Chapter 90
Madison was in the back of the vault, digging out information on the first suspicious death on Hope’s list that she thought they had a good chance of still having evidence for when she heard someone come in behind her and the security door slam shut.
She jerked around. Only forensics techs were allowed on the floor of this part of the vault.
Everyone had to sign in. But here, her people could access the physical evidence.
There was a secure facility at the back where they kept guns and weapons seized by the TSP.
Ammunition was kept in a totally different location and under a different security system.
They had had four weapons stolen before.
Shortly before the choir hall shooting. She would have scars from those missing guns for the rest of her life.
She saw them every time she took a shower.
Madison stepped out into the main area, where the cases that were currently being worked on were stored. It was the most accessible area of the vault.
Miriam was in the first entry. Pacing, and agitated—and almost crying. Madison put the clipboard in her hands down and turned to the other woman. “Miriam, what’s going on?”
“I really just need to hide here for a few minutes, Mads. I just do.” She pulled the door handle toward her, until it clicked. Now it would have to be opened using the security code and a badge. Only those with the right credentials would be able to get in.
Miriam didn’t relax. She had tears in her big eyes. And she was pale and shaking.
“What’s going on?” Her immediate thought was that something bad had happened to Major Crimes. To her caveman. She was rather protective of him at times, after all.
“I just…he is out there. He is out there and he saw me.” Miriam looked out the glass door again. Madison looked—she didn’t see anyone. But Miriam was freaking—and that was not something she really did.
“Who?”
“The man…he hates me. He has hated me for a long time and he says it’s my fault he can’t be a cop any longer. He said I did it, I ruined his career and he’s going to make me pay.”
“Who?”
“His name is Boston Creevey. He just wouldn’t leave me alone. And he’s out there now.”
Miriam explained to her what she meant. Apparently this Bo guy had been stalking her in Wichita Falls. To the point he’d chased Miriam home one night—only to be T-boned by a drunk driver. It had resulted in permanent damage to his leg—and medical retirement.
She said he’d blamed her ever since.
Miriam was certain she had just seen him, walking around the TSP with the man’s uncle. Newcomb.
Newcomb was his uncle.
And now…he was there.
And he was crazy. Miriam insisted on that fact.
Well, Madison wasn’t about to go out there and have to deal with him. Especially if he was crazy or something.
Madison and Miriam would just hide where they were in the vault for a few hours. She’d keep Miriam helping her find the files she needed until the younger woman calmed down.
Madison found the first box of evidence within a few moments. But…when she opened the storage box, it was almost empty. “It’s not here.”
She had a list of what should have been there. She had a list of when it had last been there. But there was no sign of it.
Miriam was at the end of the row. “I found the next case on the list.”
She carefully pulled the box loose from the shelf and opened the top, balancing precariously. She was half way up the ladder. “Hey, Mads. This one doesn’t even have the content-log. It’s just a box—of mouse poop.”
Madison found the next. And the next. And the next.
Most of the boxes on cases relevant to the list Major Crimes had given her were completely empty.
Imagine that. Evidence had been taken from the lab far too many times before.
Madison was the one who’d documented most of that missing evidence.
And she had a list of her own—on the server.
That server…the contents just kept growing.
But…more missing evidence. On this case. No. Not really surprising at all. Considering what had happened in here recently.
A.J. Callum had been locked in the back vault with a security guard who had almost died. For hours. The guard had had his head basically bashed in.
Until Haldyn and Jarrod had found them. The guard was still recovering.
They were still working to identify just what had been taken and why.
Well, now she thought she had a good idea where to start.
She grabbed her phone. She would have to report this, immediately. Because it was no coincidence that the missing evidence all seemed to tie to one case now.
The murdered cops case.
Jarrod’s “everything’s connected” theory had struck again.
Now…she suspected she knew why people had been pilfering Haldyn’s precious vault all along. One piece of evidence at a time.