46. It Takes a Team
Chapter 46
It Takes a Team
Sierra Escondida Police Department—Later that night
T ig took the passenger seat for the drive back to the police station and texted Ari.
Need you to steal something for me .
“Seriously,” Ari said from the back seat. “How haven’t you learned not to use mortal tech for illegal purposes?”
The car swerved into the dirt. Tig hung on to the door brace until Jayden regained control and resumed driving, then she swung around to look over her shoulder. “What. The. Fuck.” She scowled at Ari. “You could have caused an accident.”
“Nah, Jayden’s a skilled driver. But seriously. Don’t text and ask me to commit a crime. Rule number one: do not leave an electronic trail.”
She growled at him. She knew that already, but she expected him to destroy the trail. After all, he was the Hill’s computer consultant, and it was his phone.
Ari flashed a smile. “But now that I’m here, what do you want me to steal?”
She would have frowned at how easily and mirthfully he accepted the task, if she weren’t the one asking. She shoved her phone into his hands. “Read this.”
She watched him scroll through the Gazette article. Then he cackled so hard she thought he might have lost his mind. “Someone really hates you people.”
Grrr . “Can you steal whatever remains of the blood vial?”
“What happened to ‘we must do this legally’?”
“Two different situations. We’ll never use the blood in a trial, because I can’t have you testify and explain how you stole the sample.”
“Ahh, come on. Don’t you think it would be fun for me to stand up in front of your council and testify how I flashed in and… Wait. How am I supposed to figure out which vial has vampire blood?”
They’d arrived at the police station, and Jayden parked in the dedicated spot, then swiveled in his seat to look at Ari and sang, “I know something you don’t know.”
Now it was Tig’s turn to laugh at the look on Ari’s face. Nice to see her smartass consultant didn’t know everything.
He narrowed his eyes. “Let me guess. My cousin has been playing in the lab again.”
“Bingo.” Jayden chuckled. “Cerissa has created a dip test for vampire blood. Come in and I’ll give you a packet.” Once they were in the squad room, he disappeared into the forensics lab and came back with a flip-lid box containing test strips. “When you find the vial labeled with the Mordida Gazette ’s name, dip one strip in the blood, and if the strip turns bright pink, it’s most likely vampire blood. The strips are to confirm it—or if the lab is grossly disorganized and you can’t find a labeled vial, it’ll serve as a backup so you can test a bunch.”
Tig crossed her arms. “But I’d start by looking for a vial with the Gazette ’s name or the reporter’s name on the label. They had to identify and track the blood somehow. There’s a nine-digit number on the lab report. I sent you the link to the report. I bet you’ll find that number on the label, too.”
Ari accepted the box of strips. “Okay, people. I’ve got this. I’ll see what I can do.”
“If you can destroy their original report and screw with their machines, that would be a bonus.”
“Aha, at last.” He held up his fingers by his cheek and rubbed his thumb and index together, as if twirling a villain’s mustache. “You’re turning diabolical.”
“When it comes to keeping my community safe, count on it.”
Once Ari left the squad room, Tig headed to her office. “I’m going to write the warrant based on what we have. If we wait for the CSLI, we’ll be here until it snows in the African savanna.”
From experience, she knew that never happened.
The ding of Jayden’s phone, and his subsequent laugh, stopped her from leaving the squad room. “What’s up?”
“Good things come in pairs. We now have the CSLI for Callistus and Petar’s cauldron.”
She’d have to check the weather report. Maybe it was snowing where her home village used to sit.
Jayden opened an email on the laptop, tapped the attachment, and sent the cell location information report to the whiteboard so they could read the results together.
There, in black and white, were the answers they needed. All four cauldron members had been in Eastvale on the window-of-death date, arriving in Mordida hours after Janey called them, all matching their original statements and the time logged on Janey’s phone.
But Callistus—the net continued to close on him. His phone was in Mordida over three dates: the night of the wedding and the following two nights.
“Okay, forward the email to me. I’ll attach the CSLI report to the warrant requests.”
She rushed to her office and drafted the warrant. An hour later, she’d laid out a narrative explaining all the incriminating evidence in an email to Marcus. Attached were the documents she had: the affidavit signed by the thieving confidential informant , the autopsy and evidence report, the V-DNA report for the hair, the V-DNA report for the blood on the document Callistus handled, the CSLI for Callistus’s phone, and, for easy explanation, Cerissa’s article previously published in Living from Dusk to Dawn . Ten minutes after she hit send, her phone rang.
“Excellent job,” Marcus said. “I’ll send the warrant request to the leaders in San Diego and San Francisco. We have good working relationships with them, and they’re the most likely to sign off. But don’t expect fast results.”
Due process was important, but sometimes the delays made her teeth grind. “Thanks. Call when you have approval.”
Tig returned to the squad room to update Jayden, and found him at the whiteboard marking up an aerial map of what had to be Callistus’s homestead. “It’s difficult to see from the aerial view, but I think he has only the front entrance and a sliding glass door in the back. See here?” He pointed at a screened-in aluminum-roofed patio. “We won’t know for sure until we move in to serve the warrant. There could be a side door, but the roof overhang obscures the view.”
“Why don’t you call Poway’s planning department tomorrow? They might have the actual plans on file.”
“I like that idea.” Jayden tapped the whiteboard and enlarged the photo. “Although Callistus may have made unpermitted improvements the city doesn’t know about.”
“True, but we’ll have a better understanding of the interior layout than the satellite photos provide. With the vineyard and trees blocking the line of sight, and his house set back so far, the map’s street view shows nothing.”
Jayden stared at the image. “I don’t like it. We might end up in a hostage situation if we aren’t careful.”
“You think he’d hurt his own mate? Or Gabriel?”
“From what Anna told us about Callistus, I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“In that case, we’re going to need help.” Tig slumped onto a chair. Taking a perp into custody was never easy. “Rolf can’t assist, he won’t leave Karen alone, and Henry is unlikely to join us for the same reason. We’ll schedule it for when Liza and Zeke are available. I don’t trust Florence or Vishon enough to bring them as backup. Florence doesn’t stay on task. She’s too easily distracted. And Vishon can be a trigger-happy hothead.”
One advantage to working with Jayden was she could be blunt. He knew better than to repeat her opinion to anyone else.
“Why not ask Quentin to help serve the warrant?” Jayden asked. “Callistus’s community is next door to his jurisdiction.”
Tig rubbed her chin. The security chief for the Mariner’s Lodge in San Diego owed her. She’d helped him capture a perp who was living right under Quentin’s nose. “Good idea. Let me call him.”
Moments later, she had Quentin Brown on speaker phone after letting him know Jayden was in the room. “G’day. How ya doin’, luv?” Quentin asked. “I assume this isn’t a social call.”
Tig tolerated the Aussie’s use of terms like luv , knowing he’d learned the slang a hundred years ago and couldn’t break the habit. She granted him a pass on the familiarities that out of a stranger’s mouth would be condescending at best. He meant no harm when it came to her. “Did you hear what happened to Petar?”
“Someone offed him in your backyard.”
Good enough. “We’ve identified the killer, and to use your term, he’s in your backyard. We’re working on the warrant right now; Marcus is calling Wilma to get her to sign off.” Wilma Wagner was CEO of the Mariner’s Lodge. “Once she does, and we get San Francisco’s signature too, we can serve the arrest warrant.”
“Tell me what evidence you got,” Quentin said.
Tig didn’t like that idea. Some community leaders could be territorial, even about information. “I don’t want to step on Wilma’s toes by briefing you before her.”
“No worries, mate. She’ll be all right with it. Better I know the details when she asks my opinion of the case.”
That made some sense. Tig motioned for Jayden to switch screens to the murder board, so she skipped nothing, and gave Quentin a rundown on the hard evidence they had.
“Crikey, that’s enough to hang him. And you can prove that DNA stuff?”
“Yeah. I’ll send you the article our local scientist wrote. But even without his DNA, we’ve got a strong case. My problem is, he has two mortals living with him.”
“The arrest might bloody well turn into a dog’s breakfast.”
“You read my mind.” Tig twirled a pen on the squad room table. “We’re concerned he might take them hostage. If Wilma gives the go-ahead, do you want in on the action? We could use the backup.”
“Yeah, I’m keen. I’ve got a couple of good blokes, ones I trust in the field.”
“Send me their names. I’ll let you know when we have approval.”
“It’s a date, luv. Talk with you then. For now, I’m going to go camp out at Wilma’s door. She’s probably reading the warrant and wants to chew on it with me. Cheers.”
The call disconnected. Jayden chuckled. “Quentin’s a colorful guy.”
“But reliable.”
Tig considered whether to raise the elephant in the room. She really didn’t want Jayden along on this raid. Something about planning to elope made her even more protective than usual. But she’d been through this before. She couldn’t undermine his confidence as a police officer, no matter how much she wanted to protect him.
She picked up the phone again, deciding to keep her lip zipped about her concerns and advance the plan instead. “I’m going to text Liza and Zeke, see when they’re available to meet. I want them ready to move the moment we have the warrant.”