Into the Night(68)

“They’re shaking now,” Tucker said.

Jonah fired a glance over his shoulder. “Because I’m pissed off. I thought you were going to accept me. I thought the whole team would. Isn’t that the point of our unit? We’ve all got ties to killers. I’m freaking FBI. And you dare to suspect one of your own?” He was done. Done. He marched away without giving Tucker a chance to respond.

Tucker Frost could go screw himself. Jonah had a job to do. He’d do it. He’d prove exactly who was guilty.

*

TUCKER WAITED UNTIL Jonah had stormed away. Then he pulled out his phone and called Samantha Dark. He knew it was the middle of the night, but that didn’t matter. Samantha would be waiting for his call. After all, she was the one who’d tipped him off about Jonah moments before he’d walked into that office. If it hadn’t been for her call, he never would have pursued his line of questioning with the other agent.

She answered on the second ring. “Well?”

“You’re sure the leaks in the office go back to him?”

“I’ve got five techs working on this.” Her voice was weary but firm. “He’s been slipping into personnel files here. He wanted to know more about our team. That raises every red flag I’ve got.”

Especially since their perp knew so much about Bowen’s life.

“Jonah said he made a program to track serials,” Tucker told her. “But he told me that he’d only used it on practice runs.” He wanted to be fucking wrong. He wanted Samantha to be wrong. What practice runs? Who was his guinea pig? Was it Daniel Haddox? Patrick Remus? Why hadn’t Jonah told him?

There was a moment of silence on the line, and then Samantha announced, “We need to notify Macey and Bowen about the discovery of the personnel leaks at the FBI. And I’m getting on the jet and coming to Gatlinburg tonight.” Tension crackled in every word. “I want you to stay close to Jonah, understand? We could be wrong, but it’s not adding up.”

“No, it isn’t.”

“Maybe he’s not involved in the crimes,” Samantha said. “I still need to know why he thinks he can sneak into confidential records for other agents. He has no business doing that.”

No, he didn’t. And that was a huge problem. “Jonah just left to get a ride with the cops downstairs. Said he was heading back to the police station.”

“Stay with him, Tucker. Every step of the way, got it?”

“Got it.” He hung up and hurried downstairs. He threw open the door. The crowd had dispersed—people were finally going home for the night. About time. It’s nearing midnight. He saw the two officers he’d passed earlier, and they were still loading the confiscated computer equipment into their van. He jogged toward them. “Where’s Agent Loxley?”

They turned and frowned at him.

“The agent who told you to pack up all of this equipment,” he clarified because there had been a ton of local agents running around earlier. “Where is he?”

“Don’t know,” one of the officers replied. “Haven’t seen him.”

No, that didn’t make any sense. Jonah had just gone that way. Tucker yanked out his phone. He dialed Jonah. It rang once, twice—

I hear the phone. He turned away from the cops. Went to the side of the building, and right there, with its screen cracked, lay Jonah’s phone. It was still ringing, but Jonah was nowhere to be found.

Just the broken phone.

Tucker’s heart lurched in his chest.

We have a big fucking problem.





CHAPTER FIFTEEN

“THE VICTIM IS a woman,” Dr. Sofia Lopez said as she pointed toward the skull with a gloved hand. She bit her lower lip. “But, um, you both already know that, right?”

Right.

“Men tend to have heavier skulls,” Dr. Lopez added. “Thicker ones. They’re also generally bigger than female skulls.” Her gloved finger moved toward the eye socket. “And you can see the sex here, too. Women have an, um, the ridge here is sharper than for a man.”

“Any idea how old she was?” Bowen asked. He was right beside Macey, and his arm brushed against her.

“Oh, yeah, that was something else easy to see. It’s all in the teeth, you know.” Dr. Lopez flashed them a vague smile. “All of the teeth have erupted. Usually teeth finish erupting by around a person’s twenty-first birthday. This skull—I mean, this victim—she had a lot of dental work. She even still has her bar in place.” She indicated the bar that was attached just behind the bottom teeth.

Macey stared at the skull. The nails had been removed, and now gaping holes were left in the skull. It wasn’t white and gleaming, but brown. Almost stained? “Did he paint the skull?”

“Yeah, I think so, I chipped off some samples and I sent them in for testing,” the ME replied. Her face turned considering. “I think he did it to give the appearance of it being an old skull.”

“How did she die?” Bowen asked.

Dr. Lopez lifted the skull. “See this hole here?” She tapped it with her finger. “This didn’t come from a nail. Her skull was cracked.”

“Blow to the head,” Macey concluded.

The ME nodded. “That would have done it. That would have killed our vic.”