Chapter 25
TWENTY-FIVE
Amanda and Trent walked into Central armed with coffees from Hannah’s Diner.
One for themselves and a third for Malone.
They even brought him a freshly made blueberry fritter, which Amanda knew was his favorite.
Trent got himself a double-chocolate dip, and she went with a French cruller.
She’d take the added sugar in the glaze and hope for the insulin spike to kick in and wake her up.
It might be a temporary rush, but it was better than nothing.
She rapped her knuckles on the doorframe of Malone’s office, and Trent led the way inside carrying the tray of coffee. She held the bag of goodies.
“That’s supposed to make up for the fact I’m at my desk at seven thirty?” Malone flicked a finger toward the coffee Trent was holding out to him.
“And this.” She fished in the bag for Malone’s donut and plucked it out wrapped in a napkin.
“Hmph.” He looked at them with narrowed eyes while accepting their offerings. “Thanks, but don’t think this makes up for the late night and the early start.”
“We wouldn’t dare.” Amanda held back a smile. “How’s your back?”
“Just fine. No need to worry about me.” He took a substantial bite of his fritter, removing a chunk from the top corner.
Amanda’s stomach rumbled as she held the bag for Trent to take out his treat. She happily reached in for hers when he was taken care of. She had just got her fingers on the sticky glaze when her phone rang.
“No one sleeps anymore,” Malone mumbled around a mouthful of food.
Amanda dug out her phone and answered at the sight of CSI Stuart on her screen. “Detective Steele.”
“CSI Stuart. Keller and I are working the scene here at the Blackburn residence. We’ve recovered four nine-mil casings. We’ll run ballistics to see if they tie back to a Glock.”
Amanda would take what she could get. The only true solution was catching this shooter and running ballistics on her gun. “Let me know.”
“Will do. After all, you think the person from tonight killed Lane.”
When Amanda called the CSIs, she filled them in on the direction she and Trent were leaning with the investigation.
“We do.” She passed a side-glance at Trent, who appeared all too content chomping away on his donut.
He had a tiny smudge of chocolate in the corner of his mouth. Amanda tapped hers to let him know.
He mouthed, “Thanks,” and wiped it. She gave him a thumbs-up.
“We also found some blood,” Stuart said. “It was on a piece of broken glass that remained in the window frame. It may belong to the perp, so we’ll be running it through the system.”
“Thanks for calling me with this,” Amanda told her.
“Yep.” With that, the investigator hung up, and Amanda put her phone away.
Malone wiped his face with his napkin, then brushed some sugar crumbs from his shirt. “Good news?”
“Some news, anyway.” She shared the details of the call.
“At least there is some forensic evidence from all this.” Trent scrunched up his napkin and tossed it into the bag.
She was the only one left with an untouched donut. Her stomach rumbled as she reached for it.
“Fill me in on everything,” Malone said.
Trent’s phone rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket. “It will just be a second,” he said, and answered.
“Unbelievable.” Malone sat back with his coffee.
Saved by the ringing phone… Amanda scarfed downed her carbs, taking delight in every huge bite. Not exactly something to be proud of, but damn it, she’d earned the calories.
“Thanks.” Trent sounded dejected as he put his phone away. “The search has been called off. There’s no sign of the woman.” He looked at her as if he expected her to say something.
Amanda couldn’t have responded if she wanted to. Her cheeks were puffed out, full of delicious donut.
“All right, let’s back up here,” Malone said. “Amanda told me about a woman at the scene… Let’s start at the beginning.”
Amanda gestured for Trent to do the honors while she inhaled the rest of her donut.
After Trent caught Malone up, he leaned forward. “So, let me get this straight. You two think someone was hired to kill Dominique Sharp, but she messed up, so she’s back to finish the job?”
She finished her treat, wiped her fingers off, and tossed her napkin in the bag with Trent’s. “You can’t dismiss that it seems someone is awfully intent on killing Dominique. A hired gun is something we need to consider.”
“A female hired gun, at that.”
“Why not?” She angled her head, challenging him.
Malone held up a hand. “It was just a comment. It’s just not exactly something you run into every day.”
“I’ll give you that.”
“We can’t ignore the evidence. The murder method with the two taps to the chest, one to the head,” Trent laid out. “And the rounds were fired from a gun with a silencer. Someone who wants to get in and out without being seen or heard.”
“Huh.” Malone shared his gaze with the two of them, going from one to the other. “So you’re both stuck on this being a gun for hire?”
Trent nodded. “I am.”
Amanda seconded that and added, “We need to get protection on Dominique Sharp, but she’s not being what you’d call cooperative.”
“Even though she must know her life is in danger?”
“Even though…” Not that it was something Amanda could understand.
“What is it with some people?” Malone shook his head. “Where is she now?”
“Set up in a hotel room with officers posted at her door,” Amanda told him.
“That’s something at least.”
“Something, I guess.” There was no way to hide that she wasn’t impressed with Dominique’s attitude about police protection. “She still insists on going about her life like normal. That includes going to work at her firm.”
“Even after everything that happened? And the fact her boyfriend is under the knife?”
“Lover not boyfriend,” Trent corrected. “She’s put him into a box with a label that suggests the relationship is nothing more than a series of booty calls.”
“To each their own. Still, the question remains. She’s not responding like one would expect.”
“Nope. Apparently, Dominique wears accumulating enemies as some type of badge of honor. She’s going to have her assistant gather all threats against her together. She’s also agreed to share all the paperwork connected to the purchase of the DC law firm.”
“The threats could present us with a bunch of rabbit holes, making it hard to know which one to go down.” Malone grunted when he shifted in his chair and shot her a look.
With that, she didn’t dare ask about his back. “They might, but I don’t see what choice we have.” She just hoped there weren’t too many threats to wade through. Too many suspects could be just as problematic as too few.
“I agree with you both that Dominique Sharp seems to have been the intended target. It’s tragic that an innocent woman is dead because of this.”
Neither Amanda nor Trent said anything in response. There was nothing to say.
Malone rubbed his jaw. “If this is a hired gun, it’s reasonable to think this person has a history of kills. Only thing is, she’s messed up this time. She’ll be getting more desperate. We can’t afford to underestimate her.”
“Speaking of not underestimating her, I believe she brought a signal jammer with her.” She told Malone about the loss of bars for a brief time at the Blackburn residence.
“Huh, as if I weren’t convinced already. Incorporating technology like that also suggests a professional.”
Somehow hearing he agreed with them made the situation more stressful.
History of kills… How many had she gotten away with?
Meaning no one had stopped her before now.
Amanda pushed both thoughts aside. It wasn’t conducive to a productive mindset.
Her focus needed to be homed in on being the one who would bring her down.
“Once CSI Stuart is finished doing her thing, I’m sure she’ll enter her findings into the system.
It will kick back if the casings are a match to any previous crime scenes.
But since we’re thinking this is a professional, going about this from the gun standpoint isn’t likely to lead us anywhere.
I suggest we rope in the FBI and have them check ViCAP to see if our investigation shares any similarities with any unsolved cases.
” The Violent Criminal Apprehension Program housed records of major unsolved crimes in the US.
Trent was nodding. “Great idea. Since it’s most likely this woman has killed before, her crimes are likely to show up there.”
Malone shrugged. “You have my blessing.”
“I’ll reach out to my contact then.” She could go to Brandon Fisher, who was with the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit and was also her best friend’s boyfriend, but Amanda believed she had a number for Nadia Webber, an analyst who worked with him. She’d try her first.