Alex Kava Bundle - Alex Kava [437]
“No, I don’t mind,” Racine said, appearing relaxed and casual with the subject even when she added, “My mom died when I was a girl.”
“Racine, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“It’s okay. The bad part is, I have few memories of her, you know?” She was flipping through the crime scene photos, and Maggie wondered if perhaps Racine wasn’t as comfortable with the topic as she pretended. She seemed to need to have her hands occupied, her eyes busy somewhere else. But still, she continued, “My dad tells me stuff about her all the time. I guess I look just like her when she was my age. Guess I need to be the one to remember the stories, because he’s starting to forget them.”
Maggie waited. It felt like Racine wasn’t finished, and when she glanced up, Maggie knew she was right. Racine added, “He’s starting to forget a lot of stuff lately.”
“Alzheimer’s?”
“Early symptoms, but yeah.”
She looked away again, but not before Maggie caught a glimpse of vulnerability in the tough, wise-cracking detective’s eyes. Then she began sorting through Garrison’s stuff as if looking for something and asked, “What do we do about Everett? Everett and his little gang of boys?”
“Are the photos enough for an arrest warrant?”
“For this Brandon kid, I’d say definitely. We have these photos and an eyewitness that puts him with Ginny Brier in the hours before her murder.”
“If we can get a DNA sample, I bet we’ve got a match to the semen.”
“We’ll need to have the warrant served at the compound,” Racine said. “We might not have any idea what we’re walking into out there.”
“Call Cunningham. He’ll know what to do. It’ll probably require an HRT unit.” As soon as she said it, Maggie thought of Delaney. “Hopefully this won’t get messy. How long do you think it’ll take to get a warrant?”
“For the possible murder suspect of a senator’s daughter?” Racine smiled. “I think we should have one before the end of the day.”
“I need to make a quick trip down to Richmond, but I’ll be back.”
“Ganza said he needed to talk to you. He left a message earlier.”
“Any idea what about?” But Maggie was already headed for the door.
“Not sure. Something about an old police report and a possible DNA sample?”
Maggie shook her head. She didn’t have time. Besides, maybe it was a different case. “I’ll call him from the road.”
“Wait a minute.” Racine stopped her. “Where are you going in such a hurry?”
“To try to talk some sense into a very stubborn woman.”
CHAPTER 60
Gwen slid into the window seat while Tully shoved their bags into the overhead compartment. During the cab ride to Logan International Airport, they had managed to fill the awkward silences with niceties about the weather and some details about the crime scene. So far they had avoided talking about last night and what Nick Morrelli’s phone call had interrupted. She caught herself thinking that it might be best if they pretended it had never happened. Then she realized how stupid that probably was for a psychologist to even consider. Okay, so she wasn’t good at practicing what she preached.
He took the seat next to her, fumbling with his seat belt and watching the other passengers file onto the plane. It looked like it wouldn’t be a full flight. With no one to occupy the aisle seat there would be more opportunity for them to talk. Oh, wonderful!
Tully mentioned that he hadn’t gotten back to the hotel until almost sunrise. Maybe he would want to sleep. She wasn’t ready to talk about what had happened between them last night.
She knew it wasn’t unusual for two people who had just gone through a crisis to be drawn together in a way they ordinarily would never consider. And yesterday’s attempt on her life could certainly be considered a crisis. Of course that was exactly what had happened.
The flight attendants began the preflight procedure, and Tully watched as though he was captivated and had never flown before, an obvious giveaway that he, too, was uncomfortable. Now Gwen wished she had bought a paperback at the airport bookstore. At this rate, the sixty-minute flight would be excruciatingly