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“But not Bodine,” Jericho remarked.
Marco gathered his breath. “No, because Bodine has a hot-head history. Bar fights, a couple of restraining orders. He’s not a finesse guy, and the first two murders took someone getting close enough to the victims to kill them. It’s possible Bodine just got lucky though.” He paused. “But that leaves the dead judge. Since Bodine was already dead himself, no way he could have made that kill.”
“Not unless he was working with someone,” Jericho finished. And that brought them back to Manson or Paulie.
Or hell, someone else that wasn’t even on their radar.
Marco finished his sandwich. Finished the coffee, too, and stood while handing Rachel the backpack. “The reason for my visit instead of a phone call. Those are your relocation items for your fake death.”
Looking more than a little surprised, Rachel took the backpack and set it on the counter so she could unzip it and go through it. “A phone, a new ID. Sarah Collier,” she muttered, reading the name beneath her photo. “Credit cards, cash.” She took out a printout.
“The background I created for you for your new afterlife,” Marco explained. “Teacher’s aide. Divorced, no kids. Parents deceased. You might not actually need a bio though if you stay in the safe house.”
Again, Rachel looked surprised. “And where would that be?”
Marco shrugged. “Ruby handles that part. Only Ruby,” he emphasized. “That way, the location can’t be compromised. Once you give Ruby the red light that you’re ready to disappear, she’ll give you instructions for what to do next. As for your death,” he said, putting the last word in quotes, “all the documents will be in place to convince anyone that you ended your own life.”
Jericho could tell that hit her hard. It was one thing to talk in generalities of death, but it was something else to hear it all spelled out like this. Even when it was a fake death.
“My Aunt Tilda won’t be able to know the truth?” Rachel asked. “She won’t be able to know I’m alive?”
“That’s up to Ruby, but normally, no, she won’t,” Marco explained. “That’s how it works. Rachel Franklin vanishes from the face of the earth, and no one who’s ever known her believes differently.”
She nodded. Swallowed hard. And looked at the printout again.
Marco shifted his attention to Jericho. “Will you be going with Rachel, or are you staying alive to catch this killer?”
“Catching the killer.” Jericho had no choice in that. As long as the killer was out there, a whole lot of people wouldn’t be safe. “That’s motivation to get this finished fast,” he added, glancing at Rachel.
Unfortunately, the glance settled into a look that landed on her mouth. A reminder of that searing kiss that Marco had interrupted.
“Yeah,” Marco muttered. “I can see that.” And the comment was loaded with some snark. Marco probably hadn’t had to think hard to work out there was something going on between Rachel and him.
Something, for sure.
But what exactly?
That was a question that Jericho knew he would have to put on the backburner, but he was hoping once the danger was over, then Rachel and he…
He mentally stopped again and that went on the backburner, too. It occurred to him that this particular stovetop was getting damn crowded.
“Call Ruby when you’re ready to die,” Marco reminded Rachel, and he headed out.
Jericho shut the door behind him and immediately instructed Spike to deal with the garage door and reset the security system. He also took out his phone to let Bree know about the footage that would give Paulie alibis. Then, he tapped into Maverick Ops’ linked database and plugged in a name.
“Chase Miller,” Rachel said when she saw what he was doing. “You’re running him through the profile program?”
“Among other things. I just want to see if there’s anything to link him to Marla or any of our other key players.” He finished entering the info and looked at her. “Are you okay with that?”
For a moment, Jericho felt something he didn’t want to feel. Jealousy. But then Rachel nodded.
“I’m fine with it,” she insisted. “I no longer have feelings for Chase.”
That was good on two levels, because, hey, jealousy. But also because Chase could be flagged as a possible killer. Jericho was about to spell that out to her when his phone rang, and he saw the Canyon Ridge Police Dispatch on the screen. He immediately took the call on speaker.
“Jericho McKenna,” he said.
“Mr. McKenna, this is Don Larson at the police station. Someone called here, looking to speak to Rachel Franklin. If she’s there with you and wants to speak to the person, I can transfer it to your phone. It’s from Jason Cantrell.”
