Page 101 of Wicked Sin

The television monitors are the only thing in my sight now. There’s a group of men in suits with Captain Woods in the conference room. There’s nobody in the lobby in the second shot.

And on the third screen is a straight on shot of a man in a suit, walking alone down a hallway.

I suck back a gasp and spin around, blindly reaching for Luke.

31

Luke

As McBride waitsfor the lineup to get settled, she hands me the case file.

The suspect is a young guy who worked briefly as a nursing assistant at the plastic surgery clinic Taylor went to. One of the reservoir murder victims went there as well, and they found some evidence in his garbage from the last murder scene.

All circumstantial, but a good start.

Now we just need Taylor to recognize him, and they’ll have something to really nail him on in interrogation.

“All right, Taylor, you can—” Sarah starts to give our witness direction, but Taylor has already turned around, her eyes wide.

She’s reaching for me, full of terror.

“It’s okay,” I say, taking her hand. “Tell us who you recognize.”

She shakes her head. Tears are welling in her eyes.

“No one in the lineup,” she whispers, shaking. “The Secret Service agent. It’shim.And he’s coming this way.”

I turn and follow her finger, pointing to the monitor on the right.

There’s nothing there. It’s an empty hallway.

“Who did you see?”

“I don’t know his name.” She swallows a gulp of air. “He was on the VP’s detail, though. He creeped me out. And I’ve seen him around L.A. I know I have.”

Behind her, McBride’s eyes go wide.

Photo line up,she mouths at me.Keep her here.

Yeah, no fucking shit. We’re not leaving this room if there’s an agent in the building who has murderous intent toward Taylor.

My fingers itch to grab my Glock, to put her behind me and wait. But I don’t want to alarm her any more than she already is, so I give her a reassuring smile. “Tell you what. Take a good look at this line up, just in case. And then Sarah’s going to go dismiss it, and get the captain, and we’re going to find out who it is that you saw. Okay? And in the meantime, we’re going to stay here. Nobody knows where we are. It’s fine. You’re okay.”

Taylor nods shakily, then looks through the one-way glass. She does it carefully, even though I know her mind must be racing. “No,” she finally says. “I don’t recognize any of those people.”

Sarah chews on her bottom lip. I can tell she’s trying to decide whether or not to explain that Taylor probablyhasseen at least one person there, in a medical setting. “How about number four?” she asks. “You don’t recognize him at all?”

Taylor frowns and looks again. “I don’t know. Maybe. Oh—wait! He works with my plastic surgeon. Sorry, out of context. But I’ve never seen him anywhere other than that office, and I don’t think he was there the last time I went in.”

Which means maybe someone is probably setting this guy up.

How did he find him? Has a Secret Service agent been running a shadow investigation, mis-using his badge? The captain is going to have to quietly talk to someone higher up that chain.

This is going to get messy.

“I’ll be back,” says McBride. “Thank you, Taylor. I know this is all very unsettling. We appreciate your cooperation. I’m going to find a uniform to stand guard outside, then I’ll make a couple of calls and come back.”

After she leaves, I lock the door.

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