Jill Elizabeth Nelson by Legacy of Lies Page A

property were giving his department a black eye in the community.
    â€œHey, Chief.” Terry got on the horn. “Let me call you on your cell.”
    Rich agreed. Must be something his deputy didn’t want to discuss on the radio for the delectation of anyone with a police scanner. A few seconds later his cell played.
    â€œGot an update on forensics from the Keller crime scenes,” Terry said.
    â€œSpill.”
    â€œThe forensics tech headed back to his lab this morning with all the evidence from both the burial site and the attic. He says there are plenty of good fingerprints on the bat and the plastic bag that was used as a shroud. He won’t have any idea who they belong to, though, until he gets a chance to analyze them with the proper equipment.”
    Rich huffed. “I expect some of the prints on the bat to come back to Jan and probably to her son, Nicole’s father. The bat was his as a boy.”
    â€œYeah, well, both those sets of prints will be in the system for elimination—Nicole’s dad’s because he was a cop, and Jan’s because we just took ’em. Nicole’s, too.”
    â€œNicole’s? You mean on the plastic bag.”
    â€œOr the bat. She called in the assault. Maybe Nicole and granny had an argument—something about that dead baby and—”
    â€œAre you serious?” Rich’s roar echoed in his own ears.
    Terry’s gotcha chuckle carried over the airwaves. “Notreally. The motive for that extreme reaction is pretty flimsy. Unless there’s something about this case we don’t know.”
    â€œThere are lots of blanks to fill in yet.” Rich’s words came out clipped, as he stuffed his eruption of anger down into his belly, where it smoldered and fumed like a banked volcano.
    Why did he still let himself get blindsided by Terry’s petty little jokes at his expense? Maybe because he was too infatuated with Nicole to think straight. That wasn’t good. Not good at all as long as this case was on his docket.
    â€œWhat’s the scoop on this two-one-one last night?” Rich growled at his deputy.
    â€œDugan’s Implement lost a half-dozen lawn mowers and several skid loaders out of their storage shed in the back. The staff came in this morning to roll them out for display, but the padlock was cut and the shed had been cleaned out slick as a whistle.”
    â€œI thought Dugan’s had an alarm system.”
    â€œOn their showroom, yes, but the shed was for overstock and not wired.”
    Rich gusted a breath. “So it continues to look like we’re dealing with clever amateurs. Smart enough to fly under the radar by not messing with alarms.”
    â€œPickin’s have been pretty good without tangling with alarms.”
    Too good. Rich’s fume morphed into a boil. Those penny-ante crooks might think they were playing smart, but they’d mess up and get caught…eventually.
    â€œAny leads?” he asked his deputy. “Tire tracks? Passersby notice unusual activity?”
    â€œNobody’s come forward to say they saw anything suspicious last night, but we might have a partial tire tread from a trailer in the packed dirt near the shed. Of course, the treadcould be from an innocent customer, too. Traffic is pretty regular in the lot.”
    Rich grunted. “Keep me updated on anything new. I’ll be home by evening.”
    â€œWill do, Chief.”
    Rich tucked his phone away, scowling. His deputy was way too chipper for all the trash the department had on its plate. Probably because the guy was counting on inheriting Rich’s badge after his boss got canned for incompetence. Rich squared his shoulders. Not going to happen. He’d better get a muzzle on these negative thoughts if he expected to nab the midnight larcenists, not to mention solve a half-century-old kidnapping and murder case.
    Midafternoon, Rich left the headquarters of the MBCA with his