Chapter 26
Wow. Shayna was getting loud. Someone had contaminated one of her veterinary samples with…some sort of…well, there was a reason Dani didn’t work biological forensics. This was on top of that same someone having inadvertently destroyed six of Shayna’s most recent samples.
On an active investigation involving two missing children.
Dani could read the biological reports just fine, and that was a major part of her job for her team—but actually dealing with the samples…
yeah, not her thing. She had helped a time or two, though—it was how she’d ended up with her little canine baby girl waiting for her to get home.
Her dog’s owner had been brutally murdered.
Dani had somehow ended up keeping that little fluffy ball of evidence.
They took care of each other, Dani and Sadie Gayle Lindsay—as her former owner had named her.
And Sadie wasn’t bothered by the wheelchair Dani spent much of her time in.
Now, though…Dani was starving. She’d meant to hit the cafeteria for lunch almost two hours ago.
Hailey Gibson's background check was taking longer than expected. Miranda had specifically asked Dani to go over every connection to events in all the Gibson children’s lives back then.
Miranda was convinced that Aimee spent the majority of her time with her children, when not working.
Which upped the odds that the unsub had connected through the children.
Cruz and Terra’s activities had been thoroughly investigated, but Hailey’s had been more numerous, as she’d been older.
Dani was working her way through everything, one file at a time. Dani stopped on one particular result on her screen. She clicked the link. Why would a sixteen-year-old girl have a coroner’s inquest interview?
Dani read through the document. Hailey had been one of the last to see the dead girl alive. The ruling had been accidental drowning.
Dani ran a search on the drowning victim’s name and West Boggs Lake.
Five articles came up. Local news archives from a small regional paper. Dani opened the first one.
The headline was straightforward. Local Girl Drowns at Church Picnic.
Kora, thirteen, had been attending a church gathering at West Boggs Lake with her family.
Dozens of people present. Hailey was listed as a witness because she and the victim had been close friends, and had been seen together the day the girl had died.
That was about it. Dani’s heart hurt for what teenage Hailey had gone through.
Apparently, she’d lost her best friend not even two years before losing most of her family.
That had to have shaped her in so many ways.
That girl had learned early that tragedy did not discriminate based on age.
Trauma of any kind—yes, Dani understood just exactly what that could do to someone.
She kept going—the rest of what she’d found on Hailey circled around anniversaries of the murders.
A few police reports of Hailey being harassed or trespassed, two speeding tickets, and a baby contest photo for Hailey’s little girl Amerra. Just normal stuff.
Next was the landlord. Miranda had just wanted confirmation of his movements back then, but he really wasn’t a suspect at this time.
Hot Guy Asher had made that clear in his notes.
Bryan Stenson had been in an auto accident in a totally different county.
Hailey’s mother Hannah was also in the clear—and she hadn’t been dating anyone at the time of the murder, so no ex with a grudge.
No. The Gibsons really did seem like normal, average people. Who had brushed up against a murderer somewhere. No one was truly safe anywhere. Dani believed that to the bottom of her soul.
“Hey, found anything?” A male voice asked behind her.
Dani fought jumping out of her skin. Why was the man so instantly recognizable, even when she wasn’t looking? Ian Ward was starting to become a major problem here.
“Just normal, average family things. Other than Hailey’s best friend dying a few years before the murders. Hailey was a witness. Girl drowned at the lake during a church picnic. I think the Gibsons were big into their church. Their social activities leaned that way.”
“I’ll tell Knight. Maybe we’re talking about a religious fanatic going off the deep end.
Wouldn’t be the first time.” He was looking at her that way again.
The way that told her he had probably been standing there staring at her for a while again.
Sometimes, she zoned out when focusing so hard.
She missed the things going on around her. Including…people.
“Probably a good idea. So…shoo. I am on my way to lunch now.” Dani stood and switched between her desk chair and the wheelchair next to it. Ward stepped back. “What exactly are you up to now, anyway?”
“Just checking on you. And…avoiding biologicals. Shayna sounds like she’s in a real…moment…right now.”
“That new tech that has the social skills of a raw potato threw out six of her biological samples on the case for REY. She is beyond angry right now, and that tech will probably be fired. Or transferred, by morning. He keeps man-splaining all of us women in here. He has very traditional views about women in science, and women working in general. I think this is his first week in a job. Ever. Or…his first week out of the homeschool and the cult.”
“I don’t think I have met him.”
“Probably a good thing. You are not missing much. Dude told me when he asked what I did for fun—he asked if I knit or bake—and I told him gaming. Then he told me that was a way to let sin into my life for which I will be punished someday. Computer games are an open invitation to sin.”
He blinked behind the shades he always wore.
Like she’d actually surprised him. Dani just nodded.
“Yes, he did. Then he started ranting about women with advanced degrees and them not able to handle medical school—that’s his plan, by the way, med school.
Using this job to help pay for it, apparently. ”
“And who did he tell this to?”
“Ally Reynolds, Mia Stephenson—and Jules Brockman.” Three physicians who had all studied at some of the best medical schools in the country, and had the street cred with PAVAD to make sure that lunatic didn’t get a single recommendation to any school—in this country.
Dude was so toast. Those ladies had some serious pull in the medical community.
“Ouch. Yep. Like I said, gone by tomorrow. I was just sticking close to the lab in case our samples got near his little paws.”
“How did he even get hired?”
“He’s a temp from that place downtown. The only one with lab experience.
He’s a contract hire. Apparently, he passed all the background checks with flying colors, and should have been able to handle fetching and carrying just fine.
And he kept his scales hidden during the interviews.
Probably already be gone if Marianna wasn’t off this week.
” The fearless leader of all things forensics was home with a nasty bladder infection, Dani had heard, and was quite cranky with it.
Marianna never took time off. The woman was dedicated, that was for sure.
Dani was looking forward to the moment Marianna met this lab tech. “Bound to be fireworks soon.”
“Send me a text when it’s time to stay clear.” He handed Dani her bag. She could have almost sworn the man’s hand had brushed hers on purpose. Ian Ward knew he freaked her out.
The jerk did it on purpose.
“In the meantime, I’m going to check in with Knight and Miranda. Make sure they haven’t…strangled…each other yet. Or…done something else.”
She shivered. The way he had said it…yeah, they were probably both thinking of exactly what else was going on with Miranda and Knight. Dani was a romantic, after all.
She was sure it was bound to happen eventually. Those two were just perfect for each other. They were the only ones who didn’t see that.
For now, she just wanted to put some space between her and Agent Ward.
Every spidey sense she had was tingling right now.
Dani didn’t know why.
Maybe it had something to do with the faint scent of the soap he’d used that morning mixed with the warm scent of hot man doing it. She might be freaked out by the guy but she couldn’t deny one thing: Ian Ward was as hot as ninety percent of the men around this place.
It was seriously hard to miss.