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“Case?” Given Marc’s role as Casey’s right-hand, and the longest-standing member of Forensic Instincts, it was a given that he’d be the one to speak up. “You okay?”
Casey’s head came up, and her faraway look disappeared. “Fine. I just wanted to catch us all up on the Worster case and to fill you in on another matter.” She glanced quizzically from Marc to Patrick Lynch, FI’s top-notch investigator.
A retired FBI agent, Patrick was the team’s father figure, and, all too often, its voice of reason. The team had a tendency to walk a fine line between legal and illegal and usually ended up toppling onto the side of the latter. Patrick inserted himself to keep them on the straight and narrow—most of the time. There were occasions when even he broke the rules, particularly when a life was in danger.
Now he waited for what he knew Casey was about to ask him.
Sure enough, her next question was: “How many of the investors on Ryan’s list did you two catch up with?”
Patrick passed over his handwritten list of names and notes to Casey. Even though he’d adapted beautifully to the computer age, he still preferred to scribble down certain details. “I’ve interviewed eight.”
“And I’ve interviewed seven,” Marc replied, handing over his printed list.
“Only seven? You’re slowing down, guy,” Ryan noted with his usual good-natured sarcasm. “Too much prenuptial bliss.”
Marc shot him a look. So did Casey.
“Don’t start, Ryan,” she said, although her tone was gentler than her expression. “At least wait until the meeting is over before you give Marc a hard time.”
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p; “You got it, boss.” Ryan snapped off a salute.
With that, both Marc and Patrick reported their conversations with the potential criminal still threatening Mr. Worster.
“Patrick and I have already reviewed our combined lists,” Marc said. “In my opinion, two of my suspects and one of Patrick’s don’t ring true.”
Patrick nodded. “I agree.”
“Then let’s isolate those three and have Claire get involved,” Casey replied. “We’ll arrange for three separate circumstantial meetings. We’ll see what her instincts tell her.” A questioning look at Claire. “Does that work for you?”
Claire gave a half nod. “Yes, but I want to read the interviews first. That will help me get a basic feel for what I’m dealing with.”
“In the meantime, give me whatever you’ve got on those specific three subjects,” Ryan inserted. “I’ll dig into every facet of their lives and see what I turn up.”
“Good.” Casey gave the immediate go-ahead. “Because I had another meeting with Mr. Worster this afternoon. He’s still very jittery, and rightfully so. The threats keep coming. If the offender is serious about carrying out these threats, then he or she is a killer and must be stopped now. If he or she is a bullshit artist who gets off on issuing death threats, that’s a criminal offense, as well, albeit a less serious one. Either way, we’re dealing with someone who belongs behind bars.”
Pausing, Casey glanced around the table. “Any other updates?”
Emma averted her gaze, visibly uneasy.
It didn’t take Casey’s level of behavioral expertise to spot that cue. “Okay, Emma, spit it out,” she said. “What’s going on?”
“We’re trying to stop a potential murder.” Ryan jumped in before Emma could get herself into trouble by coming across as an immature girl who was less than a team player.
From there, Ryan—with Claire’s help—described the full situation with Miles Parker, Julie Forman, and the shooting death of Lisa Barnes. He explained what he had dug up and where he was going with it.
“I’ve got to find this Miles guy. He could be a killer.”
Casey’s brow was creased as she listened. “The problem is, we have no client. No one has approached us on this.”
“I know,” Ryan responded. “But I feel responsible at this point. I’m not neglecting my work on the Worster case—that comes first. However, this has gone way further than Emma’s emotional connection to the dead woman. Whatever’s going on, Miles and/or Julie could be in danger themselves. Or they could be planning something more. Or they could just be plain old getting away with murder. I don’t think we should turn our backs on that—not when all I’m doing is some online research.”
“Online research?” Casey’s lips twitched. “I shudder to think how many systems you’ve hacked your way into to get your data.” She waved away his oncoming protest. “Go for it. I agree with your approach and your goals.” She turned to Emma. “I’m sorry for the pain this has caused you. I wish you felt you could have come to me to talk it out and see if there was anything the team could do to help. However, in the future, I expect to be filled in on what’s going on before any actions are taken. This is a team, and I’m the team leader.”
“You’re right,” Emma said with hesitation. “I’m sorry, Casey. I just didn’t think of it as an FI case possibility—not when there was no client. But I should have told you about it and asked if there was anything we could do. I’m so grateful to Ryan and Claire for caring enough to jump in. I know that the rest of you would have done the same. My bad.”
“We’ll figure this out,” Casey told her. “Don’t worry.”
