Incriminating Evidence. Amanda Stevens

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СКАЧАТЬ at the agency knew it but pretended not to. Nick sometimes wondered if they’d had a romantic relationship in their younger days. Maybe that explained why she’d stubbornly carried a torch through both of Emmett’s marriages. Maybe she was waiting for him to wake up one day and realize the love of his life had been right in front of him all along.

      Emmett gave him a sidelong glance. “The woman that just left. New client?”

      “She could be. I’m looking into something for her. We’ll see how it goes.”

      “Quite a looker, from what I could see. Way out of your league, though.”

      Nick was used to his uncle’s ribbing. He gave a careless shrug. “Then I guess it’s a good thing she’s a client and not a date.”

      Emmett grinned, displaying a slight overbite that gave him a boyish air despite the silver at his temples. “My first wife was a client.”

      “And look how that turned out.”

      “Everything was fine until she got nosy.”

      “Yes, how dare she take offense to all those clandestine trips to Vegas,” Nick said dryly.

      Emmett’s expression sobered. “What did you say her name was?” He stared down at Jackie until she glanced back up at him. Something flared between them. Not attraction or even affection, but the silent communication of an old and complicated liaison.

      Nick paused at the abrupt change of subject. “You mean the client? Her name is Dr. Catherine March.”

      “Doctor, huh?”

      “She’s a forensic anthropologist.”

      Emmett repeated her name with a frown. “Has she been in before? I swear I know her from someplace.”

      “Maybe you recognize her from her work with the police department. An article ran in the paper yesterday about her efforts to help the county coroner’s office identify the victims in the Delmar Gainey case.”

      Something flashed across his uncle’s face, an emotion gone so quickly Nick wondered if he’d seen it all.

      When Emmett didn’t respond, Nick said, “Surely you’ve heard about the Gainey case. Human remains found in an abandoned house? You’d have to be living under a rock not to have heard all the breathless reporting.”

      Emmett frowned down into the lobby where Jackie had returned to her work. “Has she been able to identify any of the victims?”

      “She’s working up profiles for the coroner.” Nick thought about the enigmatic glint he’d caught in her eyes and the hesitant revelation about a puzzling discrepancy. He shrugged. “But to answer your question, I gather the work is ongoing. She didn’t talk much about it.”

      Emmett glanced at him. “That’s not why she came here, then. Good. I’d hate to see you get dragged into that mess. I hear heads are still rolling at police headquarters.”

      “I hear the same, but why would you even think that a possibility? Why would she come to me about a police investigation?”

      “It was just a thought,” Emmett said. “Wouldn’t be the first time an overzealous consultant tried to go behind a detective’s back. The last thing we need is to step on any CPD toes, especially in a high-profile case like this. If they thought you were trying to undermine an investigation, they could get your license yanked.”

      “You don’t need to remind me to proceed with caution when dealing with the Charleston Police Department.” Nick didn’t have to elaborate. His uncle would get his meaning.

      Emmett gave a grim nod. “All the more reason to keep your nose clean.”

      “My nose has always been clean.” Nick turned to his uncle. “What’s really going on here? You don’t have reason to worry about the Delmar Gainey case, do you?”

      “Why would I worry about a dead serial killer?”

      Nick searched his uncle’s profile. “Gainey was active while you were still a cop. Didn’t you work some missing-person cases back then? You must have had a theory about all those disappearances. Fourteen women don’t just vanish off the street without someone noticing.”

      “Happens all the time. Hookers, addicts, runaways. People live in the shadows for a reason,” Emmett said. “They don’t want to be noticed.”

      “You’re saying not a single missing-person report was filed on any of the victims?”

      “I’m saying if a report was filed, it would have been investigated like any other complaint.”

      “What about Gainey? No red flags?”

      “Lived alone and kept to himself. Familiar story, right? From what I understand, he didn’t have so much as an outstanding parking ticket. No one deliberately looked the other way, if that’s what you’re implying, but I’ll be the first to admit, most of our resources were allocated elsewhere at that time.”

      “You mean to the Twilight Killer case,” Nick said.

      “Orson Lee Finch’s victims were all young women from well-to-do families. They didn’t just disappear from the street. He put their bodies on display. That generated a lot of attention. A lot of heat from the powers-that-be.”

      “I’ve heard Dad talk about that case. He was on the task force.”

      “Yeah, before the feds took over. Then Raymond and I left the department to open this agency. But you already know that story and, anyway, this is all ancient history. Personally, I’m a little sick of hearing about those old cases. I look forward to the time when Delmar Gainey and Orson Lee Finch fade back into the dustbin of history where they belong.”

      “I doubt that’s going to happen anytime soon. Serial killers fascinate people. The fact that two were active in the city at the same time adds a new level of enthrallment.”

      “People are nuts,” Emmett muttered.

      “No argument there.”

      “So, this March woman.”

      Another abrupt transition. Nick gave his uncle a wary glance. “What about her?” He felt uneasy but he wasn’t sure why. Maybe because his uncle was acting strangely. Showing too much interest in Catherine March while dismissive of the two old cases that had taken the city by storm. If Nick didn’t know better, he would almost believe something had struck a little too close to home for his uncle.

      He cast another glance down into the lobby where Jackie pretended to type away on her keyboard. She didn’t look up again, but Nick had no doubt she was listening to their every word. She was good at her job, efficient and loyal to a fault, but at times, she seemed to have eyes and ears everywhere.

      “Let’s go into my office,” he said.

      Emmett followed him down the hallway, but instead of taking the seat across from Nick’s desk, he walked over to the window to stare down at the street. He folded his arms and leaned a shoulder against the frame, seemingly absorbed in the patter of rain against the glass.

      “You СКАЧАТЬ