At Close Range

by Laura Griffin

  “Hence, taking the phones.”

  “Maybe.” She shrugged. “It’s early days yet.”

  “Those are the most important ones.”

  She sighed. “Are you trying to stress me out right now? Because I’ve got more than enough to keep me up all night worrying.”

  He tugged out his keys. “Get some sleep, Daniele.”

  “Yeah, you, too.”

  • • •

  The man peered through the long-range lens and tapped his phone.

  The call connected. “Go.”

  “White female. Five-two, one-ten, brown and green. Drives a white Chevy pickup. Alpha Zulu Charlie three-two-six-niner.” Pause. “You copy?”

  “Got it.”

  He hung up. He adjusted the lens again. No alarm system, no dog, only a Glock.

  He watched the windows as a light went on at the west side, the one bathroom. The window was five feet off the ground, and the original pane had been replaced by glass bricks. The other twelve windows were old, and they’d probably been painted shut a few dozen times. Back door was a thumb-turn dead bolt, nothing serious.

  The phone vibrated in the cup holder. He checked his watch. Fifty-two seconds, even faster than he’d thought. He swiped the screen a few times and then tapped open the file.

  Daniele Louise Harper.

  “Hello, Daniele.” He stared down at the phone and smiled.

  CHAPTER 4

  Dani’s boss spotted her in the bull pen and charged straight toward her. She swallowed a curse. She’d meant to just dash into the office to grab a file, but that never worked.

  “How’d it go at the apartment?” Reynolds asked, stopping beside her cubicle. The lieutenant was short and bulky, with a bristly gray buzz cut that reminded Dani of a wild boar.

  “I’m heading over there now.”

  “I thought you’d be finished.”

  “The crime-scene techs had to bump us to nine. They got sidetracked this morning with a carjacking over in Blanco County.”

  “You have a visitor first,” he informed her.

  “Who?”

  “Audrey Ayers. She’s in the interview room, and she wants to talk to you.”

  “To me specifically or—”

  “Asked for you by name. You haven’t met her?”

  “Not yet. I was going to stop by there today.”

  “This is better,” Reynolds said. “She came in on her own, wants an update. So, maybe she won’t notice if you turn it into an interview.” He crossed his arms and regarded her skeptically. “You want me to sit in?”

  “I can handle it.” She hoped. “How long has she been here?”

  “Only a few minutes. I was about to send Sean in there, but it’s better if you do it, since she asked for you.”

  Dani deposited her keys on her desk and took a deep breath. Sean was good with female witnesses. Women tended to let their guard down with him without even realizing they were doing it. But if Audrey Ayers had asked for her specifically, then she should handle it. Plus Dani wanted to get a read on her.

  She grabbed a notepad—mainly as a prop, because the interrogation room was equipped with a camera. She thought of stopping by the coffeepot, but her nerves didn’t need the caffeine. Interviewing bereaved family members topped Dani’s list of things she dreaded about her job, second only to watching Y-incisions.

  She stopped to glance through the small window at the young widow seated at the interview table. She wore designer workout clothes and had her hair pulled back in a smooth blond ponytail. Judging from the mutilated Styrofoam cup in front of her, someone had already offered her coffee.

  Dani entered the room, and the woman jumped to her feet. Her eyes were pink and swollen.

  “Detective Harper?”

  “Thanks for coming in. I’m sorry for your loss.” Dani took the seat across from her, eyeing the little mound of Styrofoam chips beside the cup.

  “They said you’re in charge of everything.” Audrey folded her arms over her middle and leaned forward in the chair. “Have you made an arrest yet?”

  “At this point, no.”

  At this point. Dani sounded stuffy as hell, and she tried to relax.

  Audrey buried her face in her hand. “It’s been a day and a half. I thought you’d know by now.”

  “We’re still developing leads. And processing evidence, conducting interviews.”

  Audrey glanced up and hope flared in her watery-blue eyes. “Are there any witnesses? I mean, it’s a public park, right? There has to be someone—”

  “We’re looking into that.”

  Audrey bit her lip and gazed down again, and Dani watched her closely. She wasn’t at all like Ric had described, and her initial anger at hearing about her husband’s death seemed to have given way to genuine grief.

  Or at least, that’s how it looked.

  Audrey Ayers was twenty-nine, a full decade younger than her husband. And the driver’s-license photo Dani had seen didn’t do her justice. Even with red-rimmed eyes she was beautiful.

  “Would you mind taking me through Sunday night again?” Dani asked. “I understand you were at your health club . . . ?”

  She let the question dangle, waiting for Audrey to pick up the story. Dani had memorized every detail of Audrey’s statement to Ric, and Dani wanted to see if anything changed in the retelling.

  Audrey pressed a fist to her mouth, as if trying to contain her emotions. “I left the house at six for my class.”

  “Pilates?”

  “That’s right.” Audrey sniffed and gave her nose a dainty rub.

  “And that’s over on Sycamore?”

  “Yes.”

  Dani flipped open her notepad and jotted it down. She had all this already, but she wanted to underscore the idea that detectives bought into her story—which might well turn out to be true. Audrey’s alibi had checked out, but they still hadn’t eliminated the possibility that she had hired someone to kill her husband.

  “James was working.” She squeezed her eyes shut. “Or so he said. He spent so much time at that damn lab.” She plucked a tissue from the sleeve of her zipper top and dabbed her nose. “I can’t believe I didn’t know. How could I not know? It’s such a cliché.”

  Dani watched her but didn’t say anything, hoping she’d fill the silence.

  “I swung by the grocery store after to pick up a bottle of wine and some steaks. By the time I got home it was eight, and he still wasn’t back, so I called to check in . . .”

  She trailed off. Investigators still hadn’t located the cell phones of either of the victims, but Audrey had shown her phone to Ric during his initial interview, and he’d seen two unanswered calls and a half dozen text messages from Audrey to her husband.

  Dani decided to switch gears. She cleared her throat. “So, Mrs. Ayers . . .”

  Something flickered in her eyes at the “Mrs.”

  “The woman with your husband has been identified as Tessa Lovett.”

  Audrey’s mouth tightened into a thin line. “Yes, I heard.”

  “You heard from . . . ?”

  “They mentioned it on the news this morning.”

  “Did you know her?”

  “No.”

  “And do you know the nature of her relationship with your husband?” Dani felt cruel for asking, but she needed to see Audrey’s reaction.

  “You’re asking if I knew he was having an affair? No.”

  “Had you had any recent suspicions that something was going on?”

  Audrey glanced down and began shredding the tissue in her hands. “There were some things that seemed . . . off.” She looked up. “He told me he was stressed at work. The new job, the move.” She shook her head. “I thought we were okay, though. We were trying—unsuccessfully—to have a baby for the last three years. That’s been part of the stress.”

  Dani couldn’t help but feel sympathy as she looked at Audrey. She’d been hoping to start a family, and meanwhile her husband had been running around
on her.

  “So, had you ever met Miss Lovett?”

  Audrey’s eyes sparked. “No. I told you. I didn’t know any of this until a detective showed up at my door to tell me James was dead.” She pressed her fist to her mouth again as if trying to keep her words in.

  Dani looked at her notebook. “What time did you say it was when you got home from your class and your errands?”

  “Around eight.”

  “And what time did you call your husband?”

  “Right after that. I’d expected him home by that point, so I called, but he didn’t answer. It wasn’t anything unusual.”

  “What wasn’t?”

  “James ignoring his phone.”

  Dani just looked at her, trying to keep her face blank.

  “Look, I know what you’re thinking,” Audrey said in a wobbly voice. “But I really didn’t know. James covered his tracks well. He’s smart. Was.” She closed her eyes. “Was smart. God.”

  Dani flipped through her notebook, giving Audrey a few moments to compose herself before she sprung the next question on her.

  “Mrs. Ayers, you and your husband moved here last fall from New Mexico, a town north of Albuquerque. Is that correct?”

  “Yes,” she said, ripping the tissue into little white flakes. “He was offered a full professorship in the biology department.”

  “Are you aware that Tessa Lovett recently moved from there?”

  Audrey’s hands stilled. “She . . . what?” She shook her head as though trying to clear it.

  “Tessa Lovett lived in New Mexico until three months ago. She just moved here.”

  Audrey glanced down. Her cheeks flushed, and Dani couldn’t tell if it was from anger or embarrassment.

  Audrey looked up and her eyes were brimming with tears again. “Wow.” She gave a weak smile. “You must think I’m pretty dense, huh?”

  Dani didn’t say anything, just watched her closely. She was pretty sure this woman hated her now. But it couldn’t be helped—Dani needed her reaction.

  Audrey shook her head again. Then she stood up, checking her watch. “I have to go.”

  Dani stood, too.

  “I’ve got to pick up James’s mom at the airport.” The widow took a deep breath and seemed to steady herself. “Would you please call me if anything happens?”

  “Absolutely.” Dani tugged a business card from her pocket and jotted her cell number on the back. “And feel free to call me if you think of anything that might help us.”

  Audrey stared down at the card, then met Dani’s gaze. “Are you married, Detective?”

  “No.”

  She gave her a long look and then reached for the door. “Good for you.”

  • • •

  The lake shimmered emerald green in the light of day, and it was hard to believe two people had been murdered here just hours before.

  Dani rolled her unmarked police unit to a stop beside Scott’s pickup. The CSIs at Tessa Lovett’s apartment had been talking about a team from Delphi returning to Woodlake Park, and Dani knew that team would include Scott. Five shell casings recovered but only three bullets? He wouldn’t be able to live with that math.

  Christine Metz was leaning against her patrol car and talking on her phone. She finished her call as Dani got out.

  “Where are they?” Dani asked, glancing around.

  Christine nodded toward the lake. “Over there. They brought some kind of special metal detector.”

  Dani set off for the shore, and Christine fell into step beside her.

  “How’d the canvass go?” Dani asked.

  “Jasper and I have been out here five hours. There are definitely some park regulars—mostly dog owners and mostly this morning. But no one recalls any suspicious people around here recently.”

  “Any Ford Tauruses?”

  “No one remembers any.”

  Dani had hoped they’d be able to locate a witness who had seen something and shrugged it off at the time, such as an unusual person or vehicle scoping out the park.

  Dani stopped where James’s silver Accord had been parked. New tire tracks crisscrossed the area, which seemed disrespectful somehow. The place felt like hallowed ground.

  Christine was watching her with interest. “So, it happened right here?”

  “About three paces over, yeah.” Dani walked to the spot and crouched down. Traces of the plaster used to create the tire impression were still visible despite the rain. “From what we can tell, the couple parked here facing the lake and someone pulled up behind them. James got out and confronted the attacker, was shot twice. We think the attacker either dragged Tessa from the car or she went out the passenger side and fled into the woods.”

  Dani was leaning toward the second scenario. If the attacker had dragged her from the car, he would have had tight control over her, especially given that he was armed. Dani believed she’d fled during or immediately after the shots that killed James.

  “What about the door?” Christine asked. “I saw the crime-scene photos on the wall in the conference room. It looked like the passenger door was closed.”

  “It was.” That detail had been bothering Dani, too.

  “You think she took the time to close the door behind her?”

  “I think the shooter closed it. We never recovered a purse or cell phone from the car, so I’m thinking the perp went back to grab a few things and possibly he shut it then.”

  Dani stood and looked around, trying to think of something they’d missed.

  “And he was shot in the groin?” Christine asked. “Sounds like a crime of passion.”

  “Sounds like.” But Dani still wasn’t convinced.

  She trekked the short distance to the lake, where Jasper stood beside a wooden pier. Travis was crouched at the end of the pier, rummaging through the tackle box he used as an evidence kit.

  “We struck out on those interviews,” Jasper told her.

  “I heard. You pass out your card?”

  “Yeah. Maybe someone might remember something down the road, call it in.” He looked at Dani. “How’d it go at the apartment?”

  “Okay.”

  “Just okay?”

  “So far, yeah.”

  Tessa’s one-bedroom apartment was a typical single woman’s place. Mismatched furniture, cheap decorative touches, baskets of laundry and piles of mail sitting around. It looked a lot like Dani’s place, but at least Tessa had managed to unpack most of her stuff.

  Dani glanced around. Where was Scott? She skimmed her gaze over the lake and noticed some bubbles on the surface. Following the hike-and-bike trail along the shoreline, she watched the bubbles give way to ripples.

  Scott emerged from the water wearing a black dive suit and scuba tank. He pulled a regulator from his mouth and waded to shore, and she noticed the device in his hand—probably the waterproof metal detector. He shrugged out of the tank, then unzipped the wet suit and peeled it off his shoulders.

  Dani halted. The last time she’d seen Scott without a shirt on he’d been sixteen and he’d come over to help Drew mow the lawn. Dani had stepped outside as Scott was walking up the driveway, and for the first time in her life she’d felt that warm pull. He was strong and lean, and she remembered the metallic scent of sweat on his skin and the smell of fresh-cut grass. He’d pinned her with those cool blue eyes, and she’d been completely unable to move.

  It was the same as now, only now he had a man’s body, a warrior’s body, all hardened and scarred, and something dangerous glinted in his eyes as he approached her.

  “I found it.”

  She cleared her throat. “You found . . . ?”

  He held out his hand, and she stared at the bullet in his big palm. A chill moved through her. So very small, and yet the chunk of metal had pierced straight through a woman’s body and ended her life.

  “Looks like she was standing in the woods near the water when she got shot,” he said. “First shot was a through-and-through bullet that ended up in the la
ke.”

  Travis stepped over. “Wow. She’s a beauty.”

  Christine and Jasper walked over to check out the slug.

  “How’s it a ‘beauty’ exactly?” Christine looked at Travis.

  “Good marks,” he said. “The rifling inside the barrel puts a spin on the bullet to stabilize it in flight as it leaves the gun. Every gun leaves unique marks, so we can enter them in the database, see if they match up with any other weapons or bullets we know of from other crime scenes.”

  “The silt in the lake’s perfect for this,” Scott said. “It’s almost like the ballistic gel we use at the lab.” He unzipped a pocket on his dive suit and took out a drawstring pouch, then dropped the bullet into it.

  “Can you run it today?” Dani asked.

  “That’s the plan.” Scott grabbed his scuba tank as if it weighed nothing and hitched it onto his shoulder.

  “Call me as soon as you’re done. I need those results.”

  He lifted an eyebrow. “Yes, ma’am.”

  He and Travis walked back to the pickup, and Christine stared after them as they heaved their gear into the truck bed.

  “Dear Lord.” She looked at Dani. “Did you see that six-pack? I think it was an eight-pack.”

  Jasper scowled. “Jeez, Christine.”

  “What? I’m married but I’m not dead.”

  Dani’s phone vibrated in her pocket and she pulled it out to check the screen.

  “Reynolds,” she told Jasper before she answered.

  “Have you wrapped up at the apartment yet?” the lieutenant wanted to know.

  “I left there half an hour ago. Why?”

  “I need you to go to the parks and rec headquarters on Cotton Mill Road.”

  “I’m near there now,” she said, sensing the urgency in his voice. “I’m at Woodlake Park.”

  “What’s happening at the park?”

  “The CSIs just recovered the through-and-through bullet from the female victim. They think the marks look good, so it could be a lead.”

  “Well, I’ve got a better one. I think we’ve got the murder weapon.”

  • • •

  Back at the Delphi Center, Scott changed out of his dive suit and into his work uniform—tactical pants and a black shirt with the Delphi logo on the front. He liked that he could dress down for work and didn’t have to wear a noose around his neck unless he was testifying in court.