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“Okay.”
“We’ll also need to get a warrant for the surveillance camera from the Happy Time bar. Do you think you could manage the paperwork on that?”
“Of course.”
She set the bracelet on her desk and stared at it as if she could just zap it for its history and value. She really needed some sleep! The first twenty-four hours of a case could be killer at the best of times. She glanced at the clock on the wall. It was after nine thirty at night.
She’d lost track of how long she’d been up, and she was pretty sure the last time she’d eaten had been just before the autopsy that morning.
She tinkered with the bracelet, flipping it over in her hands.
What are your secrets? Do you have any?
She ran her fingertips over the links and stopped at the clasp. Took a closer look.
What the—
She held it up and twisted it in the light to confirm her eyes weren’t playing a trick on her, but there was something tucked into the clasp. It was silver in color, but it wasn’t an actual part of the bracelet. She put her fingertip on top of it and applied just the smallest bit of pressure. Out popped the teeniest data chip she’d ever seen.
“Trent!” She held up the chip pinched between two gloved fingers.
He looked at her over the partition. “What is that?”
“I think we might have just found out what’s so valuable about this bracelet.” She smirked, feeling validated for following her instincts. Her dad had always told her instinct and intuition helped make the cop.
She shot to her feet, Trent trailing her.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to get this to Digital Forensics, and you, well… get the paperwork for the warrant started and go home, get some rest, and we’ll catch up in the morning.”
For the first time in this case, she really felt like they were getting somewhere.
Twenty-Five
The department that handled tech, such as phones and computers, was the Digital Forensics unit under the Property Crimes Bureau. They were housed in the Eastern Police District Station, a two-story redbrick building, also in Woodbridge, and located on the curve of a residential street.
The place closed to civilians off the street at five, but she had the number for a detective she’d worked with numerous times in the past. He’d been assigned the evening shift and told her to show up and call him again once she got there and he’d let her in. She was at the front doors and just put her phone to her ear when he stuck his head out.
“Detective Steele.”
She smiled and headed over to him. “Do I have something for you.”
“Fun, fun.” Detective Jacob Briggs loved his job just about as much as Rideout loved his. Jacob was a middle-aged man with a slight paunch and a full head of brown hair. His most arresting feature by far was his contagious smile.
He led her through the hallways to his office and turned to her. “What do you have?”
She extended the bracelet to him, which was inside an evidence bag. “I’m really hoping you can tell me.”
“Well…” He stepped back, angled his head this way and that. “Looks like a bracelet to me.”
“Very funny.”
“Okay, hand it over, let me have a look.” He snapped on a pair of gloves.
She did as he requested, and he withdrew the bracelet and set it on the bag.
“All right, when you called you said there was a data chip?” He looked at her, brows pinched.
