Within Range. Janice Kay Johnson

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       Chapter Two

      Seth was the sole detective on a police force that had only twelve sworn officers altogether, including the chief. If absolutely necessary, he could borrow an officer or two to help in an investigation. So far, beyond keeping the responding officer on the doorstep until the CSI team and morgue van arrived, Seth didn’t want help. He preferred to talk to neighbors and then the husband himself.

      He put off speaking to Ms. Boyd’s boss until morning, but did call the day-care operator, who confirmed that Jacob’s mother had picked him up about five minutes before the six o’clock deadline. Until the ME gave him a more informed time of death than he had so far, Seth couldn’t rule out Ms. Boyd. She’d have had to go home to meet the victim, kill her and then pick up her little boy while appearing completely unperturbed. Hard to see her as that cold-blooded...but it was conceivable. It meant she was a hell of an actor, though. He really believed the seesawing emotions he’d seen were genuine.

      That said, his instincts were sending up some flares. He suspected that Helen Boyd had secrets.

      For now, he wanted to keep her cooperative, so after making his phone calls, he located a suitcase in the hall closet and filled it with the kid’s clothes and toys first, including a blue stuffed rabbit, before invading her bedroom. He tossed sneakers into the suitcase first, took a pair of jeans off a pile in a bottom drawer, a T-shirt and zip-up sweatshirt from the middle drawer, then made himself open the top drawer. It was astonishingly neat, by his standards. He took out an oversize Eeyore T-shirt he presumed she wore as a nightgown, a plain beige cotton bra and two pairs of panties, then closed the drawer before thinking, Wait. Socks. He tossed two pairs in the suitcase, then went to the bathroom.

      The crime scene investigators might not be happy with him, but he couldn’t see what they’d learn from Ms. Boyd’s clean clothes or her or her son’s toothbrushes. He did peek in the medicine cabinet, which could often be revealing. In this case...nope. No prescription drugs. Only ibuprofen for her, cherry-flavored painkillers for Jacob, bath powder, floss and hair spray and gel. Stick deodorant, which he tossed into the suitcase along with the toothbrushes and toothpaste.

      A minute later, he carried the suitcase and plastic potty seat out to her living room, where he paused to pick up the thin, tattered blanket before going out to her now-empty car. He was taking advantage of unlocked doors to set everything on the back seat next to the boy’s car seat when Ms. Boyd came hurrying out of the neighbor’s house carrying her son.

      She told him she’d go to the Lookout Inn, a pricey place to stay, but without driving a distance she didn’t have a lot of choice. The bed-and-breakfast inns in town probably weren’t any cheaper, and wouldn’t afford as much privacy.

      “All right,” he said. “One more thing. Would you allow me to look in the trunk of your car without a warrant?”

      She recoiled. “You think I—Of course you can look.” Cheeks flushed, she handed over her car keys, then stayed where she was.

      The trunk was as tidy as the floorboards of her car and the house. He did lift the cover to be sure no bloody pipe lurked beneath with the spare tire and jack. Nope.

      After slamming the trunk lid, he gave her back the keys. “I may check on you later.”

      She looked less than happy at the idea, but dipped her head in apparent resignation and leaned into the car to fasten her drowsy son into his seat. A minute later, she drove off.

      Left standing on the sidewalk, Seth watched the car proceed cautiously down the street until it turned out of sight. He swore under his breath and rolled his shoulders.

      She left him unsettled. And he didn’t think it was just the uncomfortable fact that she was an attractive woman.

      After some thought, he decided part of the problem was that her responses had veered from the norm. Which led him back to where he’d started: Helen Boyd wasn’t telling him all she was thinking, by a long shot. But what was she hiding?

      * * *

      HELEN JUMPED SIX inches at the soft knock on the door of the hotel room even though she’d expected it. She had horribly mixed feelings about seeing Detective Renner again tonight. She wanted to know what he’d learned, of course. How could she make decisions otherwise? But he made her nervous; he watched her with those penetrating blue eyes until she felt as if he was reading her mind.

      He also wasn’t the only one who could find her here. She approached the door cautiously.

      “Who is it?”

      The detective’s voice both reassured her and didn’t. Like she had a choice about whether to let him in.

      He dominated the room from the moment he stepped into it. She couldn’t quite figure it out, since she had the feeling he was trying to be unassuming. Some of it was size; he certainly topped six feet, which made him a whole lot taller than she was. Broader, too, with impressive shoulders and a rangy, athletic build.

      As she backed away, she decided unhappily that the quality was innate. The strength of his control and purpose, his determination, were impossible to miss. She wondered if his police chief or whoever was his direct boss ever dared to give him an order.

      Of course, he started by assessing her with those sharp eyes before sweeping the room in search of...who knew? Enemies crouching behind the bed or peering from the closet? At last, his gaze settled on Jacob, sound asleep on one side of the queen-size bed. He looked so small in the big bed, so defenseless.

      In a low voice, the detective asked, “Will we wake him if we talk?”