Page 84 of Den of Iniquity

“Wait a minute,” I objected. “I thought I was indispensable.”

“Don’t you wish,” she replied. “So are you going to see Scotty and Cherisse while you’re there?”

“I ran into him when I came to the department. We’re going to grab some dinner together.”

“Good,” Mel said. “The two of you could use some father/son time.”

I was sitting there twiddling my thumbs and thinking how different this squad room was from my old one back in the Public Safety Building when Detective Sechrest reappeared, grinning from ear to ear and giving me a thumbs-up from across the room.

“Got it,” she said. “If the crime lab obtains a profile that matches the one from Liberty Lake, our cases will be reopened. A match will give us enough probable cause for the search warrants we need. I’ll get those typed up so they’ll be ready to go the moment we hear from the crime lab. What all should I ask for?”

“Go for her home, studio, and both vehicles along with all her electronic devices.”

“Home and work computers?” Sandy asked.

“By all means,” I answered. “And don’t forget to include her Apple Watch. That appears on surveillance video from at least two of our crime scenes.”

“If the warrants come through tonight, are you interested in doing a search warrant ride-along?”

Not wanting to be labeled a dirty old man, I managed to keep from jumping up and giving Detective Sandra Sechrest a hug around the neck. “Is the pope Catholic?” I replied.

She grinned back at me. “I’ll be sure to bring along an extra vest.”

Scott turned up then. “I’m seeing smiles all around,” he said. “What’s up?”

I gave him a brief rundown. “So where shall we eat?” he asked when I finished.

“How about the Metropolitan Grill?” I suggested. “That’s nearby and the food should be good.”

“Fine with me,” Scott said.

The restaurant was only a few downhill blocks away, but without knowing exactly where we’d be heading afterward, Scott and I both drove our own vehicles there and utilized the valet parkers. A lot of the items on the restaurant’s menu weren’t available that night because the kitchen was trying to use up inventory before the inevitable pandemic axe fell. That was disappointing, but the truth is, we weren’t much interested in the food. We were really there to talk, and talk we did.

It turned out that Scott and Cherisse were dealing with their own pandemic issues. Helene Madrigal, Cherisse’s mom, lives in France. She’s a widow who had come to the States for a short visit with the kids. Now, with all the uncertainty about international travel, Cherisse was reluctant to have her mother return home, knowing that once there, she might not be able to come back.

“We’re trying to talk Helene into staying on with us until this Covid thing sorts itself out,” Scott told me.

I like Helene, but having your mother-in-law hanging around for an indefinite period of time seemed like a bad call. I didn’t say that out loud.

“She’s really good with JonJon,” Scott continued. “Cherisse really appreciates the help, especially with a baby coming.”

That one almost got past me. “Wait a minute,” I said. “Did you say ‘baby’?”

Scott grinned. “I certainly did. We only found out a couple of weeks ago. We wanted the pregnancy to be a little further along before we told anyone, but that’s the real reason we don’t want Helene to leave. She might not be able to come help when the baby’s born.”

“Congrats,” I said. “Do you know what it is?”

Scott grinned again. “Who cares? It’s a baby, and you know us. We don’t plan to find out what it is until we unwrap it.”

Dinner was over and our waiter had just presented the bill when my phone rang. The caller was Gretchen Walther.

“You’ve got a hit!” she said. “The profile from the quilt matches up to that taken from both Jake Spaulding’s crime scene and Darius Jackson’s. I’ve already sent the results to Detective Byrd in Liberty Lake. Where else should they go?”

“To Detective Sandra Sechrest at Seattle PD and to Detective Boyce Miller at Kent PD. Tell him it’s in regard to the Xavier Jesus Delgado homicide. The last time I saw Detective Sechrest, she was preparing to write up search warrant requests with the hope that we might be able to execute them tonight.”

“We?” Scott repeated once the call ended. “What do you mean ‘we’?”

“She said I could ride along if I wanted to.”

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