Cold & Deadly (Cold Justice: Crossfire #1)(89)

“They obviously knew he was away,” Frazer said. “They made no effort to break in. Where’s Sheridan’s dog?”

“Staying with a neighbor who has a farm,” Mallory replied.

“They walk in and out of the woods like they know the way and aren’t in any hurry,” Alex said calmly.

“Think they’ve been spying on Sheridan?”

Alex met her gaze. “They’ve definitely been watching him.”

Mallory glanced at the woods with a shiver. “Should we get tracker dogs in?”

At the place where they’d found Caroline Perry’s car the bloodhounds had led them back to the road but they’d become confused about which direction to go in. After an hour the handler had given up.

“Wouldn’t do any harm. Might lead us to some sort of hide. Although…” Alex started walking in the direction of the woods.

Even though Mallory didn’t want to follow, she did, and so did Frazer. Being summer, the undergrowth was thick and lush, draped in ominous shadows. The scent was of pollen and crushed grass, not the rot and decay of fall.

Mal was grateful that birds were sitting on branches and singing happily. It helped. A little.

Alex followed the path into the trees and led them to a gate in the six-foot tall wooden fence that surrounded the property. Alex stepped aside as Frazer slipped on a glove to carefully open it. Evidence Recovery Techs would dust for prints and DNA later, but it was unlikely the trespasser had left anything behind.

“Why do this?” Mallory asked Frazer, slowing down to catch her breath. No matter how she tried to pretend otherwise, her pregnancy was making it harder to do her job. Maybe she should have stayed in the office like Frazer had suggested. One day she’d listen to someone besides her own stubbornness.

“You okay?” Alex asked, coming back to her side.

Frazer glanced at her sharply and stopped walking.

“I’m fine.” She waved them both off, although she could already do with a nap. “Why break his windows? It seems petty and small for someone who has committed murder.”

Frazer put his hands on his hips and shrugged. “Maybe it was an associate of Robin Elgin’s who knew what was going on and was angry but not murderous about the FBI foiling the plot.”

“Or the UNSUB is alive and pissed,” Alex said. “The bombs didn’t kill Chavez or Warren like they wanted. Sheridan and Kanas found Peter Galveston’s corpse, which was obviously important enough to them to dig up and rebury, then Sheridan shot dead Robin Elgin. They can’t get to Sheridan so they lost their temper, wanted to punish him and,” he shrugged, “this is juvenile but pretty effective in terms of trashing his house.”

“Shows a distinct loss of control,” Mallory mused.

Frazer nodded. “If this is the UNSUB and not some underling then they’re making mistakes, unraveling. They know it’s only a matter of time until we catch them.”

“Unless they go to ground…” Alex looked up at the trees and then back down at the forest floor.

“We have so much evidence to go through it could take too much time. They might get away.” Mallory felt the rising sense of dread she was trying to push down.

“We’ll find them wherever they are,” Frazer told her gently.

She blinked. Her boss, while not perfect, was a formidable guy. If he said they were gonna catch this UNSUB, then they’d catch them. But the fact remained…when?

“Here.” Alex had wandered away and crouched on the ground, staring at a shoe print in a small patch of dirt. “This person knows all about covering their face and hands but seems to forget some of the other basics. Get the ERT out here to photograph and cast this sucker.”

Mallory went to walk closer, but Frazer caught her arm.

“Careful.” He drew her backward, and she realized she’d been about to tread on a piece of evidence she couldn’t even see.

She took a step back. “I need to inform Sheridan what happened here. I doubt he even knows yet.”

“I’m going to the lab. Put a fire under their asses about the DNA results.” Frazer looked pissed.

Mallory was glad she wasn’t a lab tech right now. She pressed her fingers into the small of her back and started walking to fetch an evidence tech while Frazer guarded the footprints.

“Did those shoe prints look like the ones from the riverbank?” Mallory asked Alex when he caught her up.

“Yep.” He showed her the two images side by side on his phone. Pattern on the sole looked identical. Someone had a favorite pair of sneakers.

“I don’t think this is over, Alex.”

“Neither do I, baby. Neither do I.”

She tried Sheridan again, but the number was showing unavailable so he’d probably turned it off to get some sleep. She didn’t blame him.

“Why do people do this? Why hate and destroy when it’s so much better to love?”

“Greed, revenge, rage, pain? Maybe they have an appetite for destruction?”

She appreciated the Guns N’ Roses reference.

He stuffed his hands in his pockets and shrugged like he didn’t care, but they both knew that was a lie.

“We have dinner in DC tonight with my mother. Did you remember?”

“I remembered that I’m probably going to have an emergency come up in the office at the last minute.” Her husband wiggled his brows and she grinned.