„The man may regain consciousness and the bullet we can trace,“ Abe said.
Kristen shrugged. „So trace it. My looking up old cases shouldn’t affect that.“
„It could help, Abe,“ Mia said slowly. „Besides, Kristen’s on ‘vacation.’ If it were me, I’d be nuts without something to do.“
„There is that,“ Kristen admitted. „Other than finishing my basement mantel, I’d just be twiddling my thumbs and that would drive me crazy. I’m not suspended from John’s office, I’m just not working any active cases. Nobody said anything about archived cases.“
Abe understood the need to keep busy. He’d thrown himself into the job when Debra was shot. Most days, it was the only thing that kept him going. „Do it from here,“ he told her. „I don’t want anyone tracing calls to your house.“
„There are a lot of names here,“ Spinnelli said. „This will take you hours. Days.“
Kristen looked at each one of them sharply. „Look, we’ve got nine bodies. Nine. I don’t plan to go to any of their funerals and cry, but they’re dead nonetheless. Skinner left behind a wife and kids. They deserve justice if nobody else. My life is on hold and my mother was threatened last night. Until we catch this guy, I have all the time in the world.“
Tuesday, February 24,
9:15 A.M.
Mia leaned against the glass countertop, staring at Diana Givens who stared at the bullet through a magnifying glass.
„Well?“ she demanded. „Have you seen it or not?“
Diana glanced up, annoyed. „Keep your pants on.“ She bent her head down, squinting. „Intertwined M’s or W’s. I haven’t seen anything like this, but one of my customers might.“
„So where can we find your customers?“ Mia pressed.
„Well, I told you I was going to invite them over, but I didn’t think you’d be back with a good bullet so soon.“ She passed the bullet back to Mia and grabbed a sheet of paper from under the counter. „Here. I’ll give you their names. You can talk to them if you want.“
Mia gave Diana a smile. „Thanks. We’ll owe you one.“
Tuesday, February 24,
11:30 a.m.
„I hate hospitals almost as much as morgues,“ Abe grumbled.
Mia kept her eyes on the rising elevator display. „I know. You told me last night while we were waiting for Carson. Several times.“ The bell dinged and the doors opened. „Don’t be such a baby. Come on, I want to talk to him before he goes unconscious again.“
A nurse frowned as they came into Carson’s room. „He’s in no shape to talk.“
„He’s alive,“ Mia snapped. „That puts him in better shape than the nine bodies in the morgue.“
Carson lay against the pillows, his face ashen. „Munoz?“
„He’s dead,“ Abe said quietly.
„Hell of a bodyguard,“ Carson mumbled. „I’ll have to remember not to pay his bill.“
Mia rolled her eyes, but her voice was professional when she stepped up to Carson’s bedside. „We just have a few questions, Mr. Carson, then we’ll leave you to rest. We need to know what brought you to that particular spot last night.“
Carson closed his eyes and took a shallow breath. „Information,“ he said. „I got a call on my cell phone before dinner. Told me they had information about Melanie Rivers.“
„Who is Melanie Rivers?“ Abe asked and Carson grimaced.
„Little white trash.“ He breathed and they waited. „She filed a rape charge against my client, said he’d molested her at a party. She knows he’s got money.“ He breathed some more. „She just wants a settlement. Her pound of flesh.“
Abe bit back his distaste. „Maybe she’s telling the truth.“
„So what if she is?“ Carson opened his eyes, sharp and canny despite his physical state. „I know what you think about me and frankly I don’t care. I don’t expect you to do much of anything anyway.“
„And why is that?“ Mia asked coldly.
Carson’s gray lips twisted. „He’s doing your dirty work for you, this killer. If the tables were turned, I’d look the other way, too.“
Mia opened her mouth to say something then pursed her lips firmly. Abe stepped in to continue. „Who had your cell phone number, Mr. Carson?“
„Not many people. That’s why I went to meet him. He said he’d gotten my number from a mutual friend and he wanted to help me out. For a fee.“ He breathed heavily, then batted away the nurse’s hand when she tried to adjust the oxygen line in his nose. „Said he wanted two G’s. If we’d won the case, it would have been cheap.“
Abe was wondering what kind of friends a parasite like Carson would harbor when he had a sudden thought. „Would Trevor Skinner have known your cell phone number?“ he asked. „Maybe had it in a phone book?“
„Probably.“ Carson drew a labored breath. „Trev kept his life in his BlackBerry.“
„You mean his electronic organizer?“ Mia asked.
Carson nodded. „Clever little thing. Trev could send e-mails from anywhere.“ He lifted a brow. „His BlackBerry wasn’t on him when you found him, was it?“
„No.“ Abe shook his head. „No, it wasn’t.“
„Then I’d say you have your work cut out for you, Detectives. Trev knew the private lives of every one of his clients and half the lawyers in town. Judges, too.“
Tuesday, February 24,
1:30 p.m.
Spinnelli frowned. „Judges, too? What did he mean by that?“
Mia squirted ketchup over her burger. „He just smiled and told us to figure it out. S.O.B.“
„He’s right, though.“ Abe considered the implications yet again. „If the killer has Skinner’s organizer, he has enough ammunition to hold him for weeks.“
„Speaking of ammunition,“ Spinnelli said, „what happened at the gun shop?“
„She gave us names of customers who make their own bullets,“ Mia said. „We’d visited the first two on the list when we got the call from the hospital saying Carson was awake. Neither had seen the mark before, but we still have four more names.“
„Well, we got a reply on opening Aaron Jenkins’s juvenile record.“ Spinnelli clenched his jaw. „No, no, and no.“
Abe sighed. „Then let’s visit the mother after we see the other old men.“
Mia peeked in the bag. „One more burger. We brought it for Kristen. Where is she?“
Abe’s eyes took yet another sweep of the office area. She’d been his first thought as he entered, occupying a corner of his mind even as they’d updated Spinnelli over lunch. But Mia had smirked at him smugly, so he’d held back his demand to know Kristen’s whereabouts.
Spinnelli shrugged. „She took a break about an hour ago. She went to lunch.“
Abe felt the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. „You let her go? Alone?“
„She’s a grown woman, Abe,“ Spinnelli said mildly. „And not a stupid one. She told me where she was going and asked Murphy to take her there. Some place called Owen’s. It’s a diner, I take it.“
Abe relaxed a bit. „It is.“
„But you’ll still call her to make sure she’s all right,“ Mia added slyly.
Abe concentrated on his burger, well aware of the knowing glance passing between Marc and Mia and not giving a damn. „I will.“
Tuesday, February 24,
1:30 p.m.
„You cleaned your plate,“ Vincent said approvingly.
Kristen looked down at the crumbs. „I was hungry.“ Which surprised her. After hours of accepting the pent-up anger of the victims she’d once represented, she’d thought her appetite gone. She’d come here to get away for a little while, agreeing to lunch only after Owen shook his finger in her face before disappearing to train his newest hire. Kristen winced at. the crash of dishes and Owen’s shout. „I’m not sure who I feel sorrier for. Owen or the new guy.“
Vincent shook his shaggy head. „I think you should feel sorrier for me. I’ve got a mind to stop by Timothy’s to ask his mom when he’s coming home. How sick can one grandmother be? He needs to get back to work before I lose my temper.“