Infractions by Barbara Winkes

Author:Barbara Winkes [Winkes, Barbara]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Unknown
Published: 2020-02-16T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Too early in the morning, Jordan’s cell phone started vibrating on the bedside table. Ellie reached over her, but was too late—Jordan was already awake.

“Really?” she greeted the caller and handed the phone over to Ellie with a sigh.

“Damn, I’m sorry,” Derek said. “It’s actually you I wanted to talk to—force of habit.”

Ellie looked over to the other side of the bed where Jordan was almost back asleep, and pushed back the cover.

“You’re forgiven this one time. What’s the matter?”

“Death,” he said. “Cleaning crew found a body in a parking lot.”

It was still dark outside. Ellie suppressed a yawn and started gathering her clothes. “Text me the address. I’ll be right there.”

“See you then.”

Despite having her sleep interrupted, Ellie felt wide awake. Somewhat excited that she’d be the first call, even if it hadn’t quite worked out that way. A bit antsy regarding the end of the Hogan case, though the rest of the investigation fell outside of their jurisdiction. Perhaps that was exactly what was making her antsy, the unexpected dimensions of this case, and the fact that a far-right politician had apparently covered for a stalker and murderer—and vice versa.

However, she had a new mystery on her hands.

Derek met her in a parking space outside the taped area, coffee in hand.

“That’s for you. I’ve had mine,” he said.

“Thank you so much. What do we have?”

“Female, Caucasian, early twenties maybe.”

On their way across the parking lot, Ellie took a few sips of her coffee and threw the cup into a garbage bin before she followed Derek inside the taped area.

“Cause of death?”

“Take a look,” ME Dr. Melissa Adams said. She gave Derek a quick smile, which Ellie found highly inappropriate—both under the circumstances and given that everyone knew he was married to her best friend Kate.

Ellie crouched down next to the body to look at the tell-tale marks around the woman’s neck, and winced. Not long ago, a suspect in the interrogation room had tried to choke her. Her body still remembered the pain. Unlike her, the woman had had no one come to her help. A few folded bills lay on top of her body, another twenty about a foot away.

“This usually isn’t an area for this kind of activity,” she said. “He lured her here?”

Wes Martin, one of the officers first on the scene, joined her. “We found fresh tire tracks—someone got away very fast.”

“You talked to members of the cleaning crew?”

“Yeah. Two women who came together, their car is over there,” he pointed to a red Chevy outside of the taped area. “It’s not far from the entrance they use. They saw her right away and called 911.”

Ellie tried to interpret Derek’s thoughtful look. There might be prints on the money, but they could be too many to get any clue as to who the perpetrator was. She took in the cheap fabric of the woman’s clothes—apart from the skirt riding up some, it almost seemed undisturbed. A quick, cold transaction. She held back the shudder.

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