“Aw, shit,” Will muttered. “Sorry, Kincaid. It’s that damn Theodore Glenn appeal. I swear, that guy should have been put out of my misery years ago.”
Theodore Glenn had killed four female strippers six years ago, before Carina and Will had been partners.
“I’ll be fine for the day,” Carina said.
“You can have Diaz if you need him,” the Sarge offered.
“Thanks, I might take you up on that.”
Nick arrived in San Diego after the lunch hour and rented a car. He hadn’t visited Steve in years, since before he was elected sheriff nearly four years ago, but remembered the location of his beachfront apartment.
A crime scene van was parked in front of the building, plus two marked cars and a sedan Nick pegged as unmarked police issue. Detectives.
He didn’t feel comfortable going into an unknown situation, but knowing Steve, he hadn’t called an attorney. Why is it that the innocent think they don’t need a lawyer? Truth is, even those with nothing to hide need someone to protect their rights.
His right knee protested when he stepped out of the car, but he hadn’t been on his feet much today so his joints weren’t unbearably sore. He leaned back into the car to retrieve his Stetson and put it on his head, then walked up the single flight of stairs to Steve’s apartment.
The door was open and Nick stopped just across the threshold.
An attractive female plainclothes cop approached him. Five-foot-eight, one-forty, muscle where there should be muscle, and softness where there should be softness. She carried her primary gun in a side holster, but a slight bulge at her back showed a secondary firearm. Nick liked women who knew how to pack.
Her dark, sun-streaked hair was pulled into a loose French braid, and fathomless brown eyes sized him up quickly. Nick could tell she was a cop by her eyes—they took in everything about him all at once, just like he did her.
“Can I help you?” Her tone was polite, her body alert.
“Yes, ma’am. Steve Thomas, please.” He took his hat off and held it at his side.
“Your business with him?”
“Personal.”
The subtle change from professional curiosity to frustration on the pretty detective’s face would have intrigued Nick if he weren’t concerned about Steve.
“Can I see your ID, please?”
“My ID?” He raised an eyebrow, reaching for his wallet.
Her eyes instantly darted to his waist and he realized just a second too late that he should have identified himself as a cop immediately.
“Put your hands up.” Her gun was out. Fast. He would have been impressed if he weren’t so irritated at having a gun aimed at his chest. “Hooper,” she called without taking her eyes off his.
“Hey!”
Nick recognized Steve’s voice. He emerged from the bedroom. “Stand back, Mr. Thomas,” the detective said without looking at Steve.
“He’s my brother. He’s a cop.”
Cautious belief crossed her face, and her partner, Hooper, approached.
“Left back pocket,” Nick told him, his hands still up.
“You’re a cop?” Hooper asked as he disarmed him and pulled his identification.
“Yes.”
Hooper opened his identification. “Nicholas P. Thomas, Sheriff, Gallatin County, Montana.”
The female detective holstered her weapon. “Next time identify yourself,” she snapped.
Hooper returned his gun and ID, extended his hand, and smiled amicably. “Will Hooper, Homicide. Quick-draw McGraw is my partner, Carina Kincaid. You’ll have to excuse her temper—she has both Irish and Cuban blood in her veins.”
Nick grinned as he shook Hooper’s hand. “Nick Thomas.”
Carina Kincaid glared at him. “Montana? San Diego is a wee bit out of your jurisdiction, isn’t it?”
“A bit,” he said.
“Care to share your interest in our investigation?” she asked pointedly.
“You know, Ms. Kincaid,” Nick said with his best Montana drawl, “my mama always said you catch more flies with honey.” He winked. For a second he thought she was going to throw a fit, then she relaxed, a half-smile turning up her lips.
Steve came over, clapped him on the back. “It’s good to see you, bro.”
“Let’s talk outside.” Nick motioned to the landing. He turned back to Carina. “If that’s all right with you, ma’am.”
She waved him off, shaking her head. But she wasn’t stupid. He saw her motion to one of the uniforms to keep an eye on Steve.
He walked Steve down to the far end of the landing to prevent the police from eavesdropping, intentionally or otherwise. The uniform tasked with babysitting stood outside the door, within eyesight, but not earshot.
“Thanks for coming, Nick, really. I owe you big-time.”
“You don’t owe me anything.” Nick had a million questions for his brother, but he started broad. “Tell me everything you know.”
“Not much.” Steve looked out onto the beachfront highway.
“Do they have a warrant?”
“No, I told them they could come in and look.”
“Just look? I saw a crime tech packing up your computer.”
“I’m innocent. I told them they could have anything they needed. Once they stop looking at me, they’ll start looking for the real killer.”
“You let them in without a warrant? They haven’t arrested you, correct?”
“No, because they don’t have anything on me. I didn’t kill Angie, Nick. I swear. I wouldn’t hurt her.”
“Why do they suspect you?”
“I dated her. She got a stupid idea in her head and got this restraining order against me. It looks bad, but it really wasn’t.”
“People don’t file for restraining orders for no reason, Steve.”
“She was mad at me after we had an argument.”
Nick frowned. Steve sounded like a petulant kid, not a grown man. “What kind of argument?”
Steve didn’t say anything for a long minute. Nick found himself studying Steve as if he were a perp. He shifted uncomfortably, not enjoying the position of thinking his brother, his older brother, his sainted brother, was a possible murderer. Steve wasn’t capable of it.
Was he?
Nick had a flash of a memory, the kind that comes and goes quickly but where you remember every detail. Steve had been eleven, he’d been eight. They’d been coming home in the rain late one afternoon, certain their mom would skin them alive. She’d warned them about the weather, said it would rain, but they’d believed the blue skies—what they saw with their eyes—instead of the four decades of wisdom packaged in their mom.
Nick could almost feel the cold rain on his face.
A car skidded around the corner, splashing them. Steve swore, using words only their father said in frustration or anger. If Mom was around, she would have washed his mouth out with soap.
Nick had said the f-word once. One taste of Ivory soap cured him forever. To this day, he’d never bought Ivory soap—he still smelled it, tasted it.
They started jogging as their wet clothes made them shiver.
A movement in the bushes as they rounded the corner had made Nick stop.
“What?” Steve asked.
“What was that?”
“I didn’t see anything.”
Nick looked around carefully. He had seen…something. What was it? A cat? A squirrel?
“Nick, it’s cold and Mom is going to go through the roof when she sees us. Let’s get home.”
Nick didn’t say anything. He approached the roadside shrubbery cautiously. Parted the branches.
It was Belle. Belle the Beagle, Mrs. Racine’s dog. Mrs. Racine lived on the corner, down the street from the Thomas house. She’d never have let Belle out in the front yard, but the dog was notorious for digging under his pen. Nick and Steve had brought her home on many occasions. Twice the dog had followed them to school. She was annoying in her eagerness to please ever
yone.
Now, Belle lay on the side of the road, dying.
For a minute, Nick and Steve stood there stunned. Stared at the bloodied animal. One leg was completely smashed. The other obscenely crooked. Her pant was rapid and shallow, her little tongue hanging out. She only had one working eye; the other was so covered in blood and dirt that Nick wasn’t sure it was even there.
The brothers knelt in the mud and Steve gathered Belle into his arms.
“We need to take her to the vet,” Nick said, his voice shaking with barely restrained sobs.
“She’s not going to live, Nick.” Steve looked at him, his own eyes bright with tears. “Who would do this to her? How could somebody be so cruel?”
Though Nick was the younger brother, he found himself consoling Steve. They sat on the ground, their jeans soaked with mud and water and now the blood of a little dog who had never hurt anyone but lay dying in their laps. Silently, they petted the animal. It seemed like forever, but only minutes passed before Belle succumbed to her injuries.
Steve carried Belle the two blocks to Mrs. Racine’s house. Tears sliding down their cheeks, they silently handed the dead dog to the old woman. She broke down sobbing.
“Nick? Earth to Nick?”
Nick shook his head, looked at his brother, saw the pain of a young boy who comforted a broken dog until she died. The Steve Nick had known could never have killed a woman. He couldn’t picture it, couldn’t even think it.
But was his judgment impaired? Did he see only the good in Steve? Was there a streak of evil, of vengeance, of anger? Hidden until something set him off? Would he recognize a killer in his own brother?
“You didn’t hear a word I said.” Steve was irritated.
Nick pulled up the words he’d heard in the back of his mind. “You argued with Angie about a guy she was dating.”
“A drug dealer she was dating.”
“You think her murder is related to this guy?”
“Masterson,” Steve spit out. “I don’t know. I can’t imagine who would hurt Angie.”
“But the police think you did it.”
Nick could see why. Ex-boyfriend, restraining order, claimed to be home—alone—at the time of the murder. Oh, yeah, Nick would be all over Steve, too.
“How was she killed?” he asked.
“I don’t exactly know. The police didn’t say much, and the newspaper was short on details—she was apparently suffocated.”
“Suffocated?” Nick glanced at the door of Steve’s apartment and saw Carina Kincaid standing next to the uniform, her face blank, her eyes watchful. “Let me see what I can find out. Why don’t you go for a walk? Give me a few minutes with the detectives.”
Steve noticeably relaxed. “Thanks, Nick. Really, I appreciate your coming down here and helping.” He paused. “You up for it?”
Steve was referring to his health. “I’m fine,” he said automatically.
Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the detective follow Steve’s path down the stairs and around the apartment building until she could no longer see him. Her eyes then fixed on him. He approached her; she met him halfway.
“Detective Kincaid,” he said with a nod, extending his hand.
“Sheriff.” She shook his offered hand firmly, her skin soft except for pronounced calluses on her fingers—from time at the gun range. Her sharp, dark eyes didn’t miss anything.
“Call me Nick.”
“Thanks. I’m Carina. Sorry about what happened in the apartment.”
“You followed your instincts.”
“You didn’t look like a threat. I just saw the gun and…” She shrugged and gave him a self-deprecating grin, making what could have been an awkward situation comfortable.
“What are you looking for?” He nodded toward the apartment.
“Your brother offered to let us come in and check out his computer.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Your brother made some statements about how much time he spent reading the victim’s online journal. We want to verify the information.”
“What happened?”
“What did your brother tell you?”
“That his ex-girlfriend was murdered—suffocated—and she had filed a restraining order against him a few weeks ago because they’d had an argument.”
Carina nodded. “A restraining order that your brother repeatedly violated, including the night Angie Vance disappeared.”
“What about her current boyfriend?” asked Nick.
“He’s out of town and we have a BOLO on him.”
Nick raised his eyebrow. “Her current boyfriend has conveniently left town? Before or after the murder?”
“I can’t discuss the details of the investigation with you, Sheriff. I’m talking to you as a law enforcement courtesy, but you have no authority here.” While her tone was cordial, she was trying to shut the investigative door in his face.
Okay, play nice and she’ll give up more, Nick thought. “What happened to the victim? Steve didn’t know the details.”
Carina mumbled something, sounded like a sarcastic that’s what he says in Spanish, but she spoke so fast Nick wasn’t quite sure he caught every word. But the tone and attitude were clear: she believed his brother was guilty.
“The victim was raped and suffocated in a triple layering of garbage bags, then left on a public beach. She was found early yesterday morning.”
Raped.
Nick pushed back the memories that threatened to return. They usually stayed at bay until he was alone, but the faint echo of a scream reverberated in his head. He was acutely aware of Carina watching him. He swallowed and said, “Any similar crimes?”
She stared at him. “I know how to do my job, Sheriff.”
“I wasn’t implying that you didn’t. I was just asking a question.”
She paused, assessing him. Whatever she saw, she must have deemed him trustworthy enough to share some tidbits. “Nothing in the area, but we’ve tapped into the FBI database to see if there’s a hit. I’m covering all the bases. I’m going to catch Angie’s killer.”
“Was there any unusual damage to the victim’s body? Something not related to her manner of death or rape? Something that might point to a repeat offender?”
“You’re suggesting serial killer.”
He gave a short nod.
She looked like she wanted to say more but stopped herself. “We’re looking into all possibilities, like I said.”
So there was something else. Probably a very specific mutilation, perhaps a message on or near the body. Something that only the killer would know about.
Nick assessed Carina Kincaid as a competent, focused detective who wanted to catch the killer because that was her job. Maybe if he understood her better, learned why she’d become a cop, if he could get her to trust him. Perhaps they could find a way to work together.
Some cops did it for the job, some for the power, but more often than not, Nick had learned that most people became cops for one of two reasons: family on the job, or because they had a personal reason for seeking justice.
Carina’s partner exited Steve’s apartment and walked over to them.
“We got what we need?” Carina asked.
“More or less,” Hooper said. “Patrick’s in there writing out a tag so we can take the computer.”
Nick’s instincts buzzed. “Why?”
“We need to spend more time on the machine. To verify your brother’s statement.”
They wouldn’t take the machine unless they’d found something either incriminating or that contradicted what Steve had told them earlier.
“You don’t have a warrant,” Nick said cautiously. The best avenue would be to befriend the detectives; barring that, he had to protect his brother.
But so help him, if Steve was guilty…no. He wasn’t a rapist. Not the kid who cried over a dying dog. Not the man who earned two congressional medals during Desert Storm. His brother, who’d always been there
for Nick growing up, protected him against bullies because he’d been a runt until he hit puberty.
“Are you going to make this difficult? We can get a warrant,” Carina said. “Your brother is cooperating because he says he wants to help.”
“I want information.”
“You are not only out of your jurisdiction, you are related to our prime—” she caught herself, “a potential witness.”
“I have experience in these types of cases,” Nick said.
“What type would that be?”
“Serial killers.”
Hooper interjected, “I think it’s in the best interest of your brother that we do everything by the book.”
“It’s in the best interest of justice to do everything to stop this killer,” Nick said. “I know my brother and he’s not a rapist.”
They assessed him, skeptical. Neither trusted him, but what did he expect?
“If Steve is guilty,” he said, “I’ll be the one to throw away the key. Blood is thick, but not thick enough to protect a killer.”
Carina said, “I’d suggest that you find out exactly what your brother was doing every minute of Friday night and early Saturday morning, and find out exactly what he read on Angie’s Vance’s not-so-anonymous online journal. Maybe if we get the truth, we can stop wasting time looking at him.
“But,” she continued, “your brother hasn’t been completely honest with us, and that only adds to our suspicions.”
“I’ll find the truth.”
“And if you don’t like it?”
“You can arrest him.”
NINE
NICK FOUND STEVE sitting on the beach watching the waves come in.
It was late afternoon, but it was still warm enough that they didn’t need jackets. Unlike Montana in February, Nick thought. There was snow on the ground, and when he’d left this morning it had been clear and forty degrees, though they were expecting another storm to hit by tomorrow.
Steve had told Nick he hated the snow and rain. He’d settled in San Diego when he went on disability because of the weather and the proximity to other veterans—San Diego County had one of the largest veteran communities in the country. Steve felt more at home here than anywhere else.
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