Read Online By Any Means by Chris Culver - Free Book Online

anything. Ash panned his gaze to the other men in the room. “With that out of the way, let’s try to focus on Rebecca Cook. Do we have anything on her car yet?”
    Doran leaned forward and opened his notebook.
    â€œForensic services had it towed back to their garage, and they’re working on it now. Like I told you earlier, we found seven sets of prints on the car’s exterior. At least three of those sets were so small that they probably came from kids. The techs are cataloging everything now. Do we have prints from the vic’s family to eliminate them?”
    â€œNot yet,” said Ash. “But I’ll have someone swing by tonight to get them. How’s the inside look?”
    â€œHair, fibers, fingernail clippings. It’s a family car, so until we get samples from Rebecca’s family, we’re not going to know if something’s from our perp or from one of her kids.”
    â€œAnd still no witnesses, right?”
    â€œNone that have come forward.”
    Ash wrote the pertinent facts in his notebook before turning to Eddie Alvarez. “How about the scene by the fairgrounds?”
    Alvarez shifted on his seat and cleared his throat. “After you called about the trunk release, I had my men look around. They found it in the grass beside the road. We didn’t see it earlier because it blended into the weeds. We’ve got a smudge and a partial on it. The lab is running it through our databases right now.”
    It wasn’t much, but he’d take any good news he could get. Maybe they’d get lucky and find their perp in the system.
    â€œHow about the victim’s phone? A patrolman picked it up.”
    Alvarez’s nostrils flared as he exhaled. “Nothing. We might have had a print on it at one time, but when Ryan picked it up, he smudged the whole thing. It’s useless.”
    Ash threw his pencil on the table and sighed.
    â€œOkay. Here’s the plan so far. Mike Bowers and I are going to hold a news conference at nine, and we’re going to ask the public for help. We should be able to make the ten o’clock newscast. When that happens, I want one guy on the phone at all times, two guys following up on leads, and one guy sleeping. We’ll rotate every two hours, and nobody will go home until we find Rebecca. Questions?”
    Smith raised his hand. Ash wanted to ignore him, but he nodded in the detective’s direction.
    â€œWe going to get overtime on this?” asked Smith, looking at Doran and then Alvarez. “I don’t know about these guys, but I’ve already worked my shift today. If I’m not getting overtime, I’m going home.”
    Ash nodded toward the door, feeling his temper start to rise.
    â€œI’m sure Captain Bowers will authorize overtime, but why don’t you go home anyway? I can find someone who actually wants to be here.”
    Smith shifted under the stares of the men around him.
    â€œIf we’re getting paid, I’ll stay. That’s all I was asking. I just wanted to know.”
    â€œI’m glad you’re so cooperative,” said Ash. “Any other questions?”
    â€œWe got anyone else on our team?” asked Alvarez.
    â€œIf we need help, I’ll call David Lee from Narcotics or Paul Murphy from Auto Theft. Both of them know the east side of town well, so they ought to be able to help us there.”
    Lee and Murphy both had enough seniority within the department to put Smith in his place if he became mouthy. Since the guys didn’t have any more questions, he dismissed them for the next half hour so they could call their wives and tuck their kids into bed. He also took a moment to call his family. Kaden, his youngest, babbled for a few seconds, while Megan, his daughter, told him a story about her day. Hannah, his wife, wished him luck, which he likely needed.
    At just before nine, he met Mike Bowers in the lobby of the building for the press