Cold Case Recruit. Jennifer Morey

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СКАЧАТЬ like to forget, things he almost had forgotten until this man had come to see him.

      “You can work for me when you aren’t working here,” Kadin said. “You won’t even have to move. Just travel to the sights of the cold cases when you need to until they’re solved. A man with your experience won’t take that long.”

      “I’m done with that line of work,” Brycen said, much more feebly than before.

      “Are you?” Kadin pinpointed Brycen’s weakness, his thirst to solve crimes. After holding his gaze a beat longer, Kadin added, “Give it some thought. I’ll be waiting to hear from you.” And with that, he left the dressing room.

      Brycen went to the dressing table and leaned over, bowing his head. Now what?

      Plaguing regret spread its poison. Again. Every time he managed to erase the life he’d left in Alaska, something or someone rekindled the nightmare. “Damn you, Kadin Tandy.”

Chapter 1

      Filming ended for the season of Speak of the Dead and Brycen found himself with too much time to think. Everything Kadin said kept going through his mind. That, and his dinner with Molly Lynden. Talking to her reminded him of what had brought him satisfaction as a homicide detective. Solving crimes, yes, but people like her made the biggest difference. After he’d grown up and learned his love of fiction didn’t compare to his work, he’d found other things to love about crime-solving.

      Even with all Molly had lost, she still had forgiveness in her heart, and an ability to move forward. That was why he walked into Dark Alley Investigations today, unannounced, with a reporter taking a shot of him. News would get out that the host of Speak of the Dead had returned to work. And in a big way.

      Inside, the receptionist’s desk was empty, but Kadin stood in the open doorway of his office. He stepped aside as Brycen approached. “I’ve been expecting you.”

      Brycen disregarded the teasing statement and entered the office.

      Kadin passed him and went to his desk, picking up a folder and going to a table in the adjacent corner. Brycen took the bait and joined him there, glancing at Kadin as he opened the file. Neat handwriting spelled Drury Decoteau on the folder tab.

      Brycen sat down and opened the thick file. The first page was a summary of Kadin’s first conversation with the woman.

      “She called a few weeks ago. A year ago her husband was gunned down as he came out of an Anchorage coffee shop. He was an Alaska State Trooper.”

      Brycen stopped at Anchorage. He flipped the file shut and stood from the chair. “I can’t believe I fell for this.” He’d asked what case Kadin had in mind for him back in Chicago and he hadn’t answered. He’d known Brycen would refuse outright if he knew sooner.

      Kadin planted his hand on Brycen’s chest and stopped him. “I had to get you here.”

      “So you could fool me into taking a case in Alaska?” He had to know his history there.

      “You’re the best detective in the country for this case.” Kadin dropped his hand. “I’ve had to calm Drury down on numerous occasions and ask for her patience while I recruited you.”

      “You told her about me?”

      “I told her you were the best detective in the country for her husband’s murder case.”

      In other words, he hadn’t told her about his history outside of his detective work in Alaska.

      “Read the file.”

      Brycen didn’t move at first. But then that old curiosity overcame him, excitement over solving a new case. The need. He could not walk away from this.

      Going back to the table, he sat again. The trooper, Noah Decoteau, left a coffee shop and walked to his vehicle. Before he reached the vehicle, a gunman shot him three times, once in the head, twice in the chest from an alley across the street. Ballistics came back with a 9-millimeter bullet, probably from a Ruger SR9c. Detectives spoke with patrons and neighboring shops. No one saw the shooter.

      “Noah answered three calls for help the week of the shooting,” Kadin explained as Brycen turned pages.

      “An attempted rape in Anchorage, a domestic violence call in a remote island village and a burglary,” Kadin said.

      “Was there an arrest in any of the cases?” Brycen asked.

      “The perp of the attempted rape was never found. Burglar was arrested, and no charges were filed in the DV call. The wife refused.”

      As they often did, out of fear their husbands would retaliate. “What happened in the attempted rape?”

      “Cocktail waitress left work after two and someone tried to get her into their pickup truck. She fought hard and got away. It was dark, so she wasn’t sure she could recognize the man. He also attacked her from behind. Some hunters came in and gave her a hard time a few nights prior. She got them kicked out and one of them wasn’t very happy. He was a person of interest for a while.”

      Brycen read that the man had been questioned and his wife vouched for him the night of the attempted rape. That didn’t mean she hadn’t lied for him. Some women would do anything to maintain peace in their home, especially with a violent man.

      Next, he found the report on the DV call. The call came in from the woman, who had hidden in the bedroom closet. She said her husband had been drinking and struck her when dinner was late. It took some time to reach the house, and by the time the trooper and his partner arrived, the woman had changed her story, saying she made a mistake. Her husband didn’t really hit her. With no visible signs of abuse, the troopers had left.

      He went back to the description of the crime. The trooper had been gunned down in cold blood, without ever being aware someone had him in their aim. Something the trooper had either seen or done had earned him three bullets.

      He searched the report for prior arrests. The abuser didn’t have any. The burglar had a rap sheet. The hunters were clean.

      Four other criminals the trooper had put away were still in Alaska and now free. All had been checked out. All but one had a solid alibi. In an interview, the prostitute claimed she’d been home at the time of the murder. Maybe she’d lied, since her profession was illegal. There were no more details on her. The rest of the criminals the trooper had arrested and who were listed in the report either had left the state or were still in jail.

      After reading the report all the way through, Brycen put the last page down and looked out the window. Whenever one of their own died in the line of duty, Brycen took it personally. He just got mad that the trooper hadn’t even had a chance. The gunman had taken the cowardly way and targeted him, hidden in the shadows and taken down an innocent, good man. He’d turned a wife into a widow. DAI’s newest client. She’d called them, desperate to find the man who’d destroyed her life.

      When he finally turned back to the office, he saw Kadin standing at the side of his desk, leaning there with his feet crossed and his hands resting over the edge.

      “I’ll do it, but I’ll make no promises that I’ll work for you permanently.” He could not let a cop killer go free. He wouldn’t be in СКАЧАТЬ