The Detective (2 page)

I was glad he didn’t. She’d probably put me through a stress analysis test before giving it to me. I took the box from him and tucked it under my arm. “Thanks, Sheriff.”

He nodded. “I hope it’s helpful.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Did you have any luck meeting with the Bryson family yesterday?”

My shoulders slumped. “No. I spoke with the mother on the phone, but she wasn’t interested in talking to me. I left my number with her in case she changes her mind.”

The sheriff shook his head. “It’s a terrible thing they went through.”

I nodded. “I completely understand.” And I did.

He noticed Shannon behind me. “Is that…?” His voice trailed off.

I took a step to the side. “Sheriff, this is my friend, Shannon Green.”

He reached out his hand toward her. “Yes. The weather girl from channel four.”

She shook his hand. “Morning traffic,” she corrected him. She straightened her posture and saluted him. “Get the green light with Shannon Green, WKNC Asheville!”
 

My eyes widened. Sheriff Davis laughed. Shannon started giggling.

“I watch you every morning,” the sheriff said. He reached over and squeezed my shoulder. “So, you’re close with this fine young man, then?”

She batted her eyelashes up at me. “Quite.”

The sheriff looked at me. “Well, maybe you can help me convince him to take a job here in my office.”

I heard her suck in a sharp breath. “That would be wonderful.”

Oh boy.

I laughed to avoid saying anything inappropriate. “That would be something.” I looked at my watch. “Well, Sheriff, I’ve got to check out of my hotel by noon, so I need to get moving.” I gestured toward the evidence box. “Thanks again for making me copies of all these reports.”

He stuck out his hand. “I hope it helps, Detective. I’m sorry your time here wasn’t as productive as you’d hoped.” He pumped my fist a few extra times and eyed me carefully. “Think about my offer.”

I nodded. “I will, sir.”

The sheriff tipped an imaginary hat toward Shannon. “It was lovely to meet you, Ms. Green.”

She beamed at him. “You too, Sheriff.”

As we walked back out to her tiny sports car, she looped her arm through mine. “So, you might move here?”

I squinted up toward the sun. “Don’t count on it, sweetheart.”

She leaned into me. “What about just to visit?”

“I don’t have much time these days for a social life,” I told her, and it was true.
 

If I was correct about the contents of the box under my arm, I now had eleven dead girls to find.

TWO

THE WAKE COUNTY Sheriff’s Office was bustling like usual when I walked in on Monday morning with my coffee in one hand and a stack of case files in the other.
 

The morning receptionist, Margaret Barker, was typing at her computer. “Morning, Detective.”

“Morning, Marge. How’s the grandbaby?” I asked as I passed by her desk.
 

“Spoiled already. Did you have a nice weekend?” she asked.

I still wasn’t sure. “It was definitely interesting.” I turned and pushed the interior office door open with my back. “Have a good day.”

“You too,” she said over the white rim of her glasses.

On the other side of the door, as I turned around, someone slammed into me. Hot coffee sloshed all over the front of my new tan pullover. “Ah, damn it,” I muttered, holding my arms out and looking down at the milky brown puddle around my boots.

“Sorry, Nate!” It was our IT guy, Ramon Edgar. Ramon reminded me of a Weeble Wobble with a soul patch. He had an incurable case of acne that had scarred his face, and he had gauges in his earlobes. He lived in his grandmother’s basement and spent his free time playing World of Warcraft. How did I know? Because it was my job to know useless information about people.

I huffed and wiped my shirt with my sleeve. “It’s OK, Ramon.”

“I got it, boss,” someone said to my right. An inmate trustee, Dennis Morgan, was already coming in my direction with a mop.

Ramon was still horrified in front of me. “Man, I’m sorry. I didn’t see the door open in front of me.”

I held up the files in my hand to silence him. “It was an accident, Ramon. Don’t worry about it.”

He was fidgeting, paralyzed in limbo between some unseen further obligation to me and his own social awkwardness. Fidgeting drove me nuts.

I pointed down the hall. “You can go now.”

He nodded. “Right. Sorry.”

“Need some more coffee?” Dennis was eyeing my empty cup as he sloshed up my spilt drink. His red hair, red eyebrows, and red freckles made his orange and white jumpsuit look like central Florida camouflage.

I stepped over the puddle. “I’m good. Thanks, Dennis.”

“Just doing my job,” he replied.

“McNamara!” a familiar voice barked across the room. It was the voice that made my balls jump back up into my stomach. Lieutenant William Carr was the resident asshole of the department. He was also my boss.
 

Carr was standing in the doorway of his office still wearing his long, black overcoat.
 

I groaned and headed in his direction. “Morning, Lieutenant.”

He didn’t greet me. “Where are we at with Kensington?” He turned on his heel and walked back into his office while I followed.
 

He walked around behind his large oak desk and slipped off his coat.

“Sir, we’re following up on two leads that we believe are—”

“Do I smell hazelnut?” he asked, adjusting his glasses.

I sighed. “Coffee accident.”

His eyes narrowed. “I hate hazelnut.”

It was all I could do to not roll my eyes. “My apologies.” I approached his desk and offered the files in my hand. “I will personally be following up with Mayor Kensington first thing this—”

He pushed the files away and slammed his fist down on the desk. “While you were off working on your little side investigation, there was another robbery this weekend, Detective!”

My eyes widened. “I’m aware, sir. I got the call this—”

“And what have you done about it? Or do real investigations in this office just not matter to you anymore?” He leaned his arms on his desk and glared at me.

My mouth was hanging open, incapable of forming a response.
 

A man cleared his throat behind me, and before I could turn around, Carr’s immediate shift in demeanor told me that Sheriff Lyle Tipper had entered the room.
 

My whole body relaxed.
 

“Good morning, Bill,” the sheriff said. “Detective McNamara.”

I turned toward him. “Good morning, Sheriff.”

Tipper was the sheriff who hired me fresh out of Basic Law Enforcement Training when I was twenty. He was grayer now and shorter somehow, but he was still a pit bull when he needed to be—and Carr knew it.

“I need to borrow Detective McNamara if you don’t mind, Bill.” He put a hand on my shoulder.

I enjoyed watching Carr squirm.
 

He nodded. “Whatever you need, Sheriff.”

Sheriff Tipper smiled. “Thank you.” He looked at me. “Nate?”

“Absolutely, sir. Lead the way.”
 

The sheriff closed Carr’s office door on our way out. “You’re welcome,” he said before I could thank him.

I wouldn’t have thanked him however, because as much as I hated Carr, it would be disrespectful.

“Bill’s wound a little tight this morning because the mayor is breathing down all of our throats,” he explained.
 

I wanted to ask him ‘what about every other morning?’ but I thought better of it. Instead, I just nodded in agreement. “That makes sense. I’m sure the mayor is desperate to know who broke into his home. We are doing everything we can, sir.”

Sheriff Tipper smiled. “I know that. How did things go in Asheville this weekend?”

Shannon’s bride-of-Frankenstein hair flashed through my mind. “Not as well as I’d hoped. The Brysons weren’t interested in speaking with me about their daughter’s disappearance, but I went through all the files on the case yesterday, and I’m more confident than ever that it’s the same perp.”

He nodded. “OK. Well, keep me posted on what you find out.” We stopped at my office door and he pointed across the room to where the trustee was still polishing up my mess on the floor. “Who’s the new trustee?”

“His name’s Dennis Morgan. He’s doing eight months for hacking into the county hospital system and erasing the outstanding medical bills for his father and about twenty other terminal cancer patients.”

The sheriff pinched his lips together like he was trying to suppress a grin. He just nodded and slapped me on the back. “Have a good day, Detective.” His head tilted back in the direction of the lieutenant’s office. “And don’t mind, Carr. He’s all bark.” With a wink, he was gone.

Once inside my office, I dropped the files on my desk and flopped down in my chair. It wasn’t even eight A.M. yet and it was already a lousy day. I pulled off my olive green ball cap and dropped it on my desk.
 

“Nate!” The booming voice at my door startled me.

I smiled as Tyrell Reese walked into the room. Reese was my closest friend on the force and my favorite cop to work with in our Investigation Unit. Not just because he towered over everyone, including me, at 6’3 and always had my back but because he was one of the funniest dudes I knew.

“What’s up, man?” I asked.

“Nada,” Reese said, dropping into the chair opposite my desk. “How was your weekend?”

“Interesting.” I laughed and scratched my head.

Reese pointed at me. “You got laid.”

I sat back in my chair. “How could you possibly know that?”

He laughed and held up his phone. There was a picture of Shannon and I together at the bar on his screen, and it was sideways and my tongue was hanging out. “I got this at three in the morning.” He chuckled. “It wasn’t that hard to figure out.”

I slid my hand down my face. “Man, I was trashed.”

He nodded. “I can tell. What happened?”

I laced my fingers together behind my head and leaned back in my chair. “I went to this sports bar Friday night to watch the game and a couple of the guys from Buncombe County were there. I switched from drinking beer to Crown somewhere during half-time and it all went downhill from there.”

His head snapped back with surprise. “Or uphill. That chick is smoking’.”

I smiled. “She wasn’t bad.”

He slapped his large hand down on my desk. “I’m proud of you. You needed a night off. All you do is work, work, work.”

I pointed at him. “Somebody’s gotta make up for your slacker ass.”

“Slacker ass?” He leaned toward me. “Who was working B & E’s this weekend while you were off banging the beauty queen?”

“I got an earful about it from Carr as soon as I walked in this morning. What have you got?” I asked.

“They hit Cary on Friday,” he said. “Over in Preston Bluffs.”

I sighed and shook my head. “No shit?”

He nodded. “Took our guys thirty minutes to get there. Mr. Sider was long gone by the time we showed up.”

“Sider,” I repeated with a chuckle. “Why thirty minutes?”

He turned his palms up. “Closest unit was tied up.”

I groaned. “That’s starting to become a common theme.”

“Yep. Thought so too,” he said.
 

My office phone beeped. “Detective McNamara?” Marge asked over the speaker.

“Talk to me,” I answered.

“There’s a Shannon Green on line three for you.”

THREE

REESE WATCHED MY face melt. “Who?” he asked.

I pointed at the phone and lowered my voice. “The chick from the bar.”

He laughed. “Seriously?”

“Put her through, Marge.” My phone started ringing, and I looked at Reese. “Can you excuse me for a minute?”

He sat back in the chair and crossed his boot over his knee. “Hell no. I don’t wanna miss this.”

I wadded up a sheet of paper and threw it at him.

On the fifth ring, I picked up the phone. “Detective McNamara.”

“Nathan?” she asked.

“Yes. Can I help you?”
 

Reese was chuckling across the desk.

“Nathan, it’s Shannon.” After a pause she added, “Shannon Green.”

“Oh, hi.” I swirled my index finger next to my ear and mouthed ‘this chick is crazy’ to Reese. “Is everything OK?”

She sounded bubbly on her end of the line—too bubbly before nine in the morning. “I’m sorry to bother you at work. I just wanted to let you know that you left your watch at my apartment.”

I yanked my sleeve back and stared down at my naked wrist. My day just kept getting better and better. “I didn’t even realize it.” I shifted awkwardly in my seat. “I don’t suppose you could FedEx it to me? My mom gave me that watch.”

She was silent for a second. “Well, I was thinking I might just bring it to you this weekend.”

My mouth dropped open. “Uh…”

“I’m going to be in Raleigh anyway,” she added quickly. “I’ve got an interview with a news station there on Friday morning.”

The halogen light above me was flickering like a bad omen. “Uh… sure, yeah. Just let me know when you’re in town and we’ll hook up.”

Reese leaned forward, his eyes doubling in size.
 

“Why don’t you text me your number, so I can get in touch with you on Friday?” she asked.

This chick was good.

“OK. Is your cell on the card you gave me?” I asked.

“Sure is!” she bubbled.

“All right. Thanks, Shannon.”

“Have a wonderful day, Nathan,” she said.

“You too.” I quickly slammed the phone onto the receiver before she could say anything else.

Reese was laughing. “Well?”

“She’s coming to town this weekend. I left my watch at her apartment.”

He smiled at me and cut his eyes in question. “So you could see her again?”

I shook my head. “Definitely not.”

“Sure, Nate.” He stood up and stretched his long arms over his head. “Whatever you say, brother.”

I laughed and pointed to my door. “Get out of my office.”

When he was gone, I turned on my computer and brought up my case files.