Page 17 of Wicked Sin

“Relatively.”

“Let’s go to my office first so I can brief you on the discussion with the Feds. Then we’ll go into the conference room, and you can pull together the facts as we know them right now.”

“I’ll meet you in your office. I need to ask Singh and McBride to pull her financials.” I swing past the desks of my fellow detectives, who already got the heads up from Woods that we’d be pulling them into the investigation tonight.

“I thought you were off for two weeks?” Ram Singh asks when I stop in front of him. “I hear you caught a hot case instead.”

Sarah McBride looks up from the stack of files she was reading. “Don’t give him the idea that we can take this off his hands. We’ve got enough going on with the reservoir murders.”

“Vacation has been postponed,” I reassure her. “It’s fine. I’ll get back to that after you guys help me solve this case.” I tell them about Taylor’s bankcard not working. “Find out what you can and meet us in the conference room in ten.”

Then I go and find my boss, who has yet another Coke in her hand. This time, I take the drink she offers me.

And this time, she doesn’t beat around the bush. “So I gotta tell you, the Secret Service is being tight-lipped over this whole thing.”

“They literally handed us a live bomb. I imagine they’re covering their asses.”

Captain Woods pulls a face. “Yeah.”

“Is there more to the reluctance there?”

She shrugs. “It’s a political hot potato. But the FBI doesn’t have the same resistance. They would be willing to take over the investigation. I’m expecting a field agent to arrive any minute. This isn’t a nuisance report any longer. You can go on vacation if you want.”

Over my dead body. “I’ll accept any help they want to offer, but I’m not giving this up without a fight. There’s no evidence to connect it to any federal crime.”

“Ms. Reid’s family is under intense investigation.”

“A family she doesn’t have any contact with.”

The captain raises an eyebrow. “Really?”

“She says she hasn’t spoken to them in a year. Also, I think she trusts me. At least as far as she trusts anyone. So at least for the weekend—at least until we understand what we’re dealing with here—I don’t mind taking lead here.”

“All right.”

My phone vibrates. I pull it out. “Forensics report is in from the garage. There was no evidence of drugs in her car.”

She points in the general direction of the conference room. “Let’s go figure out what’s next, then.”

Waiting for us are McBride and Singh. They prefer to work on cases as a team.

I usually work on my own except for team meetings like this, where I present the facts of the case and figure out next steps. Right now, I can use all the help I get, because this file is nothing but holes right now.

“Did your work for you,” Sarah says, before sticking her tongue out at me. She shoves a print out in my direction. “All her accounts were seized by the Feds, along with her parents.”

“They didn’t tell you that?” I turned to the captain.

Her lips pull tight into a thin line. “They did not.”

More fuckery. So much for inter-departmental cooperation.

She waves her hand. “Let’s get on with it, anyway.

I launch into a rundown of the day, starting and ending with the drug claims, now disproven. “So that report was a false flag, designed to draw attention to the vehicle or ensure that Ms. Reid opened it on demand.”

Sarah frowns. “Do you think the bomb was intended to harm a police officer, then?”

If it were, that would change the motive. And the charges. “It’s a possibility.” Everything is a possibility.

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