Total pages in book: 66
Estimated words: 68006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68006 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 340(@200wpm)___ 272(@250wpm)___ 227(@300wpm)
“He couldn’t take it?”
“He’s probably a rookie.” I sigh. “I know you feel you have to, but if I were you, I wouldn’t go up there. You don’t want to see that sight.”
“No, I don’t. But I have to go up there. I have to know all the results of my father’s malice. Of his psychopathy. How else can I help these women?”
“Reid, you can help these women without seeing that. It’s bad enough that you’re probably going to have to see crime scene photos.”
“Leif, I’ve made up my mind. This is my responsibility, and I have to take ownership. Besides, someone has to see to Officer Powers.”
“Forensics will see to Powers. Take my advice. Don’t go up there.”
“I’m going.”
I sigh. I can’t talk him out of it. “Go at your own risk. Whoever was pounding on our door earlier is clearly the same person who did this to Brindley. He left a letter for Kelly. Her fingerprints will be on it because she opened it and read it. But I’d like to see if we can run other fingerprints on it.”
“Absolutely. I’ll send forensics to your place to pick it up.”
“Are they here yet?”
“Not yet.”
“All right. Doesn’t matter anyway. No way am I getting any sleep tonight.”
I check in on Kelly. Her eyes are closed. I don’t know if she’s asleep or not, but I don’t want to disturb her, so I close the door quietly, sit down on the couch, and wait for forensics.
I jerk upward at a knock on the door.
Damn. I must’ve fallen asleep. Unreal. Sometimes the body just gives out when the mind can’t take it anymore.
I check my watch. Two a.m. It’s probably forensics for the letter.
I go to the door, look out of the peephole. As I expected, it’s Reid, a uniformed officer, and two others.
Reid looks about like I imagined he would after seeing the grisly sight of Brindley’s murder—peaked and nauseated.
I open the door.
“Hey, Leif,” Reid says. “This is Officer Gerard, who you met downstairs, and Officers Ford and Mylan from forensics.”
I hold the door open for them. “Come in. The letter’s on the table. The white envelope and the yellow legal piece of paper.”
The two forensics officers—one male and one female—are already gloved. They take both the letter and the envelope and bag them, sealing them.
“How is Officer Powers?” I ask.
“He’s fine,” Gerard says. “Rookies are like that sometimes.”
“I understand. That was not a pleasant sight.”
“No, it wasn’t,” Officer Mylan, the female, says, her voice trembling slightly. “I’ve seen a lot in this job, and I’m pretty sure that was the worst.”
Reid runs his fingers through his hair, shaking his head. “It was my job to protect these women.”.
“Man, don’t put this on yourself.” I grip his shoulder.
He moves away from me, breaking my grip. I get it. He doesn’t want any kind of comfort. Neither do I.
“How can I not? I promised these women they would be safe here, in this apartment building.”
“You put all possible precautions in place,” I tell him. “This is not your fault, Reid.”
“Of course it is. Someone got by security. Someone drugged the front officer, and we still haven’t located the other two.” Reid says nothing more, simply shakes his head and sighs.
“We’re going to need to speak to Ms. Taylor in the morning,” Officer Gerard says.
“Do you have to?” I ask. “She’s been through so much. I think she’s asleep now, but she’s not going to be in any condition to talk to anyone in the morning.”
“I’m sorry,” Ford says, “but it must be done. She’s going to be our major source of information in this case. We’ll need to know who she thinks the perpetrator is. And why.”
“No way. No. You will not make her relive those experiences on the island. I won’t allow it.”
I heard the ridiculousness of my words. Of course they must question Kelly. She’s the only link to whoever did this.
“Leif…” From Reid, his face still stricken with regret and sadness.
“It won’t happen, Reid. Kelly has been through way too much. The guilt she’s feeling right now over Brindley… She asked me to lock her in a fucking closet, for God’s sake. You understand what that means?”
“No,” Reid says. “I don’t.”
“It means her mother used to do that to her. This poor woman has been abused her whole life, and I won’t have her subjected to the torture of reliving it all.”
“I’m afraid that’s not your call,” Gerard says.
“Kelly will want to help find this person,” Reid says. “The person who murdered Brindley, and who was threatening her. She wants to help the police.”
“Yes, of course she will. But can it wait? She was so distraught after hearing about Brindley that she was bordering on delusional. She’s a mess.”
“Seems to me Mr. Wolfe here told me you were a SEAL,” Gerard says.