understood that, but… “He could still hurt the retirees, or the girls.”
“They’re all willing to take that risk,” Hawk said. “I’ve talked to them all.”
“Do I need to read these over?” Jessica picked up the papers.
Leslie nodded. “I wrote them, and they’re good, but never, never, never sign something you haven’t read. We’ll leave you to it. Let me know if you have any questions.”
Leslie and Reed left the room, and Jessica leaned into Hawk. “I don’t want to do this anymore. Can you invent a time machine where, with the information I have now, I meet Grant and tell him to go to hell?”
“I’m on it,” Hawk said. “I know this makes you nervous, but how about we do this, then we have a Daddy/Little party tonight, just the two of us? We’ll have an indoor picnic, play games, do whatever you want to do.”
Jessica nodded. “Can we bake cookies?”
“Chocolate chip?”
“Peanut butter,” she countered.
“Both.” He leaned over and kissed her temple. “You have to do what’s right on this one.”
“You’re right,” she said. There were only three pages to the papers, and she read them all, and then Hawk did the same. She wasn’t exactly sure of some of the words, but she knew what it said. The cops didn’t think she killed Matilda Dobbs, but they wanted her help to trap the man they think did—Grant Dobbs.
Jessica signed at the x.
The plans changed as the afternoon dragged on. A huge thunderstorm built up, and flooded the roadways, making a trip dangerous. Since Jackson wanted to get this done tonight he decided on a different tactic… a phone call.
“I’d prefer to do it in person so I could see his expressions, but I don’t want to wait until tomorrow,” Jackson said. “We need to wrap this up.”
Jackson let her and Hawk stay in the room while he called Grant, and the sound of her ex-fiancé’s voice almost made her gag. She had to hold it in because she’d promised to be quiet.
“Did you arrest her?” Grant sounded so smug that after she’d fought back the gag, Jessica had flipped off the phone that sat in the middle of the table.
“I know she did it, but I don’t have enough evidence,” Jackson said.
“You have the phone recording,” Grant said. “What else do you need?”
“A murder weapon would be good,” Jackson said. “And so would the ring. Neither of those items showed up in our searches.”
The phone got quiet and finally Grant said, “Did you check her cop boyfriend’s house?”
“We did,” Jackson said. “They have a lot of guns and rifles there, but no .38 Specials.”
“Then use the tape,” Grant said in exasperation.
This time Jessica shot the phone a double bird.
“She has a good lawyer.” Jackson had a smile on his face. “The lawyer will tear the tape up in court and win. There’s such a thing as double jeopardy. If we try her on the case, and the DA won’t do it I promise you, and we lose then she really does get off scot free.”
We’re going to have to accept the fact that unless we get more evidence, she might get away with it.”
“That’s unacceptable.” Grant had the same tone of voice he’d used when he’d thrown the bottle of wine against the wall. “Arrest her.”
“I’ll do my job and arrest her when it will stick,” Jackson said. “I’m sorry this upsets you, but there is nothing more I can do except continue to search. I’m sorry.”
Grant said a few choice words, and Jessica fought back a laugh. She glanced at Hawk and could see he was smiling.
“I’ll let you know when I have more information, but it might be a while,” Jackson said.
“That is unacceptable,” Grant repeated, his anger apparent. “I want her ass in jail. Now.”
Jessica stood, she bent so her rear was near the phone and pointed a finger at it. Then she turned around and mouthed, “Kiss my ass.”
“I will talk with you again,” Jackson said. “Good night, Mr. Dobbs.”
He hung up and then pointed his finger at Jessica. “You almost made me laugh, and that would have ruined the whole thing.”
It was the first time she’d seen any amount of humor from the ranger, and it made her smile. “Sorry, I’ll behave.”
“Unlikely,” Hawk said.
“She’s a handful,” the ranger said. “Where are the two of you staying? Back at the cabin?”
“Not sure,” Hawk said.
“I have units on the house, and on the bakery just in case he surprises me and shows up tonight. I don’t