All I've Ever Wanted - Adrianne Byrd [67]
“I don’t think that they have. Underwood was a hired hit. I’m willing to bet my badge on it.”
“Hired by whom?”
“Haven’t a clue.”
They fell silent.
Max turned and surveyed his surroundings. “What was she doing out here?” he asked in a low voice. He thought back to their phone conversation. She had called him on his cell phone. “Wait a sec.” He walked back toward his car.
“What do you got?” Scardino asked, trailing him.
He opened his car door and grabbed his cell phone from the passenger seat. He reviewed the caller ID screen. “I just want to see something.” He headed over to the gray Honda and punched the button for his phone to redial the number Aaliyah had called from.
The officers searching the victim’s car jumped when the car phone rang.
“She called you from the car,” Scardino said, nodding.
Max disconnected the call. “What time was the body discovered?”
Scardino reviewed her notes. “We received the call at approximately 7:15 a.m.”
Max bit his lower lip as he entertained a thought.
“What are you thinking?”
He shook his head, not sure that he wanted to share his hunch.
“Come on, partner. Share.”
He laughed. “All right. I’m just wondering if she was tailing someone.”
She frowned. “All right. Remind me not to ask you to share next time.”
“It’s a possibility. She calls me, frantic, telling me she’s discovered something I may be interested in. What could that be? She knows that I was investigating the Underwood murder. Her editor also told us that she was working on that case. Is it so far-fetched to believe that she stumbled onto someone as opposed to something?”
“We may have something here,” Detective Washington announced from the car.
Scardino and Max turned in time to see the officer lifting a camera she’d sealed in a plastic evidence bag.
“It was stuck in between the console and the passenger seat,” Washington added.
“Can we be that lucky?” Scardino asked.
“If we are, it will be a first for me.”
“I thought I’d find you here,” Sandra said, slamming the door behind her.
Steve glanced up from his desk, and held up a finger to ask her to wait a moment while he finished his phone call. She took the opportunity to retrieve her gun from her back holster, careful not to be caught.
“No, sir. I have everything under control. Lawrence will be taken care of. Yes, sir. Yes, sir.”
Sandra rolled her eyes as she waited for the call to end. She knew now who sat on the other end of the line. Don Gaetano, an infamous drug lord, who had been a thorn in the side of the city of Atlanta for more than a decade.
His reign of power had enabled him to purchase all the right cops and the right judges to keep his business running smoothly, including her. Her nightmare had begun when Gaetano had asked if Underwood would also agree to join his payroll. To everyone’s surprise, Marion had refused and then gone so far as to contact the FBI, which signed his death warrant.
Steve ended his call. “To what do I owe this unexpected pleasure?”
She smiled. “Actually, I’m surprised that you weren’t expecting me.”
He leaned back in his chair and studied her. After a moment he shrugged, as if he had concluded that she was harmless. “Now, why would I be expecting you?”
Sandra revealed her gun. “Because you killed my husband. Remember?”
“Ah,” he said. He didn’t flinch. “So, you’ve come here to kill me?”
“I have a hunch that it’ll make me feel a hell of a lot better.”
His expression eased into a wide smile. “And you think I’m just going to sit here and let you shoot me?”
“I don’t think you have a choice.”
“Obviously, you haven’t thought this through. Maybe now is the time to do so.”
“I’ve done all the thinking I need to. This madness needs to stop.”
“This isn’t the way to handle this. Come on, Sandy. I’m a pawn in this game, just like you. Killing me won’t change that.”
“I already told you. Killing you is just going to make me feel better. I have a little surprise for Gaetano, too. By tomorrow morning the FBI will have received some rather interesting reading.