28 Days(35)
News to him.
Alex followed Saige as she moved toward the rumpled looking detective.
It had been years since he’d seen the man but now that he drew closer, Alex would recognize him anywhere. Whenever they used to talk, the detective would have a pissed off expression, which he more or less had when he climbed out of the Navigator, until he caught sight of Saige that was.
* * *
3:00pm
* * *
“Detective,” Saige greeted.
Coulter Robinson smiled and took her offered hand, but found he couldn’t hold back the frown when he saw Alex Peterson over her shoulder.
He never truly had a problem with the man, and knew that Alex’s anger had stemmed from all the evidence piling up against Quinten. Alex had never once doubted his brother’s innocence, and now, Coulter started to realize that perhaps he should have listened. Coulter still felt annoyed that no one had bothered to tell him about Saige’s relationship with Quinten. Whether or not it would have made any difference, he didn’t know. He’d been kicking himself in the ass since Saige had told him.
While he was in town, he planned on talking to the sheriff about Quinten. He couldn’t help wonder if Sheriff Hodges knew and had decided to keep it quiet as well. After all, it had been Hodges who had taken Saige’s statement while she’d been in the hospital.
“Is everything okay here?” he asked.
Saige had discovered something, he was sure of it. He watched as she chewed on her bottom lip, and raised a brow in question.
She huffed out a breath, and tucked her hair behind her ear. “My dad has only ever seen the video of me selecting the image of Quinten. Apparently, he received a call just as you finished setting up.” She frowned. “Do you remember Christina’s response? Was she excited that I chose that image?”
“Your stepmother”—he cleared his throat—“insisted that you could remember and wanted you to go ahead with identification. She’s on my list to speak with while I’m in town.” Coulter shoved his hands on his hips and focused on Alex, who had yet to say anything or even acknowledge him.
“We need to have words about withholding evidence, Mr. Peterson.”
“What?” The man had the gall to act surprised and confused.
“You lied in your statement about Saige and Quinten,” Coulter accused.
At least Alex had the decency to not deny the fact.
Coulter glanced around and realized that standing in the middle of town with eyes and ears everywhere wasn’t the best idea. “Can we go somewhere and talk?”
“In this place, if you want privacy, then you walk.” Saige stepped around his car. “C’mon.”
Five minutes later, they followed Saige onto a footpath that led into the forest and came to a stop.
“We’re hidden from the road here,” Saige said.
He glanced around and turned to Alex. “The statement can wait...Tell me, how close were you to Jocelyn?”
Again, he caught the man off guard from the look of shock on his face. “I wasn’t close to her at all. She made my brother’s life hell. I was glad to see the back of her.”
“What about you, Saige? Did you have any run-ins with her over Quinten?”
Her brows drew together, but she shook her head. “I don’t think so. My memory is still elusive, so who knows?” She held her hands out and then let them drop to her sides.
“Jocelyn saw them the day before Saige went back to school. She found out about Quinten seeking a divorce and came by Saige’s house steaming. Saige and Quinten had their arms around each other.” Alex sighed. “Jocelyn called them a few choice words before she took off, telling them that they’d be sorry...Why the questions?”
Coulter looked between them both. “Jocelyn has been dead for around seven years.”
Saige didn’t move or really react. Obviously, she had no memory of the woman to put a face to the news. Alex, on the other hand, lost all color and stared at him in obvious shock before he tried to blink it away, but it didn’t quite work.
The man moved to a tree stump and dropped his ass on it, his head went into his hands.
“Alex?” Saige queried, dropping to her knees in front of him. “I’m sorry.”
Alex shook his head. “It’s just a shock that’s all. All these years…I thought she left my brother for a more exciting life when in fact she hadn’t gotten much of one.” He squeezed Saige’s hand and turned to face Coulter. “Do you know how she died?”
Coulter contemplated what to say without saying too much. “Without getting into specifics, let’s just say the ME thinks it is a homicide. She was dumped…or rather buried…close to the river off Morris Bridge Road in Tampa. Some campers found her five days ago.”
Amber believed it was attempted strangulation. Jocelyn’s head had been nearly severed—just like the young woman they found yesterday. It intrigued him that bones held so much information after being buried for years.
“How do you know its Jocelyn?” Saige asked.
“The ME matched the partial serial number in the breast implants to Jocelyn, and then the dentist records. Her medical records also indicated pins in her left arm and leg. They all matched.”
“She was in a car accident as a teenager,” Alex confirmed what Coulter already knew.