Page 20 of Hunting Justice
Noelle couldn’t contain the smile that spread across her face. Typical Raven.
The conference room door stood open, and Alana and Juliette sat around the oval table, chatting.
“Good morning.” Noelle entered and placed the coffee carrier in front of them before removing her cup. She sat and took a sip, allowing the caffeine to infuse her body.
Alana lifted her cup. “Thanks for this.”
“Ditto.” Juliette retrieved her drink, took a sip, and sighed. “Perfect as always.”
“Face it, Emmy loves us.”
Noelle chuckled at Alana’s declaration.
Juliette leaned forward and placed her forearms on the table. “How’s Doc today?”
Sinking into the comfortable office chair, Noelle exhaled. “Sore. Upset about Ken. Confused.”
“Are we talking about our Doc? How’d you get all that out of him?” Alana asked.
Everyone except Noelle referred to Jonah as Doc. After the weeks they’d spent together last summer, he’d become Jonah to her, and she hadn’t used his nickname since, except in teasing. “It’s not that Jonah said all those things, but I could tell.”
“You two have become close over the past year.” Juliette smirked.
She shrugged. No use in denying it. “We have.”
After a moment of silence, Alana spoke up. “What can we do to help?”
Noelle had sent a text to the other bodyguards giving them the basics, but she hadn’t elaborated. Time to remedy that problem.
“Yesterday, at the end of Jonah’s work day, Dr. Ken Dodson called him and asked him to come over. He confessed to falsifying autopsy reports and wanted to come clean.”
“If he wanted to confess, why tell Doc and not call the police?” Juliette asked.
“Ken wanted Jonah to reopen the cases and fix the false information. According to Jonah, after his brief conversation with Ken, Ken planned to tell the authorities but wanted the truth on record first. He went as far as making Jonah promise not to tell until he’d completed the task.”
Alana narrowed her gaze at Noelle. “You think whoever asked Ken to change the causes of death on those cases killed him.”
Juliette tapped her lower lip. “And since he came to Jonah first and requested him not to tell, whoever Ken risked his career for could have a long reach and have the ability to cover up the truth before he could make things right.”
“It’s possible.” She nodded. “And if my assumption is correct and the bad guys know Ken talked with Jonah, Jonah could be in big trouble.”
“Any word on the attempted hit-and-run?” Juliette leaned back in her seat and swung her chair side to side.
Noelle took a sip of her coffee and set the cup on the table. “Only that they can’t ignore the possibility that it might have been an accident.”
Alana snorted. “Right. I drive on the sidewalks all the time.”
Noelle’s cell phone rang. “Hold on.” She answered and put it on speaker. “Hey, Matt. You’re on speaker with Alana and Juliette.”
“Hey, ladies.” Without further niceties, he continued. “I ran the license plate from the SUV. It was stolen.”
“Figures.” Noelle had expected as much.
“Patrol found it early this morning, abandoned near some old warehouses. The crime scene techs are working on it, but I doubt they’ll find anything. They’ve already reported that whoever stole it wiped the surfaces clean, validating your initial conclusion, Noelle.”
“Of course they did.” Alana rolled her eyes.
“I’ll keep digging, but I think this is a dead end, since it was sanitized.”