Page 104 of Bring Them Home

Briggs continued. “You know I have Lucas Hernandez’s phone. Well, I’ve been through it. There is call history between him and Holden.”

“He didn’t even try to block his number?”

“Nope.”

“And how far does it go back?”

“Two weeks.”

When Abigail McGee had come to Woodbridge to meet up with Valerie Archer. “Unbelievable. He’s dirty and needs to pay. He’s an accessory to all of it.”

“I’d say we have enough to pursue charges against the marshal from my discoveries alone. And I’m sure once his bank accounts are accessed, there will be hard proof.”

“Thank you, Jacob.” She didn’t pull out his first name often, but it felt right.

“Don’t mention it. Now I’m heading home for some sleep.”

“Pleasant dreams.” She’d sleep soundly when the time came for her.

Briggs was gone, and after seeing there was still time left on the popcorn, she called Malone.

“It’s Sunday,” he grumbled.

“Yeah, well, you need to hear this.” She laid out everything she’d just learned from Briggs.

“I’ll forward all of this along. He’ll be arrested, Amanda. Great job. Now, just take the remainder of the day, would you, and get some rest? Recharge? Go eat roast beef and mashed potatoes at your parents’.”

She smiled. “Will do.” As she pocketed her phone, her eye caught the wedding invite stuck to the fridge for Libby and her fiancée, Penny… Anderson. It hit her like a truck. She’d never given it any thought before. Was she related to Judge Gene Anderson?

The microwave beeped.

“Mom!” Zoe called out.

“Just a minute.” Amanda emptied the bag of popcorn into a bowl.

Judge Anderson was still one loose end from all of this. There wasn’t enough to prove he was corrupt. How Amanda wished she could just bury her head in the sand and ignore what her gut was telling her. She’d tried to convince Malone that Hernandez and his men were ready for them because of Anderson. Malone reminded her again that they needed solid evidence. But there was no way they’d be getting authorization to see the judge’s call history anytime soon.

She left the bowl to sit on the counter for another minute, pulled out her phone again, and this time she searched social media for Penny. Amanda wasn’t on there much at all, and it looked like she had an outstanding friend request from her. She accepted and scrolled down Penny’s feed. She skimmed the photos and came across one of a wedding that had been marked up with the words, Elise actually did it!

Amanda brought up the attached post and found there were several photos attached. She had tagged an Elise Anderson and Branson Colter. He must have been the groom. The post said, My cuz said “I do” to the man she loves. I wish them all the happiness in the world.

Cuz, as in cousin…

Amanda zoomed in on a picture of Elise dancing with a man and nearly dropped her phone when she recognized him. It was Judge Gene Anderson. He was Penny’s uncle.

She gripped the counter, trying to calm herself down, trying to enforce rationale. There may be another way of flipping her recent suspicions. A viewpoint that didn’t implicate the judge’s character.

“Mom,” Zoe groaned, coming into the room with her arms dangling at her sides.

“I’m coming.” She was about to put her phone away when she caught something on the screen. “Here, you take it, and I’ll be right there. Just don’t spill it.” Her daughter and food were a recipe for a mess.

“Okay.” Zoe sauntered back to the couch with the popcorn.

Amanda narrowed in on what she saw. Penny had tagged her location for the wedding. It was in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Andersons claimed they were going to visit their daughter in Maine. She could have moved after she got married, but it still niggled. Doing a background check was out of the question. It would be traceable. She opted for a Google search and found Elise Colter with an address in Minnesota.

So what was going on, and why had the Andersons lied about where they were going?

Amanda was on her way back to be with Zoe when there was a knock at the door.