Hell Is Burning (23 page)

He took the opportunity to solve the problem. “Thank you for helping solve this,” he stated. “I appreciate it, and I know Brynn would too,” he added.

Tessa was the first out of her seat as she crossed to her partner. They’d only been teamed up for a couple of weeks, but she liked working with him. “I’m sorry, Curtis,” she offered, hugging him. “If you need anything, Paris and I are available. You can call us anytime, and we’ll be there for you. Even if it’s to keep you company or play a board game.”

“Thanks, Tessa. I’ll be okay. I just want to work and try to forget the last few days.”

Ford gave the Crofts a look.

Greyson shrugged. He was well aware what the man was thinking. How could he not? After all, Croft was thinking it too, but ultimately, the boy was right. If it had been his wife, he’d want in on the hunt for the murderer too.

The boy needed this, and he was family. The past didn't matter to him. Going forward, they were going to keep Curtis safe, and at least here he couldn’t be of a danger to himself.

Right?

Here was his one chance to prove he wasn’t going to flip out and do something stupid.

“We’re all here, so we should get started with our perspective tasks,” Emma stated, running it.

Ford was the first to speak. “I have Brynn and Detective McGuire’s files right here. Their captain wants to handle the interview. I agreed to it because we have to compromise. For now, this case stays in our house, and that was the ultimate goal.”

Croft went to voice his displeasure, but Emma let it go. She got it. The vice team lost someone, and they needed to feel like they were in control too. Brynn wasn’t exclusively their friend and co-worker. She’d moved on, and this was the outcome.

“It’s okay, Captain. We’ll watch the video transcripts of the interview. McGuire’s going to have his rep there, so he’s not going to share anything we don’t already know. We’ll save ourselves the aggravation.”

“What was she working on?” Greyson asked as they all took their seats.

He passed around the files. “Some hookers, some drugs, and that’s about it. Nothing looks odd in the files. They made some arrests, as of late, and they had some contacts in the game, so I suggest we start digging in there. Maybe we can cross them against the dead women, and something will pop.”

Curtis took the files. “I’ll do it. I run searches pretty fast.”

They all looked at Emma wondering if that was a good idea. It was time she asserted her leadership, so they could move on with the case.

“If he wants to do this, I’m going to let him. Curtis is a big boy, and he knows the rules. I’ll go to bat for him--just like I would for the rest of you if the roles were reversed.”

That seemed to mollify them.

“I’m okay, really.”

Greyson could tell by the way he was looking at the handwriting in the file that he wasn’t, but he knew Curtis needed to be strong in front of the people he was working with.

How did he know?

Because he’d be the same way too.

“What’s next?” Emma asked.

Paris spoke up for him and Tessa, “We ran the dead women last night. We pulled everything we could find on the first two victims. Maybe something in it will click,” he offered.

“Let’s have it.”

Paris began, “Our first victim is Shirley Golden. She was twenty four, had brown hair, blue eyes and was a teacher. She’s not married, and the missing person report was filed by her girlfriend. Not the BFF kind, but the lesbian kind.”

Everyone was scribbling notes.

Mace lifted a brow. “Could we have a disgruntled woman killing women?”

Paris leaned back in his chair. “We’ll have to dig into that to find out.”

Tessa took over, sharing what they knew about the lesbian. “We have Marleen Web as the girlfriend. I went trolling on Shirley’s social media sites, and that’s the name I came up with. It coincides with the name on the missing person report.”

Paris pulled up a picture. “They had no kids, lived in two separate apartments, and she had two cats.”

“Did you find anything hinky?” Croft asked.

Tessa knew the boss was going to ask that. “Nope. I ran her, and she’s squeaky clean. In fact, look at her,” she said, as Paris flipped to a different picture. The victim was in workout gear and apparently liked running marathons. If anything, she looked like the all-American girl.

“She’s spotless, as is the girlfriend. The two women don’t have any skeletons in their closets--none that we could find.”

“We still need to interview her, so we can see if anyone was bothering the victim,” Croft stated.

They agreed.

“Who’s next?” Emma stated.

Paris continued, “We have Blanca Reilly. She was twenty two, a brunette with blue eyes, and engaged to be married.”

At the description, Curtis flinched.

Emma moved to stand behind him. She placed both hands on his shoulders, and immediately he leaned back, trying to draw from her strength. When the tension was gone from his shoulders, she continued with the job.

“What else?” she asked.

“Again, we had to troll the boards for this one. She mentions that she’s marrying a gentleman by the name of Noah Smith, and that he’s a roadie here in Vegas.”

“Let’s see her,” stated Croft.

Paris pulled up the before picture. “Here she is with her sister. She’s the one wearing pink.”

They all studied the woman on the screen. Like the first victim, she looked like a sweet, normal woman.

“We need information on him,” stated Emma.

Paris started laughing.

Both Crofts glanced over at him.

“What’s the joke?” Greyson asked.

“Well, normally, getting information would be a bitch, but it just so happens that he works for you, Emma. We don’t have to jump through hoops to get his information.”

She didn't get it.

“He’s roadie for one of the Vegas productions you own.”

She closed her eyes. “Of course he is.”

That amused Greyson. When she gave him the look, he shrugged. “What?”

“News flash, husband. In Vegas, anything that I fall into, you get half. This mess is partly yours now too. So it’s the business WE own.”

He winked at his wife.

“Who do we call to get his details?” Tessa asked.

Emma had no clue. She only hoped her brother-in-law could answer that for her. “Call Dante and ask for the personnel records. He should know where the hell they are. I don’t know where they’re kept or who has them, but he’ll know. This whole business mogul thing is out of control.”

Tessa pulled out her phone and took the number that Greyson had scribbled down for her. She left the room to make the call.

“What did we learn about this roadie?”

Paris pulled up the details. “He’s a wild man, and likes to get into trouble. His rap sheet is pretty long. The woman was clean. Talk about opposites attracting. In fact, Blanca is a bank teller with perfect credit, and not so much as a smear on her record.”

“We’re going to need to do interviews today. While we have time, we need to lock down their alibis and go from there,” Croft stated.

Curtis noticed that no one was going to bring up Brynn, so he did it.

“What do you have on victim three?” he asked, waiting for them.

“Curtis,” Paris said, “you don’t have to do…”

He cut him off. “I do. We all do. This is part of the job and the reality of the situation. Brynn is dead. Don’t let this killer take away her dignity in death. We need to give that back to her.”

There was silence.

“Now, how about victim three? If you don’t want to do it, I will.”

They were all very uncomfortable.

Curtis ignored them and pressed on. “We have Brynn Westmore-Briggs, and she also had brown hair and blue eyes. That might be our connection. It’s possible the killer has a type. With the last big assignment we all worked on, that was the case.”

No one said anything.

They were well aware of the last case, and how it blew up around them. Brynn nearly died, the Crofts got skewered by the man before them, and their happy team was shattered.

No one wanted to go there.

Greyson watched his agent. In place of the pain was fury. Yeah, Curtis was definitely not getting his badge back until he worked through this.

There was going to be a battle to get him back to where he once was. Even Emma was watching him with a concerned look.

“Fine. I’ll continue if no one else will. She was a detective with the vice division of the LVPD and was working the second shift when she went missing.”

No one spoke.

“She was married to an FBI agent, who is a suspect in her murder. Since he has no alibi, he could very well be the one who murdered her. You’ll have to interview him too.”

Ford stared at Emma.

This was going too far.

Emma stepped in and took over. “We will be interviewing him. Since I’m a personal acquaintance with the man, as is most of this team, we’re going to be passing this one off because we can’t be impartial. In this job, you have to have objectivity.”

He stared at her.

Curtis looked a little surprised that she wasn’t going to be doing the interview.

“I’ll take it,” Ford said. “It’s either me or Detective Spencer. You can make the choice, but it’s not going to be anyone else sitting at this table.”

Emma knew her boss was throwing Curtis a bone. The two potential interviewers knew both the victim and Curtis, and they’d go easy on him--despite what he was saying.

It was an out.

Curtis didn't care. “You’re fine.”

Emma went to thank her boss, but was cut off.

“Son, you don’t get to make that decision. If you were my employee, you’d be sashaying your ass to the shrinks office before I’d even let you into the building. If you go crackers, and someone gets hurt, Detective Croft’s head is in the noose on this one. So keep that in mind. What you do, Curtis, from here on out, is going to come down on her.”

There was his warning.

Well, so much for taking it easy on the man.

Greyson spoke up, going to his wife’s defense. He had to believe that Curtis wouldn’t risk Emma. This would only work if that were the case. “He’s going to be visiting the shrink. Doctor Archer will be conducting his evaluation shortly.”

Ford seemed a little better once he heard that. “That’s more like it. I’m sure your doctor will be thorough.”

Before Curtis could complain, Emma’s phone chimed, and so did Mace Bristol’s.

They knew what that meant. Doctor Bentley was giving them the heads up. Someone had called in a body, and they were being tagged into duty.

“We have another one.”

They all looked toward Paris. He’d been right. He’d predicted the timeline, and confirmed what Doctor Bentley had pointed out.

“Score one for my profiler. He is on his game,” Croft said, grabbing his tablet and messenger bag. They were going to be heading out.

Emma grabbed her things, but she knew this was going to be a problem. They were going to have to find someone to do the interviews. Before, her go to people would have been Brynn and Curtis.

Now…

Yeah, not so much.

“Tessa, can you and Paris handle some interviews?” she asked. “I know you don’t go out into the field unless it’s to get your profile on, Paris, but we’re going to be tied up and could use the help.”

“I’d love to handle it. I’m free until you get me more information,” he stated.

“Great. Start with Marleen Web, and by then you should have the information from Dante on Noah Smith. If he gives you a hard time, inform him that his boss will fire him if he yanks your chain.”

Croft laughed.

Even Emma found that absurd. She really wanted to kick Randall Mason’s ass. If he were alive, she’d kill him for saddling her with this mess.

“Mace, you, me, and chuckles here are heading to the crime scene. I have a feeling we’re going to be under the gun. Every two days, we’re getting a body. That’s going to make for a shitty weekend for all of us unless we stop this maniac, and fast.”

He grabbed his things and headed toward the door. “I’ll meet you downstairs. I’ll get us coffees to go.”

When he was gone, Paris wheeled himself out to go give Tessa the good news.

“What about me?” Curtis asked.

Ford was about to remind his detective that she couldn’t play fast and loose with the rules. They had to get this case to court and already, they were risking it by having the man anywhere near the evidence.

“You’re about to have your interview,” Greyson admitted. “Welcome to Ford’s interrogation. Be nice, tell him everything, and if you do…there’s a chance that you can stay on the team.”

“So another babysitter?” he asked. “I told you that I’m fine.”

The man just lied, and the Crofts knew it.