Read Online Shadows of Deceit (A Series of Shadows) by Mell Corcoran - Free Book Online Page A

have enough time to go over all the rules on Lou with Dillon on the way. The rules were absolute, in Vinny’s book, and there was no room for error or compromise. Those rules were the deal breaker. “Hey, where you living?” Vinny asked as he mentally went over his checklist.
    “Right now, just an extended stay place in Woodland Hills. I’m looking for a place though. I’d really like to get a house. I’m not an apartment or condo guy. You got any suggestions?” Dillon was hell bent on having a yard so he could get dogs. What he had seen of the city and the west side hadn’t seemed a right fit for him. He really liked the area around Lost Hills but he hadn’t been seriously looking. He didn’t want to count his chickens before they hatched..
    “You should look in the north west valley.” Provided Vinny decided to keep him, having Dillon within close proximity to Lou would be a huge plus. “It’s a buyer’s market right now. We got three houses for sale on our street alone.”
    “You must really like me Boss.” Dillon snickered. “Now ya want me as a neighbor? I’m flattered.”
    “I didn’t mean it like that. Was just sayin’ is all.” Vinny shook his head and proceeded to start his phone calls. “You’re a funny guy there, sport.”
    Dillon just smiled and got back to work. Getting too familiar too soon could ruin everything but Vinny seemed to appreciate his sense of humor. This was a fine line and a critical position for Dillon and he really didn’t want to blow it.
    The lab had little to nothing to tell Vinny. No prints or trace were found inside the house save for industrial cleaning products that were used by nearly every janitorial service in the country. That was the nothing. The little part was that the tests Dillon had asked them to run came back affirmative for jet fuel, just as he predicted. The photographs that he requested also came up aces and those were being messengered over later that afternoon. The tech that Vinny spoke to said that the photos had indeed revealed residual heat signatures consistent with Dillon’s theory. As ridiculous as it seemed, a helicopter had landed in that spot sometime within thirty-six hours prior to taking the photos. A more precise time frame was impossible given the ambient temperature fluctuations over the weekend and the material of the patio itself. The stone was known for retaining heat so the helicopter could have been set down for only five minutes ten hours prior or it could have been sitting there for a solid hour two days before. The only thing that helped the tech narrow things down was the jet fuel residue on the plants. The concentration amounts found was consistent with the automatic sprinklers having gone off once only. The timers were set for the sprinklers to go off at 6 a.m. and the deputies that locked down the scene shut them down before they could go off Sunday morning. That meant that the sprinklers had only gone through their 6 a.m. Saturday morning cycle since the helicopter had landed which further tightened up their window of opportunity. Caroline closed the window a little tighter with confirming time of death as being between 11 p.m. Friday night and 6 a.m. Saturday morning. Although there was no air conditioning or heat active in the house, the marble floor offset the ambient temperature and rigor on all the bodies had already disappeared. Combine all of that with the insect activity and Caroline’s official record would state they were looking at a midnight chop job.
    Vinny made his last call to update the captain, something he really was not looking forward to. As expected, the stealth helicopter theory was hard for him to swallow but the supporting evidence from forensics helped their cause. Captain Davidson ultimately gave them the go-ahead to contact local military bases and municipal air fields to see what they could turn up. Vinny was debating on putting Rochelle and Barnes on that assignment because he strongly