Black Orchid Girls (Detective Amanda Steele)

THIRTY-FIVE

Amanda knocked on the Hogans’ door, and Judy answered. They informed her of the purpose for their visit and that the search had been authorized by Judge Anderson. The approval came easily with Luke’s lack of reliable alibis and the fact he’d had Stephanie Piper lie to cover him. His spewing of hate online was the cherry on top.

Judy didn’t put up too much resistance, considering it was her child’s freedom on the line, but she expressed her confidence in her son’s innocence as she led them to Luke’s bedroom on the second level.

Amanda and Trent gloved up and asked Judy to stay in the hall while they worked.

The space was moderate and functional. A bed, a nightstand, a student desk, and task chair. A large window faced the backyard and was situated over a trellis. She pointed that out to Trent and proceeded to lift the window.

“What are you doing?” Judy asked, her voice strained.

Amanda turned and held up a hand at the woman, who had stepped into the room. “Please stay at the door.”

Judy returned to the doorway.

The window opened halfway. More than enough space to slip through, and she traced the edges of the screen with her eyes. There were some scuff marks. She gestured toward those. “He snuck in and out this way. No doubt.”

“What are you saying over there?”

“Ms. Hogan, if it’s easier for you, you can go downstairs.”

The woman crossed her arms and jutted out her chin, but otherwise didn’t move. “I’m fine right where I am. Thank you very much.”

Amanda’s phone rang, and she checked caller ID. It was Deb Hibbert. She was torn because she wanted to take the call, but it wasn’t a good time. She rejected the call and sent Deb to voicemail.

Trent looked from Amanda to her phone, back up to her eyes, and she subtly shook her head.

“Personal. I’ll take care of it later,” she said.

They carried on their search of the room, looking for anything that might indicate Luke had killed Chloe and Jayne, but nothing was screaming guilt as much as Luke’s lack of alibis for both murders. And his asking someone to lie for him. They found a laptop, which the warrant covered, and took it with them. Maybe there would be something on there to confirm guilt.

They saw themselves out, but Amanda told Judy they would be walking around the back of the house.

To Trent, she said, “Luke claims there’s a cat that comes around and hangs in the garden outside his window.”

“A lie? It’s very possible that Jayne bit him.”

“I actually think he might be telling the truth about the cat. I saw the wound, and it didn’t look like a human had caused it.”

They went through a gate and into the yard and caught sight of a rangy, black cat.

“Could be the one Luke was talking about,” she said.

“Could also be a scapegoat in cat’s clothing,” he tossed back with a small chuckle.

“Huh. You just wanted to say that, didn’t you?”

He held up his hands. “Guilty.”

The existence of a cat only proved that Luke had given his defense some thought. And they could have been wrong about where Jayne’s killer had been bit. It was obvious Luke had an escape route from his room. He could have slipped out Monday morning without his parents being aware. Same with that morning. “We need to escalate things with Luke. Get a swab of his DNA and find out his blood type.”

Trent nodded. “Rule him in or out for what was found on the snail at the Somner crime scene, and to have something to run against the epithelia pulled from Jayne’s teeth. You think a judge will sign off on it?”

“We got this far, and there’s a lot stacking up against him.” She thought again of the growing list: no alibis, knowledge of black orchid symbolism, the unrequited feelings, and online bullying against Chloe.

“We could always start by asking Luke nicely and go from there?”

“Couldn’t hurt,” she agreed. “We’ll also get approval for his phone records and start digging into that too.”

“And we have this.” Trent held up Luke’s laptop.

They got into the car and headed back to Central. Her phone pinged with a message from Rideout. “Autopsy for Jayne Russell is scheduled for tomorrow morning at nine,” she told Trent.

He simply nodded and kept driving.

As she held her phone in her hand, her gaze landed on the voicemail icon in the top left-hand corner. She dialed in and listened to Deb’s message, holding her breath the entire time. She hung up and pocketed her phone.

“Everything all right over there?” Trent asked.

“Yeah, why?”

“For one thing, the energy in the car just got weird, and you’re quiet. That doesn’t happen a lot.” He tagged on a small smile to his statement.

“I’ll try not to take offense at that.”

Full-blown grin, then it faded when she didn’t reciprocate. “There is something wrong.”

She pushed her head against the back of the seat. “You could say that.” She pinched the bridge of her nose, a headache blooming behind her eyes.

“Anything I can do?”

Her instinct was to respond that it was none of his business, but she couldn’t bring herself to do that for some inexplicable reason. “It’s Zoe.”

“She’s all right. Right?”

“Yeah.” For now, Amanda thought, but when the girl found out that a stranger was her actual father and the one she’d seen murdered hadn’t been… well, that just might screw her up for life. And that wasn’t even getting into the fact this stranger could swoop in and take Zoe all the way to California.

“You don’t have to talk to me if you don’t want to. I understand.” He went back to looking out the windshield, but his gentle tone and compassion had her wanting to open up.

“Remember that Mrs. Parker had an affair around the time of Zoe’s conception?” He’d worked the Parker case with her and would be aware of that fact, if he remembered.

“Uh-huh— Oh.” He twisted his hand on the wheel, then shot her a quick look before facing forward again.

“He’s taken a paternity test, and he’s her biological father.”