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  “She’s dead,” I said.

  Susan left the room, and I could hear her digging around in the living room. She returned with a driver’s license. “This is Kelly Dykes’ driver’s license. Is that her on the floor?”

  I hated to touch her body before documenting the scene, but I needed to know if she was Kelly. Without moving the body’s position, I turned her head until I could see her face and frowned. “Yeah, it’s her.”

  “And who else would it be, right?” Susan took a deep breath and blew it out. “What the hell is going on here, Clint?”

  I stood, turned to face her. “It’s imperative we find out who wanted this girl dead.”

  “Besides Pauline Cain?”

  “We just left Pauline. There’s no way she got dressed, armed herself, and then beat us here.”

  “She could’ve paid someone to do it.”

  I frowned, thought it over, but shook my head. “If she wanted Kelly dead, she would’ve never told us about her. She would’ve just had her killed and been done with it. She certainly wouldn’t send us here to interrupt her hired killer.”

  “What about Stephen Butler? That dude was creepy.”

  “He didn’t have the opportunity.”

  “But they’re the only two people who knew we were coming here.”

  “That’s true.” I walked outside, went to my Tahoe, cursed when I saw the broken taillight and headlight again. I quickly reversed my displeasure. The damage would require a trip to Randall’s dealership for a repair job. That would give me another chance to visit with him. I nodded, silently thanking the gunman.

  I jerked the rear gate open, removed a crime scene kit and camera bag from the cargo area, and walked back to the trailer. I keyed up my radio and called for Lindsey. When she answered, I said, “Be advised, shots fired on Walnut, one down. I’ll need the coroner to respond as soon as possible. No identifiable information on the suspect.”

  “Shots fired?” Melvin asked over the radio, his voice excited. “Chief, I’m just leaving the boat launch. Do you want me to come to your location?”

  “Ten-four.” I shoved the radio onto my belt and jogged up the steps of the trailer.

  Susan met me just inside the back door and reached for the camera bag dangling from my shoulder. “I’ll photograph the scene.”

  I dipped my shoulder to let her take it. When she had it, I grabbed a flashlight and we began searching every inch of the floor. We were about ten minutes into our search when Susan pointed. “Look in the corner under the sofa flap. Another spent casing.”

  “Good eyes.” I dropped to my knees and looked where she pointed. It had rolled under the sofa, which was positioned against the back wall. I scanned the area from the sofa to the kitchen, but there was nothing. “This was the first shot. Keep moving toward the hallway and you’ll find the second casing.”

  Susan crept along the living room floor toward the hallway and called out when she found another spent casing against the baseboard of the back wall. “That makes four.”

  “Are they all nine millimeters?” I asked.

  “Yeah.” Susan’s brow furrowed. “How’d you know it would be here?”

  I stood and walked to the front door, so I could face the living room and kitchen. “The shooter kicked the door in and interrupted Kelly’s breakfast. Kelly jumped up, knocking her chair back, and ran toward her bedroom.” I walked to the sofa. “This is where the first round was fired. She continued running”—I walked toward the entrance to the hallway—“and the second round was fired here.”

  “Not the double spine shots, right?”

  “Right. Those shots were fired at close range while she was on the ground—they were too accurate to have been fired while she was running.”

  Susan grunted. “I think all the shots were pretty accurate. Hell, he fired two rounds to a fast-moving target and hit it both times!”

  I nodded, entered the bedroom and stood in the doorway looking down at Kelly. “She collapsed to the ground, and he stood right here and fired rounds three and four.” I leaned close to her body, nodding. “Either round one or two penetrated her heart.”

  “Wouldn’t she have been dead instantly with a heart shot? She would’ve dropped in the hallway.”

  I shook my head. “Even with a heart shot there would’ve been enough oxygen in her brain to keep her alive for a short time after, definitely long enough for her to run down the hallway.”

  “What makes you so sure she was hit in the heart?” Susan turned up an eyebrow. “You some kind of a doctor?”

  “I’m no doctor, but I’ve been around a lot of pathologists in my day.” I pointed to the wound highest on her back. “You see this bullet hole to the left of centerline and high on the back?”

  Susan nodded.

  “That shot didn’t hit anything vital, so it’s a non-issue. In order for her to eventually collapse, a vital organ had to have been hit.” I pointed to the wound directly over the back of her heart. “That one’s in the right position—it definitely hit her heart. He pumped two more in her to finish her off when she collapsed.”

  Susan stood back and stared toward the living room, then back at Kelly’s body. “You can tell all of that just by looking at the scene? Like, you didn’t even touch anything yet. You just stared at it—and it tells you all of that?”

  “I used to be good at my job.”

  Susan frowned. “Before the incident?”

  I stared down at my boots.

  “Are you… Do you want to die?” Susan asked softly.

  I scowled, looked up at her. “Of course not.”

  “Out there”—Susan shot a thumb toward the front yard—“when the first shot was fired, you didn’t react. You just stood there. It wasn’t until the second shot was fired that you moved, like it was an afterthought. And when you moved, it…it was like you were getting out the way of a kid skateboarding down the street. There was no sense of urgency.”

  “Look, you can hang up with the crisis line—I’m not suicidal. If I wanted to kill myself, I would’ve done it.”

  Susan slowly shook her. “I didn’t ask if you were suicidal. I asked if you wanted to die. There’s a big difference.”

  I looked into Susan’s eyes. They were piercing, unwavering. I started to tell her to get off my back, but the rear door of the trailer flung open.

  CHAPTER 18

  “Am I too late?” Melvin asked.

  “You’re just in time to help us move the body.” I moved all of the crime scene equipment into the hallway, slipped on a fresh pair of latex gloves and tossed a pair to Melvin. When we were gloved up, I nodded to the camera hanging from Susan’s neck. “Can you document the moving of her body?”

  Susan flipped the camera switch to the on position.

  “Help me drag this bed away from her,” I said to Melvin. He grabbed one end, while I grabbed the other, and we slid it away from Kelly Dykes. When there was enough room for us to work, we both moved to a position beside her body—me at her head and Melvin at her feet. I gently gripped her right shoulder and hip and Melvin grabbed her right knee and ankle. I glanced up at Susan. “You ready?”

  The camera poised against her eye, Susan nodded. Melvin and I gently pulled Kelly’s body and rolled her onto her back. Her right arm flopped across her stomach and something fell from her limp hand. The camera clicked multiple times as Susan captured the entire process. I glanced at Kelly’s face. Her eyes were wide and unseeing and her mouth was open. Poor girl knew what was happening and she was terrified. I had to look away as images of Abigail flashed through my mind. I glanced down at the object that had fallen from her right hand.

  “It’s a smart phone,” Melvin said.

  “It’s not that smart,” I mused, “otherwise it would’ve autodialed nine-one-one.” After Susan shot a few photographs of it, I carefully picked it up, turned it to face me. I sighed and handed it to Susan. “You need to do this.”

  Susan grinned, pulled on some gloves, and took the
phone. “I don’t know how you live without a smart phone.”

  “You don’t miss what you never had.” I searched the floor under where Kelly’s body had dropped. There was nothing but a little blood high up near where her neck had been. I looked back at her body and saw a bloody hole near her left collarbone. “She’s got one exit wound.”

  Susan looked up from the phone to glance around. “Where’d it go?”

  I looked at the bedroom wall opposite the doorway. Nothing. Because of my position and the fact the bedroom door was open, I couldn’t see the outside of the door. “Check the door. I bet it was closed when she was shot. The bullet exited near her collarbone and hit the door.”

  Susan turned and scanned the door, pointed. “There it is!” She pulled the door closed to look at the inside of it. “It didn’t go through and through.”

  I turned to Melvin. “Can you cut that door open and recover the projectile?”

  Melvin’s eyes lit up and he nodded.

  “Look in my crime scene kit that’s in the hallway,” I said. “Everything you need will be in there.

  Melvin hurried into the hallway and set about ripping the inner panel off the door while Susan searched Kelly Dykes’ cell phone. I completed the diagram I’d been working on and was about to offer Melvin some assistance when Susan let out a triumphant cry.

  “I got it! I cracked her passcode!” Susan stared intently at the screen. “She did try to call nine-one-one, but she stopped at nine-one.”

  I moved closer to Susan and looked over her shoulder. “Can you look back to Friday and see her text messages?”

  Susan smiled. “I’m on it.”

  She slid her thumb sideways across the screen and pressed on it until a list of names came up. “These are her contacts.”

  I was about to start reading through the list when a slide of Susan’s thumb sent the list flying. “What’re you doing?”

  “Scrolling down to H.” Susan then nodded and tilted the phone so I could see. “Hays Cain. He’s actually listed as one of her favorites.”

  “Can we read their messages?”

  Susan clicked on his name, whistled. “Yes, we can. There are a lot of them. These are from Friday.”

  “Can you go to the early hours that day?” I asked.

  “Yeah. Here’s the first conversation that day. It looks like it starts around four in the afternoon.”

  I began reading the messages.

  ——

  Hays: I’m out the house. Be seeing you later. Around 6 P.M.

  Kelly: can’t wait. why so late?

  Hays: I need to take care of something first.

  Kelly: what

  Hays: I have a meeting to go to.

  Kelly: u and ur secret meetings. where’s the meeting

  Hays: You know I can’t tell you that.

  Kelly: i don’t understand what the big deal is. bet ur wife knows.

  Hays: No.

  Kelly: why won’t u ever tell me?

  Hays: I can’t.

  Kelly: i feel like u don’t love me.

  Hays: Of course I love you.

  Kelly: then y don’t u trust me?

  Hays: I do trust you.

  Kelly: if u trusted me u would tell me. u said ur self no secrets between us.

  Hays: It’s work related.

  Kelly: now i know that’s a lie!!! it’s another woman isn’t it? ur cheating on me!

  Kelly: why won’t u answer me?

  Hays: I’m not cheating on you, sweetheart.

  Kelly: prove it. tell me who ur meeting.

  Hays: I can’t.

  Kelly: then we’re through. i’m telling ur wife about us. it’s over.

  Hays: Baby, please don’t say that. I love you and I want to be with you. Just give me a little time and soon I’ll be all yours. You won’t have to share me anymore.

  Kelly: you mean you’ll finally leave ur wife?

  Hays: Yes. Just let me take care of an issue that’s come up. It doesn’t involve another woman. I just have to settle some things. I’m closing this business deal. After tonight I won’t be attending any more of these meetings. You’ve made me realize what’s important in life. All I want is you.

  Kelly: that’s so sweet!

  Hays: It’s true. I’m late for the meeting. I should be about an hour. I’ll text you when I get out.

  Kelly: k. luv u!

  Hays: I love you, too!

  ——

  “That’s it for that conversation,” Susan said. “Kelly tried to contact Hays three times at five o’clock, twice at six, and then once at eight. Here are the messages.”

  ——

  Kelly: where u at? r u standing me up?

  Kelly: r u there?

  Kelly: this isn’t funny anymore. call me now or it’s over.

  Kelly: i don’t want anything to do with u anymore. it’s over. u never loved me. it was all a lie.

  Kelly: oh, and i’m telling ur wife everything. i’m sending her the pictures u sent me.

  Kelly: u should b careful about butt dialing my voicemail when ur lying. i heard ur buddies talking and i heard the boat. u weren’t at no meeting. it’s over! don’t even bother calling back!

  ——

  Susan and I looked at each other, and I pointed at the phone. “Please tell me you can find that voicemail.”

  “I’m trying.” Susan’s fingers danced across the glass screen for several seconds and then she held it up to her ear.

  I leaned in and listened. The obvious sound of a boat running came through the little speaker for about five minutes. When it finally stopped, we could hear muffled voices. They sounded like men’s voices, but it was hard to make out every word.

  “Why’d…shoot him?” asked the first man.

  “You heard…was going…cops and we can’t…screw up the mission,” said the second man.

  “But he…to die.”

  “You want…jail?”

  “No.”

  “…shut up and…cinder…other rope.”

  “What…noise?”

  We heard rustling and it sounded like the phone was being handled. An excited voice said, “Holy shit! The phone called some—”

  The call went dead.

  “It was in his pocket,” Susan said. “We’ve got the killers on tape!”

  “That must be why they killed Kelly Dykes. We need to get this enhanced.” I looked over at Melvin. He had just removed a part of the door panel and leaned it against the wall, and was shoving his hand into the lower portion of the door. “Melvin, you want to take a drive up to the city when we’re done here?”

  Melvin stopped, turned to look up at me. “Me? Take a road trip?”

  I nodded. “I’ve got a buddy up there who can work magic with recordings. I’ll call and tell him you’re coming. Just sign the evidence over to him and then go find something to eat. There’s a café near the lab that’s awesome. I’ll give you food money.”

  A large grin split Melvin’s face. “Thanks, Chief. You’re awesome!” Melvin’s mouth slid open as he wriggled his hand around in the narrow crack of the hollow door. He finally sucked in air, removed his hand from the door and lifted his arm triumphantly. Between his middle and ring fingers was a damaged lead projectile. “I’ve got it!”

  “Great job!” I slapped his back, then dug money out of my wallet. After Susan had taken the projectile from him and secured it in an evidence envelope, I handed him forty bucks. “Here, you’ve earned this.”

  “Thanks again, Chief!”

  “Call me Clint.”

  “I’m sorry, Chief—Clint it is.”

  Susan handed Melvin a clear plastic evidence envelope and a chain of custody form. “Make sure you fill it out and both of you sign it.”

  “Done!” Melvin took the envelope and evidence form and hurried out the door.

  I smiled. “He’s a good kid.”

  “He sure is. When he first started working here it took me about a month to get him to stop calling me ma’am an
d Ms. Susan.”

  I looked around the scene. “Let’s wrap this up so the coroner can get Kelly’s body out of here.”

  “Sure thing.” Susan bent over and gathered up the other evidence packages, but she paused to look over at me. “I’m sorry about earlier. I was out of line.”

  “No, you weren’t.” I sighed. “In our line of work, it’s important to know who you’re going through the door with, so you had every right to say what you said. Just know this—I’d step in front of a bullet for you and every other person in this town.”

  Susan searched my eyes. “I know. That’s what I’m afraid of.”

  I waved her off. “Let’s get out of here. I’m hungry.”

  “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “Yeah, I want to pay a visit to Hays’ restaurant—see if we can’t get inside his office.”

  CHAPTER 19

  “Table for two?” asked the lady at the door of Hays Cain’s restaurant. According to her nametag, she was Malory and she was head waitress.

  “Are y’all still serving lunch?” I asked.

  Malory shook her head. “Sorry, but you’re a couple hours late. Dinner will be ready soon, or y’all can order off the sandwich menu.”

  I looked at Susan. “Want a burger or something?”

  “Or something,” Susan said. “I may take a salad. I have to watch what I eat.”

  Malory led us to a corner booth, and I took a seat where I could watch the door. Susan and I were the only customers. Malory left us after we were seated and returned with bread, butter, and oil. She snatched a notepad from a pocket in her green apron, then looked from Susan to me. “Aren’t you the new chief of police?”

  I smiled and nodded. “I’m Clint.”

  She pointed to the nametag. “This is me.”

  “When you’re done flirting with my boss,” Susan began, “you can get me a glass of water with lemon.”

  Malory gasped. “I’m not flirting!”

  I felt my face flush.

  “I swear,” Susan said, “the women in this town act like they’ve never seen a single man before.”

  “That’s because there aren’t any in this town.” Malory whisked away and returned with two waters. She wouldn’t make eye contact with me as she set the glasses on the table. “If y’all are ready to make—”