Read Online Fatal Scandal: Book Eight of the Fatal Series by Marie Force - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Marie Force
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in.”
“Thanks, Archie.” Keeping an eye out for Ramsey, Sam went downstairs to the detectives’ pit where most of her team had assembled. Freddie was on the phone so she gestured to her office. He held up his index finger as he nodded.
Sam sat behind her mess of a desk and corralled her still-damp hair into a clip. Her brain was whirling with disturbing thoughts and implications. A knock on the door preceded Captain Malone stepping into her office.
He shut the door behind him.
“Captain.”
“Lieutenant.” He was in jeans and a sweater today, his service weapon holstered to his hip and his badge clipped to the front pocket of his pants. Though he was approaching his late forties, he was still a badass in her eyes. “Tell me what we know about the Phillips homicide.”
“She was found early this morning in a car parked on Constitution Ave near West Potomac Park. She’d been manually strangled.”
“She was in the driver’s seat of the car?”
“Yes.”
“Was it her car?”
Sam shook her head. “It was registered to a George Phillips of Bowie.”
“Let’s get someone up there to talk to him.”
“It’s on the to-do list. I need to get with my team and figure out our next move.”
“And Detective Gonzales?”
“I spoke with him earlier. He and his fiancée were home all evening, celebrating their first anniversary. They arrived home yesterday afternoon and hadn’t yet left the apartment when I saw them.”
“And they can prove that?”
“Not exactly.” She filled him in on the situation with the security cameras in Gonzo’s building. “The super said the cameras were working fine yesterday. Archie has the footage and he’s checking to see if we can figure out who disarmed them.”
“I’m getting a bad feeling about this.”
“You and me both.”
“If someone wanted to off her, who better to frame than someone who’s been locked in a custody battle with her?” Malone asked.
“I’ve had the same thought.”
“Where is he?”
“I suggested he visit his parents in West Virginia today.” She paused before she added, “As planned.”
“Good thinking.”
“How do we handle the brass on this? The minute we announce the name of our vic, the media will be all over us—and all over Gonzo. We know he didn’t do it, Cap.”
“You know that, and I know that, but we also know he had motive. As did Christina.”
“They didn’t do it.”
“We’re going to need to prove it. You got that, right?”
“Yeah,” Sam said with a sigh.
“And we’re going to have conflict of interest issues working a case in which one of our guys had a strong motivation to see this woman dead.”
“So what are you saying?”
“The chief will want to call in outside reinforcements.”
Sam bent her head, which had begun to pulse with the early signs of a migraine. “What kind of outside reinforcements?”
“You know exactly what kind.”
The FBI. Avery Hill. “I’m getting tired of having him underfoot in every investigation, as if we can’t function on our own.”
“We function just fine on our own, but sometimes we need help. Such as when he cut through miles of red tape and got a search warrant for your niece’s dorm room or when he pushed the bullet through the lab after your dad’s surgery.”
“For all the good that did us.”
“It’s more information than we had before.”
The National Integrated Ballistics Information Network had come back with no match to the nine-millimeter bullet that had been retrieved from her father’s neck.
“If the person who fired that shot screws up again, we’ll have him—or her,” Malone reminded her. “Your dad’s bullet is now in the system. The case can break wide open at any time.”
Malone wasn’t telling Sam anything she didn’t know, but her high hopes for an immediate break had been dashed.
“How’s he doing anyway?”
“Terrible. The pain is bad. The doctors say it’ll get better, but it’s been more than a
“Thanks, Archie.” Keeping an eye out for Ramsey, Sam went downstairs to the detectives’ pit where most of her team had assembled. Freddie was on the phone so she gestured to her office. He held up his index finger as he nodded.
Sam sat behind her mess of a desk and corralled her still-damp hair into a clip. Her brain was whirling with disturbing thoughts and implications. A knock on the door preceded Captain Malone stepping into her office.
He shut the door behind him.
“Captain.”
“Lieutenant.” He was in jeans and a sweater today, his service weapon holstered to his hip and his badge clipped to the front pocket of his pants. Though he was approaching his late forties, he was still a badass in her eyes. “Tell me what we know about the Phillips homicide.”
“She was found early this morning in a car parked on Constitution Ave near West Potomac Park. She’d been manually strangled.”
“She was in the driver’s seat of the car?”
“Yes.”
“Was it her car?”
Sam shook her head. “It was registered to a George Phillips of Bowie.”
“Let’s get someone up there to talk to him.”
“It’s on the to-do list. I need to get with my team and figure out our next move.”
“And Detective Gonzales?”
“I spoke with him earlier. He and his fiancée were home all evening, celebrating their first anniversary. They arrived home yesterday afternoon and hadn’t yet left the apartment when I saw them.”
“And they can prove that?”
“Not exactly.” She filled him in on the situation with the security cameras in Gonzo’s building. “The super said the cameras were working fine yesterday. Archie has the footage and he’s checking to see if we can figure out who disarmed them.”
“I’m getting a bad feeling about this.”
“You and me both.”
“If someone wanted to off her, who better to frame than someone who’s been locked in a custody battle with her?” Malone asked.
“I’ve had the same thought.”
“Where is he?”
“I suggested he visit his parents in West Virginia today.” She paused before she added, “As planned.”
“Good thinking.”
“How do we handle the brass on this? The minute we announce the name of our vic, the media will be all over us—and all over Gonzo. We know he didn’t do it, Cap.”
“You know that, and I know that, but we also know he had motive. As did Christina.”
“They didn’t do it.”
“We’re going to need to prove it. You got that, right?”
“Yeah,” Sam said with a sigh.
“And we’re going to have conflict of interest issues working a case in which one of our guys had a strong motivation to see this woman dead.”
“So what are you saying?”
“The chief will want to call in outside reinforcements.”
Sam bent her head, which had begun to pulse with the early signs of a migraine. “What kind of outside reinforcements?”
“You know exactly what kind.”
The FBI. Avery Hill. “I’m getting tired of having him underfoot in every investigation, as if we can’t function on our own.”
“We function just fine on our own, but sometimes we need help. Such as when he cut through miles of red tape and got a search warrant for your niece’s dorm room or when he pushed the bullet through the lab after your dad’s surgery.”
“For all the good that did us.”
“It’s more information than we had before.”
The National Integrated Ballistics Information Network had come back with no match to the nine-millimeter bullet that had been retrieved from her father’s neck.
“If the person who fired that shot screws up again, we’ll have him—or her,” Malone reminded her. “Your dad’s bullet is now in the system. The case can break wide open at any time.”
Malone wasn’t telling Sam anything she didn’t know, but her high hopes for an immediate break had been dashed.
“How’s he doing anyway?”
“Terrible. The pain is bad. The doctors say it’ll get better, but it’s been more than a
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