Captured at the Cove by Carol Ericson

Author:Carol Ericson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2024-05-27T15:57:50+00:00

Chapter Eleven

Gagging, Astrid staggered to her feet and folded her arms across her stomach. “Where did he get that? It looks...fresh to me.”

West swore under his breath. “I’m pretty sure I know whose finger that is and if I’m right, it’s definitely fresh.”

“You do?” Astrid jerked up her head while the dog whined, still looking for kudos. “How can you identify someone from a finger?”

“Because I was just talking to its owner—Chase Thompson’s girlfriend. I noticed the blue fingernail polish. Of course, I could be wrong.”

“Good boy.” Astrid patted the dog on the head. “Then it’s Naomi Wakefield’s. I’ve seen them together when she’s strung out.”

“Yeah, I’d say that’s most of the time.” He blocked the dog from picking up finger and said, “Can you get me a plastic bag? We can’t let this beast mutilate the finger anymore. It’s evidence. Then I’m calling a team out here to search for her body.”

Astrid stopped, one foot on the first step of the porch, and twisted her head around. “Body?”

“You don’t think old Spot here up and ripped off Naomi’s finger while she was living and breathing, do you?” He nudged the dog with his knee and hovered protectively over the finger.

“I was kind of hoping that maybe she’s injured, and the dog took advantage of her. I don’t want to think about the rest.” She spun around and pushed through the front door. On unsteady legs, she grabbed a plastic bag from a drawer in the kitchen.

If Chase’s killers murdered Naomi Wakefield because they suspected her of passing information to West, would they ever give up on their assumption that she had the video from the drone? But if she did have it, she’d have already turned it over to West and if the footage did ID the killers, they’d be in trouble by now. They had to assume she didn’t have it. Didn’t they?

She gripped the edge of the counter with one hand, the other pinching the plastic bag between two fingers, and took a deep breath.

When she went back outside, she waved the baggie at West, on the phone and giving orders. He nodded his thanks and took the bag from her. He ended the call as he crouched down, a glove on one hand.

He shook open the baggie and picked up the dog’s prize with two fingers. He dropped it in the bag and sealed it. “I have a couple of deputies coming out to do a search of the forest between where Naomi and I met and where she left her car. I’m assuming she was ambushed on her way to her vehicle.”

“Why? Did Naomi tell you anything about Chase?”

“Not much.” He scratched the dog on top of the head. “Except she did mention she suspected Chase had another girlfriend.”

“Doesn’t sound like much to me. Maybe they just didn’t like her talking to you.”

Driving two fingers into his temple, West said, “We were careful. Nobody knew we were meeting. I made sure nobody was following me, and I figured she’d do the same because she was paranoid about being seen with me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.