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“You’re right. We’re beating a dead horse.” He gave her a glimmer of a smirk, but it faded quickly. “But what if…”
She could piece together what he seemed daring enough to consider. That they pursue whatever this was and see where it took them. But that would involve a lot of upheaval when a relationship between them might not even work out. This wasn’t just about them either. Other people were involved, and Zoe loved Logan. Amanda shook her head, tears beaded in her eyes.
“Yeah, what I thought.”
She cleared her throat. “I’ll let you decide what happens from here, from a professional standpoint. I understand if you want to report this and request a new partner.”
“Just when I think you know me better than anyone, you spew that shit?” He got out of the car and left her behind, trembling.
She was such an idiot. This just proved the intelligence of thinking things through before acting. Amanda took some time before leaving the car. It wasn’t until several minutes later that she caught up with Trent in his cubicle.
She stood tall and latched on to the job to see her through this. If she put her concentration on the investigation, she wouldn’t have the bandwidth to keep overthinking her blunder. “Natasha Bauer should be in the office now. I’ll call her.”
“Hold up. I’m already one step ahead of you.” He pointed to his monitor, where he had the directory listing for the district attorney’s office.
There was no need to say anything. Her partner was back, and so was she. At least for all intents and purposes.
He called the number on speaker, and a curt receptionist answered with a stilted greeting.
Trent told her who they were and that they needed to speak with Natasha Bauer.
“ADA Bauer is unavailable, but I can take a message.”
“Is there any way you could give us her cell phone number?” Trent asked, beating Amanda to that question.
A slight pause, then, “You expect me to accept you are who you say you are?”
“Call the PWCPD. Have them put you through to my desk if that’s what you need to do,” Trent volleyed back, thinking quick.
“It wouldn’t make a difference. I’m not at liberty to give out her mobile, but I can leave a message for her to call you back.”
Trent parted with his number, full name, and badge number and added that it was regarding a very urgent, life-and-death matter.
“I’ll pass this along.” The receptionist hung up without a goodbye.
“Wasn’t she a ray of sunshine?” Amanda said, trying to insert some levity, though she realized how badly she was failing at that endeavor.
“In her defense, she probably has to screen a lot of whack-a-dos.”
“True enough. I just hate sitting around though. There must be something we can do.” She was racking her brain to think of what that something might be. All they could do was already in motion, leaving them in limbo. They still didn’t have Katherine’s call history or the location of her Mercedes.
“Glad you’re here.” Malone sidled up to the opening of Trent’s cubicle, a piece of paper in hand. “GPS on Graves’s Mercedes came back and shows it being at Captain Ron’s Beach Marina in Lorton since six-oh-five.”
And just when she feared she’d be left twiddling her thumbs. “Let’s hit the road.”
SIXTEEN
Lorton was just a ten-minute drive from Central. Amanda was keeping her expectations grounded about Katherine’s Mercedes aiding the investigation. But she had expected to spot the car when Trent pulled into the lot for the marina. “Am I just failing to see it?” She squinted in the morning sun.
“If you are, so am I.”
Malone in his sergeant’s SUV and two officers in police cruisers accompanied them to the marina. Everyone parked and gathered for an impromptu meeting.
Malone’s cheeks were a bright red like he was about to lose his temper. Trent was quiet, the angles of his face hardened. She couldn’t be sure if it was disappointment or if he was stewing over what they had done. She had to release it.
The Occoquan River was mere feet away. The boat slips were empty as all the vessels would have been winterized for the season. “I’m not sure how deep the water is right off the boat ramp, but would the Mercedes send off its GPS location if it was submerged?”
“Don’t know about that, but this could just be the last area it gave off a signal,” Trent said. “One possibility is the accomplice or the shooter disabled the GPS system.”
