Page 59 of Seven Deadly Sins

Liam turned to face Macey and Harris. “Thanks for coming. Unfortunately, I lost the guy in the alley.” He gave them a description, adding that he believes it to be a disguise. “When we’re finished here, Harper and I will pay Doctor Landry another visit. See if his schedule is the same as the length of time we didn’t receive text messages or have any deaths in the MO of his assassin.”

“It’s a long shot,” Macey said.

“It’s all we’ve got.” He’d never felt so helpless in his life. Because of his incompetence catching this guy, people were dying. More people would die. They were only on the third sin.

Harper stepped in front of him, her blue eyes focused on his. “What’s wrong?”

“What if I don’t have what it takes?” He kept his gaze locked on hers, searching for anything to prove him wrong. “What if we never bring this guy down?” What if he kills Harper? Liam was pretty certain that would happen with the seventh sin. The man would come for them.

She put a hand on his cheek. “You’re one of the most dedicated people I’ve ever met. We will catch this guy. Have you ever missed bringing justice?”

He shook his head. “There’s always a first time.”

“No. This will not be the first time you fail. We’re a good team, Special Agent McConnell.” She gave his cheek a pat. “Now pull out of your pit of despair. We’ve work to do.”

His phone vibrated. He pulled it from his pocket and glanced at the screen.Whew, that was close. LOL.

His fingers clenched around the phone, imagining them wrapped around the man’s throat. Instead, he showed it to Harper.

“Well, at least you were close.”

He frowned, then burst into laughter. “Yeah. At least I was close.”

Grinning, she started taking photos of the license plates belonging to the cars in the parking lot. “Some of them are damaged, but I think we can see enough to find out who these vehicles belong to.”

There would be a lot of mourning families once they did. Most likely some mixed with horror and embarrassment. He and Harper would be busy doling out the bad news, something he deeply regretted having to do.

Chapter Three

Harper divvied thelicense plates up between her, Liam, and Annie. By late afternoon, they had the names and addresses of those at the bookstore. “Since it’s crowding five o’clock, we should probably hit Landry’s office first.”

“Agreed. I really want to see if something in his schedule coincides with the fact our perp laid low for a couple of weeks.” He stood from his desk. “Ready? We’ve got a long, unpleasant, evening ahead of us.”

“All your suspicions about Landry are circumstantial.” She followed him to the jeep.

“Listening to my gut has saved my life on multiple occasions, helped me solve cases, I don’t dispute it.” He opened the passenger side door for her before moving to the driver’s seat. “Besides, we can’t find a current address on the man. That alone makes him suspicious.”

“If he is our guy, I doubt we’ll get much info from his staff. I figure he hires loyal followers. The man we’re looking for wouldn’t take any chances on an outsider keeping their mouth shut.” She thought it too easy for Landry to be their man but did have her own small inkling that Liam could be right.

They parked in front of the office building and marched inside side-by-side. They must have achieved the formidable look Harper had hoped for if the pale face and wide eyes of the receptionist was any indication.

“We need to speak to Doctor Landry.” Harper flashed her badge.

“He’s been out sick for two weeks.”

“Any idea when he plans on returning to the office?”

She shook her head. “He’ll be in when he can. I don’t have any surgeries listed for another couple of weeks.”

Harper shot Liam a glance. The doctor’s schedule fit the time of no texts and no deaths. She handed the receptionist a business card. “Please have him call us when he returns to the office. You wouldn’t happen to have his home address, would you?”

“I’m afraid I’m not at liberty to give that out.”

“Of course not.” Harper forced a smile, then turned and exited the building. Without a warrant, they couldn’t force the woman to talk. “I’m starting to think you’re right about him. Let’s say he is our guy. What now?”

“We try to find him.”

Not an easy task. The killer was like a phantom, hiring out his dirty work and sitting back to watch the show. “Let the other agents know. We need all the help we can get to find him and the woman assassin.” Hopefully, with Landry behind bars, his followers would disperse. The thought of them continuing what he’d started was too horrible to contemplate.

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