The Profiler: The brand new CSI Reilly Steel mystery by Casey Hill

Author:Casey Hill [Hill, Casey]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Little Blue Books
Published: 2026-01-02T00:00:00+00:00

28

Some thirty-odd minutes later, Chris passed through the security barricade, visitor badge clipped to his button-down shirt.

Reilly met him at the perimeter of the house, her professional demeanor firmly in place. "This way," she said, leading him toward an RV. "Just to prepare you—Todd's not thrilled about this."

"Shocker," Chris replied dryly.

"But Daniel’s always been a fan," she joked as they walked, then pausing before the entrance. "Just... try to keep it professional, OK?"

Chris nodded, understanding the subtext. This was her turf, her case, her colleagues. His presence was already complicated enough by their personal relationship to say nothing of his and Todd Forrest’s history, which had last concluded with Chris almost punching Forrest in the mouth.

The command center RV hummed with activity as they entered—analysts at computer stations, tactical personnel reviewing maps, a central table covered with documents.

Todd Forrest looked up first, his eyes narrowing predictably.

Daniel approached then, extending his hand. "Detective Delaney. Great to see you again. Enjoying Florida?"

Chris shook it. "Not really. Never in a million years thought I’d miss Dublin weather.”

Todd remained arms crossed, making no move to welcome him. Marcus, by contrast, moved forward with an easy smile.

“Marcus Rivera. Hearing you're quite the armchair detective.”

Chris wasn’t sure what to make of this guy. Smooth was the first word that came to mind. “Yeah, I’m a real one too, but cheers.”

"If we're done with the chit-chat,” Todd interrupted tersely, "maybe someone can explain why we're bringing in unauthorized personnel during an active investigation.”

Reilly raised her chin. “I told you, Chris has been monitoring the online discourse. He found something that could be relevant."

Todd's expression remained skeptical. “Great, so we're taking investigative direction from everyone and anyone these days.”

"We agreed that integrating collective intelligence was a valid approach," Daniel reminded him, his tone mild but pointed. “Detective Delaney has the necessary law enforcement experience to filter through the noise."

Marcus smirked at Todd's discomfort. "Plus, he's practically family, right?"

The comment drew sharp looks from both Reilly and Todd while Daniel smoothly redirected the conversation.

"Detective, time is of the essence. Perhaps you could outline your findings.”

Chris moved to the central table, opening his laptop and notebook. With concise precision, he walked them through linguistic analysis suggesting the kidnapper's mathematical background, and the pattern of financial irregularities across multiple companies where Jacob Wilkins had worked.

"The same cognitive enhancement research keeps appearing under different guises," he explained, summarizing the documentation. "Each time safety concerns are raised, Wilkins steps in, researchers are paid off and silenced with confidentiality agreements, and the research migrates to another company."

Todd's expression shifted as Chris presented the evidence, professional interest overriding his initial resistance. "Matches what we just saw with the Fibonacci sequence thing," he acknowledged reluctantly.

"And if Wilkins has been covering up similar problems across multiple companies," Reilly pointed out, "it expands our understanding of motive."

Daniel studied the financial documents with careful attention. "Perhaps also explains the kidnapper's focus on systemic, than isolated misconduct. He's not just targeting a single company’s specific failures, rather a repeated pattern of institutional protection.

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