Page 58 of Wicked Sin

“Wouldn’t miss a chance to see how the big boys do things,” McBride cracks.

“I’m bringing popcorn,” Singh adds.

I roll my eyes. “Maybe I shouldn’t transfer. Fewer chances of gold-level comedic relief on undercover details.”

“You shouldn’t transfer because we solve your cases for you and make you look good,” Sarah says. “The real reason we’re sitting in is because we’ve caught a break. There was a note left at the very first reservoir murder. And I think—”

Ram clears his throat.

“Singh and Ithink it may be from the same person who left the threatening note for Taylor Reid.” She hands over a photocopied piece of paper.

My blood turns cold as I look down at it.

That does look like the same handwriting. “You’ve sent it to Quantico?”

“Our guys have uploaded the scan to their servers, yep.”

“Jesus.” I turn back to the captain, who already has my report pulled back out of her desk. I take it from her and hand it to McBride. “Then you might want to pull all flight records for Gerome Lively, and see if his travel to and from California line up with your murder dates.”

“The billionaire?” Sarah scans the notes of my brief conversation with Hailey and Alison. “Shit, Vasquez. What have you gotten us into here?”

“A case that could make your career.”

I don’t want it. And as soon as that thought flashes through my mind, I know it’s true. I’m too close to Taylor. I don’t know what’s going to happen next, but I can’t be on the case. Not officially. But before I walk away, I’m going to make sure they know just exactly how complicated this could get.

“He’s dirty, and well-connected. He got a sweetheart of a deal from the US attorney in Miami, who is now the Under Secretary for Agriculture for Natural Resources, not a portfolio he has any experience in—curious. Lively’s relationship with the president goes back decades. And even though he was caught red-handed for kidnapping, somehow he managed to skate. The civil suit stalled out. The whole situation stinks. He will think he’s above the law.”

Singh whistles, a low, dark sound. “Maybe he is.”

Anger curdles in my gut.

Captain Woods stands up, her eyes flashing. “Not if he’s killed women in Los Angeles. We’ll nail his ass to the fucking wall. I don’t care if the president is his best fucking friend.” Her gaze locks on my face for a moment then snaps to Singh and McBride. “Let’s keep that element to ourselves for now. We’re not handing this part of the case over to the FBI, and they’ve bungled the Lively file before. Got it?”

“Got it, boss.”

She exhales roughly. “Let’s go see what the lab rats have done with our evidence.”

The elevator dings as we cross the squad room. Agent Ferdinand steps into the hallway, and he’s not alone. There’s another generic looking white guy with him, this one with white-blond hair.

“Newcomb,” he says, holding out his hand to introduce himself. “Secret Service.”

The same one who punted us the bad tip in the first place. I shake his hand as I size him up. “Vasquez.”

His hand tightens around mine. “The one who went to Washington.”

I give him a neutral, but rueful smile. “Yeah, that was a bit of a waste of time.”

“Shame to hear that Ms. Reid went on the run. She didn’t need to do that.”

Captain Woods interrupts. “We were all disappointed in how that went down, and remain hopeful that she’ll contact us—and her family, too. Shall we go into the briefing now?”

I’m disappointed that Ram doesn’t actually have popcorn, but we don’t need it because the Forensics lead agent on the other side of the country has some bombshell news for us once we’re all seated and the video conference has begun.

They start with a round of introductions, then an overview of what analysis they’ve completed so far, and what is still outstanding. But it doesn’t take them long to get to the meat of the news. “Long story short, the device wasnota high explosive. It was designed to look like a bomb and scare someone good, but since they chose to set it off when she wasn’t near the car…” She trails off when Ferdinand waves his hand at the camera on our end.

“Yes, Agent Ferdinand?”

“Can you clarify that? They chose to set it off when she wasn’t near the car?”

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