Exposed Read Free Page B

watched her walk across the street, and Brian marveled at her confidence as she returned, alone, to the scene of her attack. After dark, no less. Granted, there were cops milling around, but still.
    “What do you think?” Sam asked.
    Brian glanced at his partner. “Seems pretty street-smart for a wedding photographer.”
    “In a hurry to leave, too.”
    “Maybe she’s got a date.”
    Sam shot him a look.
    “What?”
    “Shit, Beckman. Don’t you ever stop?”
    “I didn’t say anything.”
    “You were thinking it.”
    “You believe she saw them?” he asked, changing the subject.
    “I think the timing’s too perfect to be a coincidence,” Sam said grimly. “A photographer gets mugged right after a kidnapping goes down? By a two-man team, and they don’t even get her purse?” Sam rubbed his hand over his bald head and blew out a sigh, reminding Brian what a truly crappy day they’d had. And it wasn’t nearly over yet. They still had to get back to the office in San Antonio and help the task force piece together what happened to Jolene Murphy, the star witness in their upcoming case.
    The star witness who had gone missing only minutes after leaving her office, which just happened to be across the street from Maddie Callahan’s photo shoot.
    Sam was right. The timing, the location, the ruthlessness with which they’d gone after that camera but overlooked other valuables—taken all together, it was too much of a stretch. Maddie Callahan had been targeted.
    Brian watched the garage now as a Prius pulled out. He recognized Maddie behind the wheel. She turned onto Main Street and sped away.
    He pictured the bruise on her face, and his gut tightened again. This case involved some extremely dangerous people, and he didn’t like the idea of them knowing Maddie Callahan existed, much less targeting her.
    He looked at Sam. “Maybe she didn’t see anything,” he said hopefully.
    “Maybe not. But a woman doesn’t just disappear in broad daylight. Someone sure as hell saw something.”
    “You know, Jolene Murphy could have taken off,”Brian said. “Maybe we’re not dealing with a kidnapping at all but a spooked witness.”
    Sam sneered. “Trust me, they grabbed her. They want to know what she revealed, and then they want her out of the way. And if we don’t find her soon, you can be damn sure we’ll be dealing with a murder.”

CHAPTER 2

     
    Maddie’s headlights sliced through the darkness as she turned onto Cottonwood Road. The bumpy strip of asphalt stretched past a series of mobile homes before making a dip over a low-water bridge. As she rounded a bend, the sight of the small clapboard house lit up like a beacon made her stomach knot.
    A homicide. Even if she hadn’t been tipped off by her boss’s text message, she would have known by the sheer number of vehicles: three from the Clarke County Sheriff’s Department, a Delphi Center crime-scene unit, and a white ME’s van.
    Maddie rolled past everyone and parked beside some mesquite trees lining the road. She popped her trunk and swept her Maglite over the contents. Everything looked to be in order. Her backup camera was nestled in its nylon bag. Her go-kit was neatly packed with spare batteries, extra memory cards, a light meter, and an array of other equipment she might need. She hitched the bag onto her shoulder, looped her camera around her neck, and took a deep breath.
    A homicide. Regardless of what had happenedearlier, she needed to bring her A game. She only had one chance to get this right.
    Maddie adjusted the camera settings for low light and walked to the spot where a gravel path met the road. She snapped four photographs, at twelve o’clock, three, six, and nine. She approached the house and paused several times for mid-range pictures.
    Shoot your way in, shoot your way out . The words of her forensic photography instructor echoed through her head as she stepped into the halo of light spilling from the porch. At the base of the