Forever Hers (18 page)

“Leland’s yard had also been mowed, yet I don’t recall seeing anyone do yard work since I got here,” Eddie added.

“You didn’t tell me you found cigarette stubs when you came back inside the house.” Amy said calmly. Much too calm for his liking.

“I told him not to say anything until I processed the scene,” Sally said. “Does Nolan smoke?”

“Not when I knew him,” Amy said. “Sam’s father smokes.”

“It’s not his brand,” Eddie cut in. “I spoke with him earlier. According to him, his regular guy is down with the flu and two guys, total strangers, did his lawn late this evening and one of them smoked.”

“What else have you learned and decided not to tell me?” Amy asked with a hint of anger.

“That depends on how much you want to hear
and
share,” he retorted. It still rankled that she wasn’t ready to confide in him.

“Why don’t you two wait for me inside the house?” Sally cut in. “And please don’t kill each other. I have enough to process here without adding your case to it.” She chuckled as she walked away.

Eddie followed Amy inside the house, where she poured herself a fresh cup of coffee; added creamer then sat at the counter and ignored him. He loved silence, craved it most of the time because he strategized better when surrounded by it. Tonight it was oppressive. He couldn’t think straight let alone come up with a plan of action.

“If Nolan left those cigarette stubs, he just made his first mistake.”

Amy didn’t respond. Instead, she sipped her drink and stared into space.

“And stealing a truck from a local guy then impersonating him is just plain stupid,” he added.

Amy acted like she didn’t hear him.

“Damn it, Amy. Talk to me. I want to stop this bastard, but I can’t when I don’t know what I’m dealing with. I want to know everything about him, what he’s capable of.”

More silence.

Frustration ate at him. How the hell was he going to help her if she refused to trust him? A sound came from behind and he whipped around. It was Sally. He got up to open the door.

Amy became the perfect hostess and indicated the coffee maker. “Do you want something to drink, Sally? We have coffee in the pot.”

The police woman nodded. “Thanks, Amy. Coffee would be nice.” She waited until after Amy placed a steaming cup of coffee in front of her before speaking. “Someone called Randal this afternoon and warned him against working with us. It wasn’t the guy who paid off your car repairs, he said.” She sipped her drink and glanced at Eddie and Amy. “Do you think it’s Nolan?”

Eddie shrugged. “It’s possible. Too bad Randal didn’t let the answering machine pick it up. A voice print is as unique as a fingerprint and we could have used it to ID him.”

“Nolan would never leave a message,” Amy piped in. “He wouldn’t do anything that could incriminate him.”

Eddie hated the way she believed her ex was invincible. Made him want to nail the bastard even more. “Everyone makes mistakes, Amy. We just need to find his.”

Sally’s worried gaze bounced between the two of them then stayed on Amy. “Did you get a proper look at the men who tried to break into the house?”

Amy shook her head. “They smashed the security lights on the patio, so I couldn’t see anything. They took off after I turned on the lights on the side of the house.”

“At least they didn’t make it inside the house. I heard you have a gun for protection.”

Amy grinned. “Yeah, a Glock. I’m taking self-defense lessons too, just in case.”

“That’s really good. I see too many victimized women scared of their own shadows when they could be empowering themselves.” She glanced at Eddie. “I’m happy she’s not one of them.”

“Yeah, she’s pretty amazing,” Eddie said. When Amy shot him a surprised look, he added, “And scary.”

Amy scowled.

“Scary is even better,” Sally added and chuckled. “However, if they ever come back, call us. It’s great not to be defenseless, but it’s our job to protect you.” She stood. “Thanks for the coffee. I got the phone number and the name of the company that does your neighbor’s yard and I plan on sending the filters to the DNA lab. I’ll call you when I get the results.”

“I’ll walk you to your car,” Eddie offered.

“Did you get the description of the men?” Amy asked, stopping Sally and Eddie from leaving.

“Mr. Lockwood didn’t get close enough to identify anything, but he noticed they were average in height and size, and he couldn’t tell the color of their hair because they wore baseball caps.”

“Did one of them wear red baseball cap, black leather jacket and cargo pants?” Amy asked again.

Sally frowned. “Just dungarees and regular T-shirts, but the smoker wore a red baseball cap. Why?”

“Nolan never goes anywhere without his red baseball cap and black leather jacket. He wore them when we saw him at the store, but he could easily have switched to blend in and spy on us.”

“Then he must be the smoker,” Sally said, grinning, “which is good news.”

“He just made his first mistake,” Eddie added.

Amy nodded, but her eyes gave her away. She didn’t think the evidence would amount to much. He couldn’t wait to prove her wrong. Outside, he slowed his gait to match Sally’s. “How long will it take to get a DNA report on the cigarette filters?”

“Depends on how busy Salt Lake City Field Office is, but I’ll call you as soon as we get the results.” Sally stopped beside her squad car and tugged at her ear, a gesture he now associated with nervousness. “Her ex has her pretty spooked, hasn’t he?”

“Yeah, but we’ll catch him. His mistake was following her here. He doesn’t have his friends watching his back anymore.”

“That’s the truth. Take good care of them, detective. This whole thing is already taking a toll on her. I can see it in her eyes.”

“She’s a lot tougher than you think.” She was also the most stubborn woman he’d ever dealt with, but he’d find a way around that. Amy was gone when he entered the house. Just as well, he wasn’t in the mood to talk or fight with her.

In his room, he fired up his laptop and got to work.

First, he started with Detective Nolan Reither. The one picture they had of the asshole showed him staring arrogantly at the camera. Tawny hair, thin moustache, average height. There wasn’t much written about him.

Eddie couldn’t check his records without hacking into the Charlottesville P.D. system. Using the normal channels was out of the question because their tech people would know and alert him. That left using Ken Lambert’s people.

Next, Eddie logged into his station and accessed the NCIC—National Crime Information Center files. He hesitated before typing in Amy Kincaid. Now that he knew about her ex, he didn’t really think she was a criminal. But if she’d gone missing months ago, someone must have filed a missing person’s report and filed it with NCIC.

Sure enough, the report popped up. The report was filed by Professors Martha and James Kincaid of Charlottesville, Virginia, three months ago. At least they cared enough to have filed one, but the more Eddie read the more pissed he became.

They had her listed as EMD, which implied Amy was mentally unstable and Raelynn as EME, an endangered minor. That was crap. Raelynn was in no more physical danger than Eddie would be in a room full of babies. What the hell was wrong with her parents? Reither had to be behind this. Why would he want Amy declared unstable? To take Raelynn away? Since he wasn’t Raelynn’s father, he had no legal rights to the child. Amy’s parents, on the other hand, did.

Logging off, Eddie started a search for robberies in Charlottesville area. Raelynn was four, almost five, so her father, Amy’s fiancé, must have been killed about five and a half to six years ago. Several false leads later, Eddie hit pay dirt.

What started out as a burglary ended in the death of a 27-year-old graduate student Charles Dunbar. He left behind his severely wounded fiancée, Amy Kincaid, who’s fighting for her life and that of their unborn child.

According to the Charlottesville Police Department, Dunbar, a neurosurgeon graduate student at University of Virginia School of Medicine, made a frantic call at 10:30 p.m. on Friday the 17
^th
that two men were in their apartment. According to the police records, he and his fiancée were already inside the apartment and under attack when he made the call. The conversation was interrupted and the police dispatcher reported hearing screams.

A neighbor, who also overheard the commotion and went to investigate, saw two men fleeing from Dunbar’s apartment. One of the intruders was armed with a handgun, the other with a knife; and both wore nylon stockings over their heads. He found Ms. Kincaid with a bleeding Dunbar, who was later pronounced dead at the scene.

Persons fitting the description of the intruders were spotting several blocks from the area before they disappeared. According to Detective Nolan Reither, the perpetrators were part of a ring of burglars terrorizing students living in this part of town. This was the first time the burglars killed someone. So far no arrests have been made. The case was still open at the time this article was printed.

Eddie checked on previous burglaries in the area. Charlottesville Police Department had Crime View, an app similar to L.A.P.D.’s Crime Mapping. Both allowed anyone to check on crime stats within their community. After scouring pages, Eddie noticed a trend. All the victims of the burglaries five and half years ago had reported stolen computers, TVs and bikes, but no injuries, except the night Dunbar and Amy were attacked. It didn’t make sense. Most criminals had the same M.O
.

He continued digging, but there were no more burglaries after the death of Dunbar. Frowning, Eddie checked to see if the burglars were ever caught, but there were no articles on suspects or arrests. He tried online newspapers and got nowhere. Sitting back, he rubbed his eyes. Staring at the screen for so long always gave him a headache.

He debated his next move. He could ask a tech guy at his station to contact Charlottesville P.D. and request the case file, but Nolan’s people could alert him of the search. Eddie needed someone to discreetly access their archives, someone fast, efficient and untraceable.

He picked up his cell phone and dialed a number. “Hey, it’s me.”

“Does ‘me’ have a name?” a voice answered then chuckled.

“Stop being a smart-ass, Lambert.” Ken Lambert was about the best private investigator Eddie had ever worked with. He was the owner of a security consultant firm, LASEC, and his ragtag crew of employees could breach any police department firewall without leaving a trace. “I need Sly to check something for me.”

“Oh.” Ken’s tone said he understood exactly what Eddie wanted. “Since you made his parking tickets go away, you’ve become his favorite detective.”

“Just as long as he knows I will bust him if I ever catch him hacking into a system.”

“Now, why would we do that? I told you, we are 99.9% legit.”

“It’s the 0.1% I’m worried about, Lambert.”

Ken chuckled. “He’s not foolish enough to leave a trail for anyone to find. Do you have his phone number?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why are you interrupting my R and R with my lovely bride?”

His lovely bride just happened to be Eddie’s cousin Faith. “Just thought I’d check with you first before calling him. Don’t want to tread on any toes or anything.”

Ken gave a derisive snort. “Like that ever concerned you. So, what’s the deal with this lady at the lake house? I heard you were having problems.”

Even the new additions to the family were a pain in the ass. “Tell Faith I said hi.”

“She can hear you. Now she’s glaring at me for letting you know.”

Men in love acted like idiots. “I gotta go, Lambert. I’ll be in touch if I need anything else.” Eddie hung up and called Sly.

“Detective Fitzgerald,” Sly said in a high squeaky voice of a pre-pubescent boy even though he was in his mid-twenties. “Just a second. Oh, that was my boss. He just texted me to expect a call from you.” He laughed.

“Take it easy, Sly.” The boy was always nervous around him. “I need a favor.”

“Okay.”

“About five and a half years ago, there was a string of burglaries around the University of Virginia. In one of them, a grad student by the name of Charles Dunbar was killed. I need any information you can get on the burglaries. You know, the detectives on the case, their findings, and if the suspects were ever apprehended or witnesses questioned in connection to the case.”

“Are you asking me to access police archives, sir?”

Eddie pinched the bridge of his nose. He’d asked himself how far he was willing to go to help Amy. She could be lying to him or giving him half-truths. Hell, he could even lose his job over this.

Images flashed in his head. Amy looking vulnerable. Scared. Pissed. Raelynn clinging to his neck, trusting him in more ways than she knew, the vow he’d made. He couldn’t walk away from her and Raelynn now.

Taking a deep breath, Eddie said, “Yes.”

“I’m on it. I’ll call you after I find something.”