now. Not at all.

Chapter 37

They had a list of fifteen names that really fit the profile. Another fifteen to twenty that could fit the profile. But at least they were getting closer to having a working profile. She just wished she had her beautiful boys here with her right now, to help them go through this list more quickly. She and Hagan had spoken to four, today. And Miranda was finally getting lunch. At a quarter before four p.m. in the afternoon.

Miranda was about to waste away. But at least the deli had great fried chicken. Although…she was starting to get a little ‘chickened out’, here.

Miranda had her lunch in one hand and her key to the hotel room in the other. She was waiting for Hagan, and then they were going to really dig into the people Hagan knew. Hagan had stated already that she had some people in mind who had been living in Buckbert at the time of Kevin Adams’ death, who did not live in the county any longer—and would be willing to talk to them.

Hagan was going to call after the woman’s shift at the hospital ended or something—they were going to videoconference from Hagan’s townhouse. She had better internet there, apparently. Hagan seemed pretty certain the woman would talk with them—Hagan had lived with her for a year or so. The woman’s sister was also a teacher at the school before it closed—and they lived together now.

That was who Miranda was really wanting to talk to. That woman had taught at the school since before Kevin had been killed, up to the day the school had closed.

Miranda finished her lunch, while checking her emails. She had half an hour until Bentley would be home from school. She’d have time to video chat her baby. She’d check in with the love of her life, then…she was going to get to work with Hagan, until Knight and Ward got their beautiful behinds back to Buckbert.

Dani had sent her reports from the complete autopsies of both Kevin and Harper. She was going over them when another text came in. From Ward. Confirming what Dani had already sent her—there had been an earlier murder in nearly the same place. Twenty-eight years ago. Interesting.

She would have to start digging into that one, as well.

A text from Dani came in.

Check your email. Immediately. Do it!

Okay. Well, Miranda did.

And found an autopsy report for a fourteen-year-old girl named Jennifer Garnett Bernelli.

Daughter of Jacquie Garnett…Bernelli…Johnson…Hyatt.

Dani’s email simply said: Sheriff Johnson’s stepdaughter. He was alone with her in the house when she died.

Well, wasn’t that interesting?

There were a lot of suspicious deaths circling around Sheriff Ted Johnson, weren’t there? Johnson—who did meet their profile. Hard to miss that.

Miranda printed out everything that had been sent to her from her exceptionally gifted Dani-tech, and grabbed her keys.

She had one avenue of backup she trusted somewhat, until Knight and Ward were back. And…something told her she needed to get to Hagan as soon as she could.

Because if someone was corrupt in this town and wanting to cause trouble for the investigation, now would be the time to do it.

She just really wished Knight or Ward would make a reappearance right now.

Something about this little town just did not feel right.

Not at all.

Chapter 38

Finally. She had what she had been waiting for.

Dani was once again a woman on a mission.

The autopsy reports were finally found. Dani had what existed for both Harper and Kevin spread out in front of her. She was going over every document and making notes on anything that had been found. There were some commonalities, but…now she was getting into the meat of the reports.

She had someone next to her to help her interpret the reports. Dr. Allison Reynolds was a supervisor for the blood and biologicals department. She was also one of the two assistant directors of the lab—as well as a medical doctor. Ally was one of Dani's favorite people to work with in the lab.