Latent Danger (On the Line #2)(20)

When she’d last seen him, Sawyer had the look of a kid who’d never had anyone say no to him, and it hadn’t seemed to occur to him yet that he wasn’t going to walk away from this free and clear. Shauna was glad he’d had that arrogance. It was probably what led Sawyer to keep the GHB they found in the clubhouse. He hadn’t even tried very hard to hide it. The bottle was tucked under the couch cushions and Shauna hoped like hell there were fingerprints matching Sawyer’s on it.

Another partner from the firm representing Sawyer arrived in record time, but there was nothing he could do to stop the search. They had a valid warrant signed by a judge who was a known stickler for having cause to issue one. If Judge Williams signed a warrant, you could bet there was cause.

Zach came to stand next to her, arms crossed as they watched the scene. “You see who’s come to watch?” He nodded toward the main house where another set of officers was executing their own search.

“The grandfather.” Shauna nodded as she looked up to where a tall older man stood, braced on a cane on the back patio of the large home. “I wonder what the cane is for.”

“Stroke,” Zach said. “I got more information on him when we were on our way here. I’ll show you the full report later. Had a stroke four years ago and came to live with his daughter and son-in-law then.”

“Where was he living before that?” Shauna asked, tone low so no one they didn’t want overhearing would get any information from their conversation.

“Two towns over, but he traveled some for the family business.” They were all aware the family business was extensive. They had several companies that seemed to deal in buying and selling other companies, and in things as varied as pharmaceuticals to oil. The depth of their business interests was indicative of a family who’d held money and status for generations. “I’ve got people contacting local law enforcement in the towns he traveled to but so far, no crimes match ours.”

She cursed under her breath. “Maybe on his way to or from places, he’s stopping off?”

“If he is, there’s no record of it. He used a private plane, but I would guess they have to log wherever they go and if they deviate, there would be a record of that.”

Shauna nodded. “And the father?”

“Travels a little for business, but not much. It looks like most of the business is in the wife’s family. He has some investments and things, but he seems to mostly leave things to her side of the family. He didn’t take over when the grandfather retired. A cousin of his wife ended up taking over the grandfather’s spot on the board and running things. When he travels for pleasure, it’s with the wife.”

“Doesn’t mean he can’t slip away to kill someone.” Shauna began working her way back into the clubhouse and Zach followed. The officers conducting the search with them had all huddled together in a group in the living area.

“True,” Zach murmured his response. They would need to check the husband’s travel itineraries as well.

“Find anything else?” Shauna asked the officers. She’d been the one to locate the GHB right off the bat.

Shaking of heads all around, but one officer recapped the results. “A couple of half empty bottles of alcohol and some dirty magazines. Nothing else.”

They all knew what that meant. No rope. No lipstick.

Ronan radioed up to the main house. Nothing there.

Zach looked to Shauna. “How do we want to handle this?”

Ronan added his two cents. “We don’t have anything to link him to the crimes thirty years ago.”

“True,” Shauna said, her expression grim. “I need to talk to John Grigsby, the prosecutor assigned to this, but my guess is that he won’t want to charge him with murder, yet.”

Zach nodded and looked to Ronan. “We’ve got him in on first degree sexual assault.”

Shauna turned to look back outside. “Maybe he knows who killed those girls thirty years ago. There’s got to be a connection between Sawyer and this killer if he’s got the rope and lipstick.”

“In the meantime,” Zach said, turning to the officers circling them, “be sure to grab the garbage and let’s see if we can scan the area for any possible dumpsters or public garbage cans where he might have ditched the rope and lipstick.”

One of the men snorted and Zach bristled. “Look, I get it’s a long shot. Why ditch the rope but hang onto the GHB, but we need to cover all our bases on this one. This guy will kill again. That we can be sure of.”

“There was a dumpster a block over on a house they were doing construction on. Saw it when we came in.” The officer who spoke up was young, but Zach liked the way he was thinking, crossing everything off the list instead of just assuming things. He gave the officer a nod and they walked outside.

He just wished like hell they knew more about what the connection was to these killings from thirty years back. Because right now, he was sure they were missing a hell of a big piece of this puzzle.

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Chapter Thirteen





Shauna rubbed her hands over her face and breathed deeply, in and out. In a minute, she’d need to head down to the section of the railroad track being lit by the forensic team’s large portable lights. If this was Carrie’s body, there would be no more hoping they’d be able to bring the girl home safely. There would be no more praying Carrie would survive this if they tracked Adrienne’s killer fast enough.