Temptation Trails (The Haven Brothers #3)

I pocketed my phone and went back to my search. The trunk was empty, but the bags in the back seat were stuffed with a random assortment of items—cell phones, other electronics, watches, prescription drug bottles, and a handful of wallets.

I had a strong feeling I already knew who’d stolen the car. It wouldn’t have been the first time this guy had jacked someone’s ride and dumped it—after committing multiple other crimes.

Trent Jones.

Every agency has people we all know. Frequent fliers, we call them. They’re in and out of the system, often for the same crimes. Trent Jones was one of them.

He had the dubious distinction of being my very first arrest. He’d gone to prison after that, but he was probably on the streets again.

One way to find out. I keyed my mic to ask Brenna. “Squad seven.”

“Go ahead, squad seven.”

“Can you find out if Trent Jones is still incarcerated?”

“What’d you find?”

“Nothing specific yet, but this looks a lot like him. We’ve got bags of contraband in the back seat and someone apparently decided to have a pizza in the middle of their crime spree.”

She chuckled. “That’s lovely. Hang on a second.”

I walked a few feet away while I waited for Brenna to report back. Whoever had dumped the car had left at least some of what they’d stolen. That meant they were probably planning to come back for it.

Had the suspect been there when the hiker found the car? Maybe he’d taken off and that was why he’d left stuff behind.

There was a trail to the east and another to the south, both of which would make reasonable getaway routes back to civilization.

Which way did you go?

A metallic glint on the ground caught my eye. It was about ten feet behind the car, in a spot where the pine needles and other debris had been churned up by the wheels. I took a few pictures with my phone, then put on one of my gloves and crouched to take a closer look.

I picked up a dirty silver bracelet. It had a curved plate with writing engraved on it and the chain connecting the two sides was broken. I wiped off enough of the dirt and squinted so I could read it.

The outside said, be kind, but on the inside the sentence finished with, of a bitch sometimes.

Okay, that was funny.

It didn’t appear to have anything to do with the stolen car. If I had to guess, it had been out there for a while. Years, maybe. The tires had disturbed the forest debris enough to dig it up.

Probably didn’t mean anything, but I put it in a plastic bag and tucked it in my pocket. Just in case.

“Squad seven,” Brenna said over dispatch.

“Go ahead, Bren.”

“He’s out. Released two months ago.”

“Thanks.”

Didn’t prove it was him, but he was the first guy I wanted to talk to.

“Can we get impound out there?” she asked. “Obviously someone drove the car there, but that doesn’t mean a tow truck can make it.”

“They’ll make it. There isn’t a road, but it’s pretty clear. Trees are sparse.”

“Got it.”

There wasn’t much more for me to do at the scene. The car would be impounded and the evidence processed. I needed to get back to the office and connect with my counterpart in Echo Creek to find out if they had any leads already.