CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Kate knocked on the door of Caroline Bennett’s home a third time.“FBI!Open up, or wewillforce entry!”
No answer.Kate shared a look with Marcus.“Can we force entry?”she asked.
He shook his head, not a denial, just uncertainty.“Shit.I don’t know.I don’t know if we have enough for probable cause.Everything we have is still circumstantial.”
“What about reasonable suspicion?”Kate asked.“Her ex-husband appears on records kept by at least four of our five victims.He’s a victim himself, along with his second wife.She has motive.”
"A lot of people have motive.Hence, the number of suspects we've had."He crossed his arms."I don't know, Kate.Our leash for bending the rules is short as a grain of rice right now.It might be better to wait until we pick her up.Then we can try to get enough info to justify a search and seizure."
Kate pursed her lips.“Call Rivera.See if he’ll authorize it.”
Marcus frowned.“You want to put his career on the line?”
“I want to see if he thinks we have enough for entry.If he says no, then the answer’s no.I don’t want to break the rules, just follow them as loosely as we can.”She frowned.“No, that didn’t come out right.”
“I think it came out exactly right,” Marcus said.“But I agree with you.I’ll give him a call.”
Once again, his phone buzzed before he could dial the number.He looked at Kate, then answered the phone, putting it on speaker so Kate could hear.“Reid.”
“Thought you guys might enjoy this tidbit.We’re going through Maxwell’s records.First of all, he was shredding a lot of stuff.Don’t know what that’s about yet, but one thing hedidn’tshred was records of a case he worked on behalf of Mrs.Caroline Bennett.”
Kate and Marcus shared a look.“That’s the connection to Maxwell,” Marcus said.
“It gets better,” Rivera said.“The records indicate that Mrs.Bennett hired Maxwell to spy on Greg after his affair started with Anne Collins.”
“And did he find proof?”
“According to these records, no.”
Marcus frowned.“No?”
“No.The file says he followed him for five days and saw no indication of impropriety.”
Kate pumped her fist.“That’s it.That’s our reasonable suspicion.We know that Mr.Bennettwascheating on his wife because he actually left Caroline for Anne.”
"So, Caroline gets upset and starts working her way down the list of people responsible, starting with the people who introduced Greg to Anne and ending with…" He frowned."Actually, it would have made more sense to end with Diane Walker."
“That’s assuming she’s trying to tell the story start to finish,” Kate said.“She might have just been killing them when she had an opportunity.”
“I love this speculation, and I’d love to finish it over coffee,” Rivera interjected.“I also heard the term reasonable suspicion, which suggests to me that Caroline Bennett is either not home or not answering the door.If you need a third opinion, I say force entry.We have some pretty damned reasonable suspicion considering what happened to her husband, the fact that he shows up on three different lists, and the fact that she hired Maxwell to spy on him.Get into that house and get proof.I’m putting an extra layer of urgency on this APB.I don’t know if there’s anyone left to kill, but I’d rather not find out.”
Kate and Marcus shared another look.“That works for me,” Marcus said.
Kate drew her handgun, just in case Caroline was waiting for them with the knives she’d used to kill her victims, then backed up so Marcus could kick the door in.Instead, Marcus grabbed the knob, bunched his shoulders, and shoved downward.The knob snapped off, and Marcus grinned at Kate.“Finesse.”
Kate gave a nervous chuckle, then stepped in front of the door, allowing herself room to avoid any lunges from knife-wielding killers.Marcus drew his own weapon, stepped to the side of the door, and with his left palm shoved it open.
Kate entered first, shouting, “FBI!Come out now!”
She looked around the living room, her practiced eyes taking in every detail in a fraction of a second.The floor was hardwood, once a warm red oak, faded over the decades to drab desert tan.The coffee table and TV stand were faded the same color, and the couch and easy chair that sat kiddie-corner to the coffee table were light gray cloth with comfortable depressions in the easy chair and the right cushion of the couch, the Bennetts' preferred seating locations.
She saw no sign of bloody clothing or a letter from Cox or anything else that might incriminate her, but that wasn’t surprising.Presumably Caroline would have made at least a token effort to hide it.
Marcus entered behind her, moving to the kitchen.He moved with feline grace, showcasing the peculiar softness that seemed so incongruous with his large frame.She could easily imagine him in battle fatigues or matte black body armor carrying an assault rifle instead of a handgun.His past in the military was something he still hadn’t shared with her in detail.She respected his desire to keep that part of his life separate, and at times like these, she could see why.Marcus wasn’t a murderer, but he was trained to kill.She had no doubt that weighed heavily on him.
“Clear,” Marcus said, pulling her back to the task at hand.
