Sea Witch by Virginia Kantra

Author:Virginia Kantra [Kantra, Virginia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Paranormal Romance
ISBN: 9780425221990
Publisher: Berkley Sensation
Published: 2008-06-30T23:00:00+00:00

Twelve

“THIS ISN’T CSI: AUGUSTA,” SAM REYNOLDS told Caleb three days later. “These things take time. You know that. If you’re looking for the presence of an accelerant—”“I’m not.” Caleb sat at his desk, Maggie’s file open on the desk before him and the receiver tucked under his jaw. He needed the state’s resources. He respected Reynolds’s expertise. But this was still his case. His woman. “The evidence was recovered from a bonfire. The debris could be soaked in lighter fluid and it wouldn’t tell me a thing about the assailant except he sucked at starting fires. I need a biochemical analysis of anything he could have used as a weapon.”

“Basically, all your fire debris. Which, like I said, is going to take time.”

Donna Tomah had said the same thing when Caleb saw her yesterday. “ Recovering memories takes time.”

Caleb stared down at Maggie’s photo: the ugly gash on her forehead; the wide, exotic mouth; the dark, unfathomable eyes. How could he protect her when he didn’t know who she was? Or what she was running from?

“What about the rape kit?” he asked Reynolds.

“Results won’t do you any good without something to compare them to.”

“You can run them through the criminal databases.”

“Assuming her assailant has priors,” Reynolds said.

“That’s why I want results on the debris. If we can identify a weapon—”

“Or a suspect.”

Frustration jabbed Caleb. “I don’t have a suspect. I have jack shit.”

“Sucks for you,” Reynolds said. “Look, this case may be big news where you are, but it’s not a priority here unless—”

“It’s a homicide,” Caleb finished grimly. “Got it. Thanks.”

“At least your victim is still alive.”

More alive than anyone he’d ever known. She burned with life like a fever. Even her body temperature was hot.

Caleb cleared his throat. “Yeah.”

“She talking yet?”

“Nope.”

“She’s not a fugitive, is she?”

It was a reasonable question. Caleb had asked himself the same thing. “Not according to NCIC. Her fingerprints don’t match anything on file.”

“So, no criminal history. You check Missing Persons?”

“I’m telling you, she’s not in the database. There’s a sixteen-year-old girl went missing downstate twenty years ago, no fingerprints on record. But the profile doesn’t match-wrong age, wrong eye color.”

“You could put out a press release,” Reynolds suggested. “Appeal to the public. You know, ‘Police seek help identifying beautiful naked woman,’ that kind of thing. You’d get a lot of responses.”

“From every crackpot and crazy within five hundred miles. No, thanks.”

“How do you know she’s not crazy?”

Tension lodged at the base of Caleb’s skull. He massaged the back of his neck with one hand, holding the phone in the other. “She’s not.”

“Just forgetful,” Reynolds said dryly.

“She has a concussion.”

“She bumped her head. Doesn’t mean she’s telling you the truth.”

Suspicious bastard.

But he was right. Caleb didn’t know what troubled him more-that Maggie could be lying to him or that he wanted so desperately to believe in her.

“I’m trying to talk her into seeing a neurologist on the mainland. Get a CT scan, do some memory retrieval techniques, “ he said.

“Right,” Reynolds said. “Pump her with enough amobarbital , she might relax enough to answer a few questions.

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