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She broke it off with a startled exclamation and a second later he saw why. The side of her house by her kitchen door was covered in black spray paint. Blade graffiti, six feet tall. A long horizontal line trailed toward the back of her house, a stylized arrowhead at its end.
„I’ll get a light. Stay here.“ He deposited the bags at her feet, got a heavy flashlight from the SUV, then carefully walked along the edge of her house, his weapon drawn, shining the light on the snow until he found what the gang had left behind. „Shit.“
„What?“ she said from behind him and he jumped.
„Dammit, Kristen, I told you to stay by the door.“ But it was too late. His admonition was interrupted by her sharp intake of breath.
„Oh, Abe, no.“
„Hold this and don’t move.“ He handed her the light and pulled out his cell phone and hit Mia’s speed dial. „Come to Kristen’s,“ he said. „We just found Aaron Jenkins.“
Chapter Eighteen
Wednesday, February 25,
8:00 a.m.
„Let’s get started,“ Spi
The conference room table was filled. The core team was there plus Julia, Todd Murphy from Spi
„A name to go with our bullet,“ Abe said. „Hank Worth. Problem is, he’s been dead for sixty years.“
Spi
„Ge
Spi
„Many sixty-year-olds are quite fit,“ Westphalen said mildly.
Spi
„Well, whoever we’re dealing with,“ Jack said, „has to have above-average strength. How much did the heaviest victim weigh, Julia?“
Julia pulled out her notes. „Ramey weighed 220. Ross King, 251. The others were all lower. But I think he used a cart or gurney or something with wheels.“
„Why?“ Abe asked sharply.
„There were no signs of dragging the bodies. No scratches on their backs, no bruising at the ankles, wrists, or under the arms that would be consistent with grabbing and pulling with any force. There were marks from the rope he used to bind their wrists and ankles, but that looks very different from a grabbing bruise. If he used a gurney, he wouldn’t need that much strength. He’d just need to roll them.“
„But could a sixty-year-old even roll a man that big?“ Jack asked.
Mia held up her hand. „First, let us check the records to see if Ge
„If this lead proves true,“ said Miles thoughtfully, „your killer would have had to know his biological father’s identity to get the bullet mold or at a minimum the Worth family’s maker’s mark. I’m wondering about the man Ge
„Get Ge
Abe leaned forward. „The old man, Grayson James, said he and Hank Worth would go up to Worth’s father’s property and practice their shooting. Mia, do you remember the other day when you thought he might have a private target range?“
Mia’s eyes gleamed. „We can check property records for land owned by the Worths.“
Spi
„I’ve been working on identifying the chain he used to strangle Ramey,“ Jack said. „We made a cast of the ligature marks and I found a few men’s chains that are similar in size.“ He laid three chains on the table. „The one closest to the plaster cast is the middle one.“
„Dog tags,“ Spi
Mia brought a chain from under her blouse. „Like this?“ A set of military ID tags hung from the end of the chain.
„My dad gave me his tags when I joined the force. Said his tags kept him alive in ‘Nam and hoped they’d keep me alive in uniform.“
„We already thought he could have been military, being a sharpshooter,“ Abe said, excitement in his voice. „It makes sense.“
Spi
„We canvassed the pawnshops,“ Murphy said. He was a serious man with a rumpled suit. Kristen knew him to be a good cop. Methodical. „We found the gun late last night.“
„Any useful prints?“ Abe asked.
Murphy nodded. „Yeah, they were in the system. Street punk, goes by Boom-Boom. We’ve got out an APB. Hopefully we’ll find him and hopefully he saw something useful Monday night.“
Spi
Mia stood up. „Records opens at nine and I want to be first in line. You ready, Abe?“
Abe pulled on his coat and Kristen had to look away before her mouth started watering. They’d done nothing sexual the night before and somehow that made her wish they had. First they’d dealt with CSU, then the Medical Examiner’s Office as they’d picked up Jenkins’s body. Then when everyone had gone, Abe kissed her good night, a long, liquid, yearning kiss after which he patted her behind and sent her off to bed. He’d bedded down on the sofa, just as he’d promised, leaving her heart thundering and her mind wondering what would have happened had she asked him to tuck her into bed. He’d checked on her several times during the night and each time she’d been so tempted to ask him to stay. But she didn’t, and when sleep finally came, her dreams were full of hot images that still had her nerves humming.
„I’m driving, Mitchell, so I can pick lunch.“ He stopped by Kristen’s chair and bent down to murmur in her ear, „Don’t go anywhere by yourself. Not even to Owen’s. Please.“
Her heart clenched at the tender worry in his eyes. „I promise. I’ll stay here all day.“
Abe straightened. „Maybe not all day,“ he said cryptically.
„Abe,“ Spi
Wednesday, February 25,
10:00 A.M.