Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 96641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 483(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 322(@300wpm)
Aiden sighed. “Yeah, but who could that be? So far, Saul doesn’t have a connection to Nick, neither did Lenny, and the lead guy doesn’t fit the description of anybody associated with the case.”
True. The Wilson brothers were older and rather dumpy. Plus, Spencer had been on a boat in Alaska, and Wayne, although married to Imogen at the time, hadn’t left prints or DNA at the scene. Of course, that didn’t completely clear him. “My money’s on Lisa Robinson,” I said. “We need to see if there’s any connection between her and Saul Nelson.”
I reached for my phone and dialed Detective Pierce.
“Hi, Anna. What’s up now?” he said by way of answer.
I held my breath. “Is Violet finished, and did you let her go home with Buddy and Yara?”
“Yeah, we just sent her home with your aunt and uncle.”
Relief filtered through me. “What a relief. There was no problem with the temporary custody?”
“Yeah, there was a problem. I had to fight Idaho Department of Health and Welfare because they said they couldn’t let her go home with a family she’d run away from until we had a hearing. Unfortunately, or, well, I guess fortunately in this situation, no temporary foster homes were taking kids, so we didn’t really have a choice.”
It scared me that she might’ve had to go somewhere else. She was fragile right now, and I was thankful that Pierce had intervened and at least helped her go to Yara and Buddy’s.
“It doesn’t look good for your hearing this coming week, though,” Pierce said.
My limbs chilled. “Did Violet tell you about the upcoming hearing?”
“Yeah, she seemed really worried. I don’t know what you’re going to do, but you’d better think of something.”
“I will.” I had no idea what, but I had a bit of time since the hearing wasn’t until Thursday. “For now, the ATF has authorized me to inform you that Saul Nelson, our second Cupid robber, is the one who had a friend with military record access research Nick’s past cases and found the one about the missiles. Whoever sent the anonymous letter was based on that.”
“That’s interesting,” Pierce said. “Someone’s messing with Basanelli big time.”
I nodded my head, even though we were on the phone. “My guess is either somebody wants his job, or they want him preoccupied during this murder investigation.”
“All right,” Pierce said. “I’m already conducting a background check on Saul Nelson based on Violet’s statement. I’ll add a search for any connection between him and Nick Basanelli, Richard Basanelli, and Imogen Wilson. We’ll see if we can figure this out.”
“Thanks, Pierce.” The man sounded exhausted. “Why don’t you get some sleep? I promise I won’t bother you until tomorrow, at least mid-morning.” Maybe he could even take the morning off. Although, considering it would be Monday, it was doubtful.
“Yeah, you get some sleep, too.” Pierce clicked off.
Almost instantly, both my phone and Aiden’s blew up with a loud buzzer. “What the heck?” I turned it over.
He grabbed his and read the face. “The alarm at your office just activated.” He took a sharp right turn to go directly into Timber City instead of driving around it toward our cabin and lifted his phone to his ear. “Yeah, Saber? I need backup. Anna’s office. Okay, good.” He clicked off. “Saber’s already in his rig and on the way.”
“My alarm goes to your office and not the police?” I guess I’d never questioned that.
“Yeah, my office is alerted instantly,” he said. “We can get to your office building faster, most likely, and I know the entire system since I installed it. If my team’s ever out of town, I can transfer the alarm notifications to the Elk County Police Department, but for now, it’s all me. Are you armed?”
“Yeah, I’m armed.” I removed my S&W LadySmith from my bag.
“Okay.” He pulled behind my building into the back parking area, and I saw that the door was ajar. “Stay here.”
Not in a million years. “No way. I’ll back you up.”
Saber was at least five minutes behind us.
“All right, but stay behind me.” Aiden jumped out of the truck and removed his Glock from the back of his waist, edging forward to kick the door open. He swung in high, and I went low. We’d practiced this a couple of times, just in case.
He flipped on the light. Melted snow on the stairs led to the second floor. He crept silently up the steps to the hallway, and I tried to do the same, my boots squeaking on the wet wood. He didn’t flinch or turn around; instead, he kept moving gracefully in that way he had, trying to open the few office doors on the way to mine at the end of the hallway. They were all locked.
My office door had been kicked open hard, and the frame was destroyed. Aiden surveyed the hallway again and then pushed the door open farther with his shoulder, stepping inside and flipping on the light.