Harlequin Intrigue April 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 Carol Ericson (short books to read TXT) 📖

each list from the organizers.” She handed him another piece of paper from the same file. “During which six investigators were murdered in those same locations. How would you like to explain that?”

“I... I can’t.” Confusion rippled the lines stretched across the sergeant’s forehead as he studied the documents in front of him. “I wasn’t in these cities on these dates. Wherever you got this registration information from, that wasn’t me.”

“A credit card in your name was used to register for each conference, Daniel.” Captain Paulson’s voice deepened with a combination of disappointment and sorrow. It was his turn to pass a collection of documents to his officer. “I had the cyber crime squad run your financials after Marshals Barton and Cove brought this to my attention. We can match the payment information to a card opened two years ago when the killings first started.”

“But did you check these dates against my shift schedule?” Nguyen asked.

“We have one of our marshals double-checking the dates and interviewing your partner now. But, Sergeant,” Dylan said, “you’re going to want to get ahead of this while you still can. Del Howe was dead approximately eight to twelve hours before the 9-1-1 call was logged. You haven’t given us an alibi that proves you weren’t at that cabin before you responded, and you’ve been linked to at least six of the twenty-six murders we’ve uncovered during this investigation. Chief Deputy Barton can put in a good word with the district attorney, but you’re going to have to give us something here. Something that shows us you’re telling the truth.”

“I had nothing to do with any of this, and my shift schedule will prove it. I didn’t register for those conferences because I’ve wasn’t at those conferences.” Daniel Nguyen pressed his index finger into the table. “I was here, doing my job. If they were paid for with a credit card in my name, check with the credit reporters. My house was broken into two years ago while I was on graveyard shift. All that was taken was the binder where I keep my personal documents. It was in my fire safe. Birth certificate, social security card, passport—anything someone would need to steal my identity.”

A flood of hesitation washed through Dylan as the sergeant shook his head. “Whoever you’re looking for, it’s not me. But you’ll be hearing from my lawyer and my union rep all the same.” Nguyen turned his attention to Remi. “You were the one Del Howe was surveilling, Chief. I wasn’t the only law enforcement officer with a grudge against him.”

CHAPTER SIX

Remi closed the door to the interrogation room behind her, the evidence file against Sergeant Nguyen in hand, and faced Dylan and Captain Paulson. “I don’t know about you, but I don’t read him as a killer. There are too many pieces to this investigation. They all seem to fit, but I think he’s telling the truth.”

“It’ll be easy enough to check when the credit card used to register for the conferences was applied for and activated, and to look into the break-in he claims happened two years ago.” Dylan folded his arms across his chest, accentuating powerful muscle fighting to break free from his T-shirt. He nodded toward Captain Paulson. “You can check in with the officer we asked to run the dates of the murders against Nguyen’s shift schedule. Should give us some answers as to where we go from here.”

Remi ignored the warmth bubbling behind her sternum. Dylan had stood up for her in that room when Nguyen had pointedly blamed her for what’d happened to his nephew. Unnecessary, but it was the thought that counted. The US Marshals Service had been born and bred as a boys’ club since the seventies, and it’d taken every last ounce of her fight to land her position as chief deputy. Nobody had helped her along the way. Nobody had supported her. That was the way she preferred to rise through the ranks, by her own merit, but that didn’t minimize the appreciation she had for him right then.

The captain shook his head. “As much as I hate the idea one of my own is involved with what happened to Del Howe out in those woods, I gotta admit, I don’t feel bad for the man if what you said is true.”

“Believe me, nobody does, but that doesn’t mean his killer should go free. No one is above the law.” Remi exhaled hard as she came down from the last few adrenaline-fueled minutes. “What do you think our chances are of getting a search warrant for the sergeant’s house? He claims he destroyed the toxicology report that led him to Del Howe, but maybe there’s still something we can use to prove he wasn’t the one who killed the vic.”

“I’ll call the judge now to let her know what we have. If she’s in a good mood, your chances are high.” The sound of Captain Paulson’s heavy footsteps bounced off the tile floor as he headed for his office.

Daniel Nguyen’s last words echoed in her mind. He was right. The sergeant wasn’t the only law enforcement officer who held a grudge against Del Howe, and the evidence inside the victim’s closet had proved it. The New Castle Killer had been closing in on her, putting the entirety of her team at risk. She would’ve done anything to keep that from happening, to keep them safe, including the deputy at her side.

“I can read your mind, you know.” Dylan’s voice pulled her attention back into the moment. “The sergeant might not be the only officer who wanted Howe to pay for what he’d done, but the evidence against him is a hell of a lot stronger than what they have against you. They can’t pin the New Castle Killer’s death on you, Sheriff.”

There was that word again, the label she’d taken so much pride in when she’d served New Castle County.

Remi slid her hand into her cargo pants as the