“So they alibi each other out,” Evan noted. “Nancy is out with Annie when her husband dies. And Mallory is out with Nancy when her husband dies. And now, when Annie’s husband goes missing, she’s safely at home, and Mallory is alibied because of our investigation. That leaves Nancy.”
“So, what? Mallory kills Nancy’s husband, Annie kills Mallory’s, and Nancy is slated to kill Annie’s?” Baz mused.
“It seems logical,” Reese stated.
“There was one more thing,” Evan noted. “According to the ME, there was evidence Seth Jacobs had sex prior to his death.”
“Could that be why the report was falsified?” Baz asked, looking at Evan, then Reese, then JJ. “To shift the attention off of whoever he had sex with?”
“Do we know it wasn’t the wife?” Evan asked.
“Her alibi was verified,” JJ stated. “She was at dinner and a movie at the time of his death, so it’s safe to say she was not the one having sex with him.”
“We need to relay this information to Detective Mathis,” Reese said firmly. “Let him take the lead from here. The deaths aren’t our main focus.”
“Agree,” Baz said, nodding to JJ.
“Elana and I will compile what we have and send it over to him.”
Reese sat on the edge of Baz’s desk. “If our assumptions are accurate, Mallory Jacobs was involved in Brian Wright’s death.”
“Do you think that’s true?”
Reese’s eyebrows rose slowly. “It doesn’t help that I confirmed Mallory Jacobs does have a prescription for nitroglycerin.”
“What made you look that up?” Evan asked, leaning forward, showing his interest.
“When we were talkin’ to her earlier today, she kept clutchin’ her chest. At first, I thought she was being overdramatic, but the more she did it, the more I wondered if she has a heart problem.”
“Talk about missin’ your calling,” Baz said with a smile. “You should’ve been a detective.”
Reese rolled his eyes.
“What about Seth Jacobs?” Evan asked. “If it plays out the way we’re showing it, that means he would’ve been with Annie Hawkins the night he died. Did he have sex with her?”
“That’s a damn good question,” Baz said, looking up to see what Reese had to say.
“As much as I’d like to tie these women to the deaths, it’s not the best use of our time right now. We know that Nancy Wright is currently MIA, as is our victim. We need to figure out where they are.”
Baz nodded, turning back to his computer. “Good point. I’ll get with Luca, see if he was able to look at traffic cams in the area. We need to see if we can track where Cedric Hawkins went after he stopped at the convenience store.”
“Do the same for Nancy Wright’s home,” Reese instructed. “If she was the one to call him, maybe she asked him to meet her.”
When Reese walked off, Baz turned his attention to his computer. He always enjoyed this part of a case. That moment when things seemed to come together, when there was hope of figuring it out on the horizon.
If they were on the right track, now it was just a matter of finding Cedric Hawkins before Nancy Wright did something stupid.
Chapter Fourteen
Reese left the team in the barn so they could do what they did best while he took Tesha out to meet with Magnus.
Although it would’ve been easy to push Magnus off, to reschedule the training session, he refused to do so. As far as he was concerned, Tesha deserved his full attention, and because he was focused on getting her the proper training that would keep her safe as long as she was working alongside him, he had dedicated his time to these sessions.
He found Magnus sitting on the back porch stairs, his phone in his hand and a smile on his face.
“There she is,” Magnus said by way of greeting when Tesha trotted over to him. He held up one finger. “Sit.”
Tesha instantly sat in front of him.
“Good girl,” he praised, getting to his feet. “Stay.”
This was one she was still working on, but Reese watched as she remained where she was as Magnus approached slowly.
“Stay,” he repeated when her butt bounced to get up.
She plopped back down.
Magnus’s grin was wide. “Good girl.” He offered a treat he produced from his pocket, then gave her a pat on the head. “Go play,” he said before turning his attention to Reese. “How’s she doin’?”
“Great with the basics. Well, except stay.” Reese grinned down at Tesha. “It seems to be the most difficult for her.”
“Considerin’ all she’s learned this year, I’d say she’s doin’ remarkably well.”
Reese would have to agree. Tesha had come a long way from the malnourished, trembling dog she’d been when he found her chained in someone’s backyard. Now she was well-fed, well-loved, and on her way to well-trained.
“As soon as you’re ready, I’d like to move into the tracking phase. It’ll take a lot more focus, though, so I think we’ll want to increase her sessions.”
Reese had known it would come to that, and he fully understood. Problem was, he never knew what his schedule would be, so he figured he would be leaning more and more on Trey to help out.
“What did you have in mind for today?” Reese asked, calling Tesha to his side, where she heeled at his feet.
“Actually, I was gonna see if I could borrow her for a few hours. I’m workin’ on a dog who’s hesitant around other dogs. Tesha’s proven to be good in those cases. Thought she might be able to help out. If you don’t mind, of course.”
“Not at all.” Reese knew the importance of socializing Tesha with other dogs. “Just holler later because we might not be here.”
“Closin’ a case?”
“If we’re lucky.” He motioned to the house. “Lemme grab her leash.”
Reese went inside to grab Tesha’s leash from the hook on the door. He was about to step outside when he heard Brantley’s voice. He was obviously talking to someone, but there was no response, so he figured he was on the phone.
“I understand that.” Brantley’s words were spoken softly. “I still want to know.” There was a brief pause, followed by, “Yeah, all right. Get back to me once you find out.”
Not wanting Brantley to know he was eavesdropping, Reese hurried back outside, passed the leash off to Magnus, said goodbye to Tesha.
When he came back inside, Brantley was in the kitchen, his eyes glued to his phone.
“Who were you talkin’ to?” Reese asked, closing the sliding door behind him.
Brantley looked up. “What?” He shook his head. “No one. Just waitin’ on Trey. They said they were on the way back.” Brantley tucked his phone in one of the pockets of his cargo pants. “How’s it goin’? Any luck on the case?”
Reese explained the theory they were working on while he grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator.
“Where would Nancy Wright go?” Brantley asked, pondering the same question Reese had.