Detective Wade Jackson Mystery - 02 - Secrets to Die For by L. J. Sellers Page A

chat with Jamie again and interview Raina’s male friends.”
     
    “What do you have for me?” Schak asked.
     
    “Pull up their files, then go interview the assholes who shot at us tonight. It’s possible they were returning to the scene of an earlier crime.” Jackson didn’t believe it, but the angle had to be covered. The two men, Eric Vanderhorn and Sam Brukner, had been chased down and arrested twenty-six minutes after firing the shots. They were now in lockup at the county jail.
     
    “Okay.” Schak sounded disappointed.
     
    “Next, check out the CSA program. See if either of the rape victims were associated with it in any way.”
     
    The door pushed open, and Whitstone burst in. “I’ve got the warrants.” Her excitement was palpable. She’d been on the job less than a year, and tonight was probably the first time she’d been involved in anything other than issuing speeding tickets and arresting drunks.
     
    “Good work, Officer.” Jackson reached for documents, the lifeblood of detective work. “Let’s go search our suspect’s house.”
     
    Jackson, Evans, and Schak moved in unison toward the door.
     

Chapter 6
     
    Friday, February 15
     
    Jasmine Parker stood next to the forensics van, barely visible in the early morning darkness, when the three detectives arrived at the Gormans’ trailer. She had kept the van on the gravel driveway, leaving the parking area open as Jackson had requested when he’d called earlier.
     
    Cold damp air seeped into his bones, and his body felt heavy, as if the gravitational pull were suddenly stronger. He knew the others were dead tired too, but he had nothing to offer that would make a difference.
     
    “Do you live around here?”
     
    “Just over on Spencer Creek, across from the fire station,” Parker replied.
     
    “That explains why you beat me to both crime scenes.”
     
    “This is my neighborhood.” She gave him a half smile.
     
    “You don’t happen to know the Gormans?”
     
    A small shake of her head. “I only meant geographically. I don’t even know the people who own the property next to mine.”
     
    “Let’s get to work.” Jackson walked into the small clearing in front of the shabby trailer. “We’ll use the floodlights to do a cursory search of this parking area, including that blue Bronco. Then we’ll go into the house. A patrol team will be out here to search this yard again as soon as it’s daylight.”
     
    “Why the focus on the yard?” Schak asked.
     
    Jackson was surprised by the question, then realized it was his error. “Sorry, this case is moving very quickly and you weren’t present during most of the discovery at the first crime scene. There’s a blood smear near the top of the driver’s door on Raina’s car. If the killer smashed her head into the car, and Gorman is the killer, then she probably died right here in this parking area.”
     
    “So finding a drop of Raina’s blood would make the DA happy.”
     
    “Without daylight, that would require a miracle. I’m just hoping to find a cell phone.” Jackson moved to help Parker with the floodlights.
     
    For twenty minutes, they crawled, squatted, and bent over the forty-foot-square gravel area, an eerie display of slow moving flashlights. The latex gloves offered little protection against the wet frigid air. Their search produced nothing except a shriek when Evans encountered a dog turd. Where was the dog ? Jackson hadn’t seen it during their earlier visit either.
     
    He sent the other detectives into the house while he searched the Bronco. Dried-up french fries, candy wrappers, and empty soda cans littered the floor of the vehicle. A pile of copper wire was stashed under the passenger’s seat. Stolen, Jackson assumed, to sell for cash. He found a little blue ceramic pipe under the driver’s seat and sniffed the bowl. Definitely marijuana residue. He bagged the pipe, knowing it was probably a waste of time. In this case, paraphernalia was