Temptation Trails (The Haven Brothers #3)

The murderer had been meticulous. He hadn’t left a shred of DNA. She hadn’t been sexually assaulted, which was interesting in and of itself. Murders of women were often sexually motivated, but this one didn’t seem to have been. And there hadn’t been so much as a hair or spot of blood on her body that wasn’t hers.

She had a minor head injury, ligature marks on her wrists that indicated restraint, and the cause of death was strangulation.

The working theory had been crime of opportunity. She’d been on a hiking trail where the perpetrator had assaulted and killed her. No one had come up with a motive, and a lot of people in town had decided it had been a vagrant. Some random criminal passing through had attacked the poor young woman and left, never to be seen again.

But had they missed something?

The location where I’d discovered the bracelet wasn’t where Jasmine’s body had been found. If it was her bracelet, how did it get there? Had she lost it before she went missing? How reliable was the description of what she’d been wearing when she disappeared?

There was one way to find out.

Her older sister, Jocelyn, had been the last person to see her alive. I found the interviews they’d conducted, both before her body had been found, and the follow up later. Sure enough, Jocelyn had listed the bracelet among the things she’d been wearing. They had a matching set and never took them off.

I kept reading through the interviews with Jocelyn. She’d been concerned that Jasmine’s ex-boyfriend might be involved. Not long before she was murdered, Jasmine had left what her sister described as a toxic relationship. I searched through the case notes and found the interview with the ex. He’d been on a fishing boat in Alaska when Jasmine had been killed—his alibi corroborated by numerous witnesses.

He’d been taken off the person of interest list, but as I kept reading through Jocelyn’s interview, something stood out. She said in the weeks prior to Jasmine’s initial disappearance, she’d received two packages from an unknown sender.

I kept reading, but the contents of the packages weren’t listed. I didn’t see another mention of them anywhere.

Hadn’t anyone looked into that? It seemed impossible that they hadn’t, unless it had been confirmed that the packages weren’t related. But why wasn’t there something in the file to indicate that?

I wondered if Jocelyn Joyner still lived in Tilikum. I wanted to talk to her—find out what the packages had been about. If I was lucky, maybe she still had them.

Probably not after a decade, but you never knew what people would hang onto.

Sergeant Denny, my direct supervisor, walked by and glanced at me, eyebrows raised. I had to head out on patrol to cover for another deputy who was on paternity leave. It was hard to tear myself away from the Joyner case, but I didn’t have much choice. Sometimes that was life in law enforcement—you did what you were told.

I stood. “Heading out, Sarge.”

“Be safe out there.”

“Will do.”

I went out to my patrol car and performed the requisite inspection, checking for dings or dents. I opened up the back seat and looked around, making sure there wasn’t any contraband left behind. The routine was part of protocol.

Then I got in and checked with dispatch to let them know I was available for assignment. “Squad seven, 10-8.”

“10-4, squad seven. Squad nine is responding to family trouble at 306 West Cherry Street. Stay in the area in case they need assistance.”

“10-4. Thanks, Bren.”

I headed out and drove around town, keeping my eyes open and listening to the radio chatter. Deputy Spangler was squad nine and he handled the family trouble call without needing anything from me. Family trouble usually meant a disagreement between family members that wasn’t domestic violence. It wasn’t a surprise Spangler was able to de-escalate whatever had been going on. He was good at it.

I drove past Lumberjack Park, where it looked like the Squirrel Protection Squad were having a meeting. A few of the members turned and waved as I passed. I lifted a hand to wave back. Law enforcement had an amicable relationship with the grassroots group. They’d ostensibly formed to help protect the local squirrel population in a time of crisis, but everyone knew they were really Tilikum’s civilian security force.

They’d watched out for my sister-in-law, Audrey. And helped with the search when Marigold had gone missing. As long as they didn’t get in the way of an investigation, I was happy to let them do their thing.

I came to the turn that would take me to Angel Cakes and I swear, the steering wheel moved on its own. I jerked it back so I’d go straight instead of turning. My Harper obsession was getting out of hand. I could have caused an accident.

Granted, no one else was on the road. But still. I needed to get her out of my head.

I circled the block and stopped at a four-way. Another car went through and the driver caught my eye as she passed.

Oh, shit. It was her.

Harper.

Without thinking, I pulled out behind her. What was I doing? She was probably on her way home. Was I going to follow her? What was that supposed to accomplish?