Cold & Deadly (Cold Justice: Crossfire #1)(63)

Married life had been considerably easier than everything that had come before. Even if Alex was right it didn’t mean she worried any less. Worrying was part of her nature, but a part she was usually more able to partition off and deal with. Ever since she’d gotten pregnant her hormones had gotten the better of her and made her weepier and more battle ready. It was a scary, unnerving combination but there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do to protect this child, or this man. She squeezed her husband’s hand, knowing he felt the same way.

Up ahead she caught sight of a sheriff’s deputy in a brown uniform. She and Alex approached the small, silver sedan making sure neither of them walked in the tire tracks along the lane.

Looking at the dirt, Mallory noticed a few faint shoe impressions in the dust.

Alex saw them too. He crouched for a moment at the side of the track. “Looks like a man with small feet or a kid with big feet. Could also be a woman.”

That narrowed it down.

“Let’s get the evidence techs to put down markers and follow them out as far as they are able. They might match the ones found at Van Stamos’s place.”

“Or it could be someone out for a hike,” Alex suggested.

“Let’s collect the evidence.”

Alex looked up from his crouched position, and she could barely see him over her enormous belly. “Yes, Boss.”

She grinned as she turned away. As agreeable and amenable as Alex Parker was, every single day, there was never a doubt as to who was the real “boss.” His skill with weapons, cybersecurity, and computers was legendary. His life experience made him the consummate reader of potentially dangerous situations. Whenever he was around, she always felt one hundred percent safe. It was when he was gone, she got nervous. About the past. About the future. About the uncertainty of parenthood and the fear of messing up.

They planned to be geographically close for the next few weeks so he’d be with her for the birth. She needed his strength for what lay ahead.

The sheriff’s deputy held out his hand to Alex first. “Deputy Ortez. You must be Agent Rooney?”

“Mr. Parker is a consultant for the BAU and is also my husband so I asked him to accompany me.” The deputy shook her hand and stared at her midsection.

“How far along are you?”

“Nearly thirty-eight weeks.” And counting down the days.

“Your first?” Ortez asked.

Mallory nodded.

“Your life is about to undergo a seismic shift,” the officer said with a smile.

“Can’t wait,” Alex replied.

“I’ve got three of my own so I have some experience in an emergency, should it be required.”

“I’ll bear that in mind.” Mallory had no intention of having her baby beside a river in the dirt. She’d be in a hospital with every expert and medical machine available to man.

She eyed the car. She had a bad feeling about this case. Things weren’t adding up. Was Caroline Perry a killer or had she roofied Dominic Sheridan for kicks? Karl Feldman’s police sketch had turned out to look remarkably like Angelina Jolie. He’d clammed up completely once he’d discovered Caroline Perry was dead—or when he realized that law enforcement had discovered her body. He’d lawyered up and shut up.

Maybe Feldman had been so drunk he couldn’t remember what the woman had looked like. But it was also possible he and Perry had been working together, and he’d killed her and dumped the body. Analysts were digging up everything they could on Karl Feldman. Background checks had so far come up without any obvious links to the dead FBI agents. Mallory wondered if such an enormous man could have tiny feet.

She didn’t like so many clues pointing nowhere. She didn’t like the lack of clearly attributable motive.

“There are some shoe prints leading down the track. Did you record them yet?” she asked the deputy.

The man nodded to a technician in white Tyvek booties who was photographing something on the ground. “There are some beside the vehicle too, but it’s been dry so they aren’t real clear.”

Mallory walked around the car and looked at the prints and what looked very much like drag marks. “Catalogue and collect everything. I’ll request a bloodhound team to see if they can track the scent back to the road.” Although what that would tell them she wasn’t sure. Did they have an accomplice who’d picked them up? Had they hitched a ride? Walked?

She peered into the back seat of the sedan. A pile of clothes were tossed on the floor.

“Find her cell phone?” Alex asked the officer.

The deputy shook his head.

“You looked in the trunk yet?” asked Mallory.

“No, ma’am. As soon as I ran the plate, I got a hit on your flag. Figured I’d wait for you guys to turn up.”

Mallory nodded. “Appreciate it.”

She went to the trunk, but Alex stopped her.

“Let me check it out first.” Alex put on gloves and a very unattractive hairnet. He was hypersensitive about leaving his DNA at any crime scene, for good reason. He opened the rear passenger door and eased the back seat forward an inch and shone a penlight inside the trunk.

For a full minute he studied the interior of the trunk in meticulous detail. Then he crouched and looked under the vehicle, working his way around the base. “I don’t see any obvious boobytraps.”