Chapter Thirteen #2
“She’s exposed Lennox’s secret,” he said, ignoring Kavanaugh’s musings about his and Kit’s relationship. “West now knows she went behind his back. I hope that doesn’t backfire on her. West could make her life rough.”
“West should leave his damn desk,” Kit muttered.
“At least Lennox has a spine.” She read on, her brow creasing in a frown.
“Wait. Here’s a third article, and it just went up on the newspaper’s website.
” She lurched to her feet, his mother’s cell phone still clutched in her hand.
“She says that Leo Sherman left his office right after we drove away. That he went straight to a home owned by a Laurette Curry but was turned away at the door by police officers who stated the home was a crime scene. Tamsin F— I mean, Effing Kavanaugh says ‘her sources’ tell her that it’s a murder scene.
Who is Laurette Curry?” She returned his mother’s phone to her, then pulled her own from her pocket and began furiously typing.
“Laurette Curry has a Facebook page—oh, and guess who’s in her photos, all cozy over candlelit dinners? ”
“Leo Effing Sherman?” Ann asked brightly.
Sam let out a surprised laugh. “Mom.”
Kit spared a moment to grin at his mother. “Right in one.” Her grin morphed back into a frown. “This is Leo’s mistress of the moment. Why is she dead?”
“This is so exciting,” Ann said, her hands clasped together.
“Better than TV,” Bill agreed. “What are you going to do?”
Sam rose, kissed his mother’s cheek, and gave his father a hug. “We’re going to Laurette Curry’s house.”
Kit looked from Sam to his parents uncertainly. “They just got here. Should you stay?”
Sam rolled his eyes. “Like I’m going to let you out of my sight.”
She narrowed her eyes. “I don’t need a babysitter.” Then she shrugged. “But if Lennox is there, you can go into the crime scene with her. Unlike me, since I’ve been kicked to the curb. So let’s go.”
Sam chuckled. “I’m so happy to have a use. Mom, Dad, we’ll be back as soon as we can. I’ve got lots of food in my fridge upstairs. Help yourselves.”
“We ordered Thai stir-fry,” Ann said, walking them to the door. “We’re good, son.”
“I bought stuff you can just warm up, Mom. Gotta run.” Because Kit was already at the elevator, staring at her phone. “Love you.”
“Love you, too,” Ann called after him. “Nice to finally meet you, Kit!”
Kit looked up and smiled. “Same, ma’am. I won’t keep him too long.”
Sam hoped she’d keep him forever.
San Diego, California
Tuesday, January 31, 7:00 p.m.
“So what do you know?” Sam asked as they turned onto the street where Laurette Curry owned a single-story rambler. It was a nice neighborhood. Middle-class, tidy.
And nosy. All the neighbors were out on their front lawns, watching the action unfold. The CSU van was parked in front of Curry’s house, the street lined with police cars.
The victim’s house was completely dark—the power had been turned off, just like at Mary’s house. Sam could see flashes of light inside as SDPD moved around with Maglites.
Kit looked up from her phone to glance at the gathering crowd, then refocused on the notes she’d been taking as they drove.
“Laurette Curry, white female, thirty-four years old. She’s a surgical nurse, works in the hospital where Leo has privileges.
Curry was behind on all her credit cards.
She paid off her cards in full and caught up with her mortgage in October. ”
“Lots of stuff happening in October,” Sam observed.
“True enough. Total amount she paid to creditors was around fifteen grand.”
“I wonder what she did to earn it. Oh.” He parked and pointed to a black sedan. “Lennox is here. But not West.”
“I’m wondering if he’s behaving like this because he’s trying to get them to give him a package to retire before his due date. They won’t fire him. That’s way too much paperwork for only three months.”
Sam wondered if West had a more nefarious intent. If he didn’t go out to investigate, he knew Kit would. Putting a target on her back. “Nobody’s seen the shooter in days. Unless he’s been here.”
“Let’s find out.” Kit got out before he could open her door. “Lennox!”
Detective Lennox turned around and frowned. “How did you know about this? Have you been listening to the police radio?”
“I don’t need to.” Kit held out her phone. “Tamsin Kavanaugh’s already been here.”
Lennox shook her head. “Tamsin Fucking Kavanaugh.”
Kit’s lips twitched. “You’ve got promise.”
Sam looked around, nervous for Kit to be in the open like this. “Where is Leo Sherman?”
“In that cruiser.” Lennox pointed at the middle police car in the row. “I’ll talk to him when we’re done. Detective McKittrick, you should probably wait in the car. Sorry.”
“It’s okay. Can Sam go in with you?”
“Nobody’s told me otherwise. Where’s Constantine?”
“He went home,” Kit said. “Needed a nap.” She handed Sam her Maglite. “You’re going to need this inside the house.”
“Thank you. How long has the victim been in there?” he asked Lennox.
“Could be as much as a few days, from what I’ve been told. ME hasn’t arrived yet to give us an estimate. The smell isn’t too bad, though.”
Sam was glad to hear that, because he hated dead-body odor.
Not that anyone liked it. He took a handkerchief from his pocket, just in case his definition of “not that bad” differed from Lennox’s.
He’d started carrying a handkerchief a few weeks before, after walking into a murder scene with Kit and Connor.
The victims had been dead for close to a week and he’d nearly vomited right there at the scene.
He covered his nose with the handkerchief. “Let’s go.”
He looked over his shoulder to see Kit getting back into his RAV4. He hated that she’d been sidelined, but he had no doubt she’d be making good use of her time, digging into Laurette Curry’s background, her friends, her hobbies, anything that might provide a link to whoever had killed her.
“She was last seen on Sunday evening when she reported into work,” Lennox said, handing him a pair of booties to cover his shoes. He actually carried those in his SUV now, too, but accepted the ones she gave him with a nod of thanks.
“Who called it in?”
“Her neighbor. Her dogs were howling this morning and it appeared that they’d been outside all night.
The victim never left her dogs out all night, especially with it being so cold, so they knew something was wrong.
The woman knew where the victim kept her extra house key and let herself in.
She was shaken and nearly hysterical according to the first responder. ”
“I understand that. Finding dead bodies is hard.”
“I guess you’ve had some experience with that in recent months.” She showed her badge to the first responders, who allowed them to enter Laurette’s home, and then aimed her flashlight throughout the room.
The room had been ransacked, just as Ito’s had been. Someone had been searching for something and hadn’t bothered to cover their tracks.
The beam of Lennox’s flashlight halted. “Meet Laurette Curry.”
The victim was lying on the living room floor, a bullet hole in her forehead. “Just like Mary Sherman,” Sam murmured, putting his handkerchief away. She hadn’t been dead long enough to start stinking, at least. “Did he disable her alarm system like he did Mary’s?”
“Not sure yet, but given the power’s out, that’s a good guess. It looks like he missed his first shot. There’s a bullet hole in Miss Curry’s living room wall, a second in her back, and a third in her brain.”
“It makes sense that he shot the wall first. His aim’s been off.” Thank God. Kit might be dead, otherwise.
“I know. The man who shot Mary has received some injuries. Shot in the arm by Alf Ashton on Sunday and in the leg by someone later the same day.”
“Bad day for the shooter,” Sam said.
Lennox looked amused. “Good day for Riccardo Nicchi, though.”
Sam sighed. “Maybe not. I don’t know if Nicchi meant to hit him in the leg or not. My best guess is that, based on his marksman skill and the distance from which he was shooting, he hit the shooter where he intended to. But we can’t find Nicchi. Have you?”
“Not yet. Navarro put out a BOLO on him after Kit told him that Nicchi was the second shooter. I wish she’d told him sooner. We might have him in custody now. But he’s had a lot of time to run.”
I wish you and your partner had done your jobs sooner, Sam thought. But Lennox was here now and that was important. So he said nothing at all.
Lennox gave him a sharp look then shrugged. “I know what you’re thinking and you’re not wrong.”
Sam still said nothing. His loyalty lay with Kit, but he appreciated Lennox acknowledging his unspoken point. He turned a slow circle, taking in the living room. Kit would want to know.
“Where’s the cat?” he asked, pointing at the cat tree in the corner.
“Shut in the bathroom,” one of the first-responding officers said. “But we didn’t put it in there.”
Sam carefully stepped up to the body, noting the bloody paw prints on the cream-colored carpet in the beam of his borrowed flashlight. “The cat was out when she was killed. Someone stashed it in the bathroom afterward.”
“Yep,” Lennox said. “I wonder who put the dogs out, the victim or her killer?”
“Camera footage?” Sam asked.
Sergeant Ryland came into the living room from the kitchen.
“She didn’t have a security system, but I counted three Ring cameras as I drove up the street.
We’ll ask for their footage. We’ll also examine the cat for trace evidence.
If her killer picked up the animal to put it in the bathroom, there may be something in the fur. ”
Lennox turned back to the body. “He shot her in the back then rolled her over to shoot her in the head.”
“The ME will dig the bullets out of the victim. Then we can run ballistics, depending on the condition of the bullets. We’ll compare to the bullets that killed Mary Sherman and the ones that hit Kit, Ashton, and Marshall. I’ll let you know as soon as I hear something.”