Deep Dark Read Free Page A

also made him good. It was a trade-off.
    â€œStrange place to park,” Jay observed as Gutierrez led them across the lot to a powder-blue BMW. Reed had been thinking the same. It would have been natural for April Abrams to park in front of her unit.
    Police barricades had been set up around the victim’s car, and a CSI was already crouched beside the driver’s-­side door. Reed recognized her—Veronica Greene. She was known to be abrasive, but Reed didn’t mind, because she was crazy good at what she did. He’d once seen her lift a usable print off a charred envelope.
    She glanced up as he neared the car. “You touch anything, you die.”
    â€œPrint all of it, especially the passenger side,” Reed said.
    She lifted an eyebrow in a way that told him what he could do with his advice.
    â€œAny sign of a phone?” he asked.
    She leaned into the car and plucked something from the floorboard with a pair of tweezers, then dropped it into an evidence bag. “No, but I found a charger. Looks iPhone-compatible, which should help you track downthe carrier, at least. There’s a laptop computer in the trunk. And”—she reached in and lifted something from the cup holder—“a receipt. Dated yesterday, looks like a coffee shop.”
    Someone had scrawled a local phone number across the bottom of the receipt. Reed pulled out his phone to photograph it. It might be the best lead they had so far.
    Or it might be nothing.
    He glanced across the lot to where the ME’s people were unloading a gurney from the van. The parking lot was filling in now, and Bellaterra residents were beginning to stop and gawk. In a few moments they’d realize what was happening, and then the phones would come out and pictures would end up on Facebook and Twitter.
    â€œI need to notify the family,” Reed told Jay. “And it’s going to suck. I’m betting they’re close.”
    â€œAs in friendly or nearby?”
    â€œBoth.”
    â€œWhy?”
    â€œCall it a hunch.” He glanced at the car. “Someone was giving her juicers and BMWs.”
    â€œMaybe she was good at her job.”
    â€œShe was practically a kid.”
    Jay shrugged. “So was Mark Zuckerberg when he made his first billion.”
    Reed looked at him.
    â€œAnyway, I need to move on that witness,” Jay said. “What’s our game plan?”
    Reed watched the gurney being rolled inside. Twenty minutes into the case, and already they needed a game plan. That was how it worked now, and Reed didn’t waste his energy cursing social media.
    He thought of April’s ID picture. He thought of her anxious smile as she’d stood before the camera, probably her first day on the job. She’d probably been feeling a heady mix of hope and anticipation as she embarked on something new.
    He pictured the slash of duct tape over her mouth now. It would stay there until she reached the autopsy table.
    â€œReed?”
    â€œNo forced entry. No purse, no phone. But he left jewelry, pain meds, and a Bose stereo.”
    Jay nodded because he knew what Reed was thinking. At this point, everything pointed to someone she knew.
    Jay glanced across the lot. “Shit.”
    Reed turned to see an SUV easing through the gate, tailgated by a white news van. Just in time for the money shot of the body coming out. In a matter of minutes the image would be ping-ponging between satellites.
    â€œDirtbags,” Jay muttered.
    â€œRight on time.”
    â€¢Â Â Â â€¢Â Â Â â€¢
    Laney rolled her chair back and let her system think. And think. It was sluggish tonight.
    â€œLaney.”
    She tipped back and rested her Converse high-tops on the edge of the desk. She checked the script.
    â€œLaney.”
    It was good. Better than good, it was perfect.
    â€œOh, La-ney? Hello?”
    A row of numbers appeared, then another and another.
    â€œ Yes .” Her feet hit the