Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 96641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
“How did you find them so fast? The robbery just occurred yesterday,” I asked.
“Wait till we’re in the conference room,” he said wearily, trudging up the stairs. I followed him after looking around the waiting room for Aiden. He’d disappeared.
I walked the familiar ground upstairs past Pierce’s office to a conference room set away from the interrogation rooms. This space had wide windows looking out onto the street, where I saw snow falling again. February was turning out to be a rough one. As we stepped inside, I noted both Aiden and Nick already at the table, sipping happily on warm drinks.
Nick pointed to a cup next to Aiden. “That’s yours.”
“Thanks.” I walked around as Aiden pulled out my chair for me, the muscles in his arm rippling nicely. I took my seat and reached for the tea to sip. It was delicious. They’d put in plenty of extra chai.
Pierce slapped his file folders down next to Nick and pulled out a chair, reaching for his drink. “Devlin, why are you here?” he asked, sounding bored.
Aiden shrugged. “Didn’t see any reason to stay downstairs. The ATF isn’t involved in this, and you’re not going to tell any big secrets, are you?”
“No,” Pierce said.
I looked at him, noting lines cascading from his eyes that weren’t usually there. “Are you all right?”
“Overworked,” he retorted. “Several people are out with some virus, and I just need some sleep.” He definitely looked like he needed rest.
“Sorry I couldn’t help,” I said.
Pierce took several deep pulls from his coffee. “Not your fault. When suspects wear masks, disguises, and camouflage their voices, it’s difficult to identify them.”
“Who was the guy on the far left who was freaking out so much?” I took another drink of my sweet coffee.
Pierce shook his head. “Guy’s name is Lenny Kristoff, and he was the suspect I wanted you to identify.”
“I figured,” Nick noted. “The guy looked like he was about to stroke out. Why’d you bring him in?”
“CCTV from last week. Even though the robbers somehow cut the feed yesterday, we went back through older recordings, and that guy cased the joint several times. He walked back and forth outside multiple times on Wednesday and Thursday. Made it inside once, looked around nervously, and then left.”
“Sounds almost too good to be true,” Aiden said.
Nick shrugged. “I don’t know. We’ve got a bunch of idiots acting like Cupid. What’s the deal with them giving the loot to the animal shelter?”
“They kept a quarter of the haul for themselves, though. And that’s the other thing,” Pierce said, tapping a finger on his file folders. “Lenny used to work for the animal shelter. They laid him off about six months ago, and he’s been trying to fundraise for them by using GoFundMe and other online activities. He also got in trouble for sticking flyers into people’s mailboxes, which we all know is a federal offense.”
“That’s it?” I asked. “That’s all you have on the guy?”
“For now,” Pierce said. “I was hoping one of you could identify him. That would’ve helped a lot. But we had to cut him loose.”
Aiden pushed back from the table. “If that’s all you have, we’re heading home. It’s getting late.”
“It’s only eleven,” Pierce replied. “I want to go through the entire robbery again, step by step, but start maybe an hour before with what you were both doing and tell me what you saw when you arrived at the jewelry store. I know you’ve answered these questions already, but sometimes...” His voice trailed off.
Nick nodded. “I understand. Sometimes, new memories surface or something we didn’t realize was important becomes evident. I get the process. I’m free.” He glanced at me. “We can run through it one more time.”
“All right.” At least I had a chai latte in my hand. We went through each moment of that day, both before and after the robbery, with Aiden chiming in with pretty impressive questions. Obviously Pierce thought so as well because he didn’t complain once.
Finally, after midnight, I glanced at my phone. “I’m done. I need sleep.”
“Agreed.” Aiden pulled out my chair, and we both stood. My eyes felt gritty, and man, I was tired.
Pierce’s phone buzzed, and he lifted it to read the face. “Holy crap.”
“What?” I drew on my jacket.
Pierce shook his head. “The Clumsy Penguin was just robbed by three Cupids.”
I blinked. The Clumsy Penguin was a pretty cool dive bar on Lilac Lake. At this time of night, it had probably been hopping—well, for the dead of winter on Lilac Lake, which meant maybe ten patrons.
“Was anybody hurt?” Aiden asked.
Pierce shook his head. “Doesn’t look like it, though reports are just coming in.”
I considered the situation. “You don’t think Lenny left here, suited up, and robbed the Clumsy Penguin, do you?”
Everyone was silent.
Aiden coughed. “I don’t know. In that situation, I would have.”