“Nah . . . I must’ve sorted her out in the good kids. I didn’t pay too much attention to them. Didn’t even remember her face that much when we found her. She just looked sorta familiar, you know?”
Brody paused, his eyes losing focus, evidently conjuring the memory of finding Grace because he shuddered in a small way. Then he gave her a devilish grin. “Okay, time to check out. I’ve got a purty little gal coming over tonight, and I need to get some rest before she gets there. I’m not getting much sleep these days, but I sure am getting a lot of exercise, if you know what I mean.”
And with that, he turned back into the macho asshole she was more familiar with. She forced herself to remain neutral and ask one more question. “Is she anyone I know?”
He stared a moment, and Mattie could see him considering his answer. He leaned against the doorframe. “You said you met her out at the hot springs. Adrienne Howard.”
Mattie decided to meet him where he’d brought the discussion, out in the open. “Geez, Brody. Why didn’t you say so earlier? No wonder you think she’s in the clear. Have you known her very long?”
Mattie noticed a dull red flush creeping up his neck. He glanced down and then straightened to stand away from the door. She’d never seen him uncomfortable like this before. Usually he was all swagger and bluff.
With his voice taking on its familiar hard tone, he said, “Yeah, I’ve known her a couple months. Spent some time out at the hot springs. That’s why I know you and the detective are on the wrong track with them.”
“They seem worth taking a look at. Maybe not Adrienne so much as the others.”
“The only thing those people are addicted to is tofu. They aren’t involved with drugs or drug running. They’re complete health nuts. And I never observed a connection between them and Mike.”
“Sounds like you’ve spent some time out there.”
“Hey, I hurt my back this summer, okay? I decided to try them out.”
By this time, Brody looked really embarrassed, and she could tell his discomfort was genuine. It was killing him to speak so openly. “I’m glad you’re telling me this now,” she said.
“I’ve been sayin’ it all along. No one seems to want to believe it.”
She could tell he was frustrated. “Okay, I get it. The hot springs is probably a dead end.”
“So that’s settled then.”
“As far as I’m concerned. We’ll see if Detective LoSasso agrees.”
He gave Mattie one of his mean looks and turned to go.
“Hey, Brody,” she called. “Were they able to help you with your back pain?”
He threw a wicked smile over his shoulder on his way out the door. “Sure did. No problemo.”
Mattie leaned back in her chair to consider what she’d just learned. In hindsight, she realized the times she’d noticed Brody blushing was probably because he was embarrassed about his affiliation with the “hot springs idiots,” as he’d once called them, and his new lady love, which he’d found among them. Sure, he and Adrienne would be each other’s alibis for Friday morning, but she didn’t doubt he’d been close when called to work. And the killer had way too much to do that morning, burying the body and then hiding the car, to be down in Timber Creek at that time.
She was beginning to feel a little embarrassed herself about her earlier suspicion. It seemed like he was telling the truth when he said he didn’t know Grace. Strange how Tommy and Brennaman had thought he did. And it wasn’t so much Patrick who’d pointed the finger at Brody; it had been Tommy, who also appeared to know something about Mike using his dogs to transport drugs.
Tommy’s the one we need to sweat. We need to bring him in so that Stella can interrogate him as soon as she can.
Who would’ve thought Brody would help Mike train his dogs? She realized his interest had been sparked by Robo’s addition to the force. While she’d been away at the academy, Brody had pursued learning what he could from Mike. And that information about scent memory? That was good stuff.
Mattie gathered up her paperwork, placed it in the out basket, and turned to Robo. He’d slept through the entire conversation with Brody, something he didn’t do with just everyone. He must’ve been comfortable enough and not felt threatened.
She remembered how Robo had bristled when he’d first met Brennaman. She paused, standing still. The room fell away as a rush of adrenalin hit her system.
Oh my God. Robo’s scent memory!
Robo had sensed danger the moment John Brennaman entered the room. She’d been too ignorant to read what he’d tried to tell her. Another click of her memory, and she remembered Belle barking furiously out the window when Brennaman came by the Walker house.
Had he come to the house to see what Angela knew? She probed her mind to recall the conversation. Yes! He’d asked Angie if she and Grace spent much time together during the summer, if they’d talked the past week. Christ! He had some ego to question Angie with a police officer standing by. Her ears grew warm as she realized that he’d gotten away with it, too. Except for the dogs. They’d tried to tell the humans that the killer was standing right in front of them.
And when she’d taken Robo out through the back door, he’d picked up Brennaman’s scent immediately, as evidenced by the hackles raised on his back. Hell, she’d wasted time suspecting Brody, and she was sorry she’d ever mentioned her suspicion to Stella. She reached for her cell phone to give Stella a call, but it wasn’t in her pocket. She must have left it out in the cruiser.
“Come on, Robo. We need to go,” she said, heading out the door with her partner at her heels.
Chapter 27
She found her cell phone where she’d left it: in its slot on the dashboard of her cruiser. In the waning light of dusk, she could tell that she had two missed calls, one from Stella and one from an unknown number. Stella’s message was first in the queue.
“Hey, Mattie. I wanted you to know that the details from Phoenix were confirmed as originally stated. But I turned up an interesting thing. When I talked to the golf pro in charge of the tournament Brinkman played in, I asked if they had any registrants in their tourney from Timber Creek. The answer was yes. A Mr. John Brennaman. I think I’ve heard you and the sheriff mention him. He’s the high school principal, isn’t he? I plan to talk with him first thing tomorrow. I have one more interview now and then let’s go see Tommy O’Malley. I’ll call you when I’m done.”
So Brennaman had been at the tournament where the gun went missing. Even though it seemed unbelievable, Mattie grew more and more confident that he was their guy for both murders.
She saved Stella’s message and listened to the next one. After a long pause filled with shouting in the background, a child’s voice spoke in a near whisper. “Mrs. Cobb? This is Sean. I need help.”
Mattie’s heart sank as a sense of déjà vu almost overwhelmed her. She checked the time on the child’s call. Twenty minutes ago. She started the cruiser’s engine and headed straight to the O’Malley trailer, calling the dispatcher and telling him to send the night shift deputy, Cy Garcia, for backup. She told him it was a potential domestic disturbance and gave the trailer’s exact address and location.
Following up on Brennaman would have to wait until she took care of this crisis. She sped the few blocks it took to get to Sean’s home, chastising herself for leaving her cell phone in the car.
The first to arrive, she parked out front and switched on the rotary lights. Red and blue created a cyclical flash against the trailer wall. The trailer itself was dark; there was no sign of anyone inside or out.