The Third to Die by Allison Brennan

Author:Allison Brennan
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: MIRA Books
Published: 2019-11-29T19:18:22+00:00

27

Liberty Lake

11:15 a.m.

Matt went out to the crime scene in Liberty Lake. He was surprised to find Kara directing cops and talking to Miles Jordan and Jim Esteban.

He approached. “Where’s Andy?”

Anger flashed in her sharp blue eyes, then she suppressed it. For a cop who kept her emotions in check, he was surprised she let him see anything and wondered if it was deliberate.

A second look told him it was raw anger—it was real, and it was directed toward Andy. Matt wouldn’t want to be on the receiving end of Kara’s rage.

She jerked her finger toward the street. Andy was standing in front of his truck, not looking at the house or cops, but gazing into the woods beyond.

Matt would talk to him later. He asked Jim, “Anything new?”

Jim shook his head. “Same MO; sliced down once, across three times. Killed in his bed, probably didn’t even know what was happening until the knife came down. No struggle. Killer cleaned up in the vic’s bathroom, which may give us a huge break. He cleaned up after himself, but bathroom surfaces are fantastic to get prints or other biological matter. Blood in grout and cracks is really hard to erase without dousing the room in bleach.”

Kara said, “Forensics will confirm, but he entered through the front door. No sign that he picked the lock—he may have had the key, or was as good as me at picking a lock. No telltale scrapes. The door was unlocked when Andy and I arrived. We had probable cause to enter. Ogdenburg’s car was in the garage, he wasn’t answering the door, and his name was on our list.”

“No complaints from me,” Matt said. He would have done the exact same thing.

“We cleared the house. I found the body in the master bedroom. Andy called it in.”

“Is the coroner still in there?”

“Yes, but he hasn’t removed the body. I thought you might want to take a look so asked him to hold until you arrived,” Kara said.

Matt wanted to ask who put her in charge of the crime scene, but there was something in her tone that had him backing down.

He walked through the house. It was exactly as Kara had described, in her brief, efficient manner.

But she was right, he wanted to see. He wanted the image in his mind so he could better understand the Triple Killer. This scene—it wasn’t violent. A lot of blood, a dead body, but it was... Simple. Enter the house in the middle of the night, kill a man in his bed—no other assault, neither sexual nor physical—clean up in his bathroom, leave.

Bastard.

The coroner said, “Can I take him?”

Matt nodded and left the house. “Coroner’s done. Do your thing,” he said to Jim. He glanced around. “Where’s Quinn?”

“Helping with the canvass,” Jim said.

Yet Andy was still standing by his truck. While Jim and Miles brought their equipment inside, Matt approached the cop. “Detective.”

“You don’t want me on this case, Agent Costa.”

“Yes, I do.”

“I’m resigning.”

“Like hell you are. In the middle of a homicide investigation?”

“I could have gotten Kara killed.

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