AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Steven Machilenski,” Martinez said. “Marines.”
“Just like Pickering,” Jack said.
“But get this,” Martinez continued. “He’s got a dishonorable discharge and a court-martial for going AWOL on his record. Employed at Miller Construction. Lives in King George Proper.”
“Which ties it all back to Denaro,” Jack said, squeezing the bridge of his nose. “But that does make things more interesting. What about J.D.?”
“J.D. Street,” Martinez said, reading from his file. “Thirty-four years old. Air force. Has some commendations and combat experience. Did ten years and then after an honorable discharge moved to Florida to join Dynamo—a private contracting firm. Looks like he did some private contracting for them overseas for a couple of years before he came back and became a regular citizen. His mission files there will be sealed. Dynamo has better security than Fort Knox.”
“Challenge accepted,” Doug said.
Martinez grinned. “Street is a contract manager now for Miller Construction. Single. Has a house in Nottingham. Has a mortgage and a car payment. And court documents show he has a twelve-year-old son in South Carolina. He’s up to date on child support.”
Cole had been quiet over at the end of the conference table on his own laptop, but I saw him prop his boots on the corner of the table and knew he’d found something.
“I’ve got financials open for Kristina Hendricks and Eddie Lische,” Cole said. “Both of them had a one-time deposit of two thousand dollars in January.”
“Who’s it from?” Jack asked.
Cole smiled and said, “Alex Denaro.”
CHAPTERFIFTEEN
I wasn’t normallythe kind of person who could wake up without an alarm clock or the scintillating aroma of coffee, but I found myself wide awake before the sunrise was even a hint in the sky. I knew we were getting closer to finding our killer.
“I can hear your mind churning,” Jack said. “Why are you awake?”
“Why are you awake?” I countered.
“Because my mind is churning too,” he said. “How early is too early to start questioning people? I know we’re close. I can feel it.”
“And if only we could somehow bring William Kirby down it would be the cherry on top,” I said.
“Yeah, I have half a mind to cancel just to annoy him,” Jack said. “We know he’s guilty of trafficking. We have an eyewitness. But we can’t do anything about it, and unfortunately we can’t arrest him for murder. He’s basically meeting with us to rub his misdeeds in our faces.”
I snorted. “Misdeeds,” I mocked. “How dastardly.”
I laughed as his fingers tickled my ribs, and somehow we managed to fill the next hour before Jack’s alarm went off.
Cole had scooped up Lily and taken her home sometime after two in the morning, and Martinez had followed them out. We’d all agreed to start early the next morning with new assignments. Cole was going to meet with Denaro about the money found in Kristina Hendricks’s and Eddie Lische’s bank accounts. Martinez would track down Hendricks and Lische to question them since we’d already found out neither of them had been at work on the night Sowers was killed at the Purple Pig. And that left Jack and me to question Steven Machilenski and see if he had an alibi since he called in sick for work.
“I’ll admit,” I said after we’d showered. “I kind of like Alex Denaro. I really didn’t want it to be him.”
“Don’t paint him completely guilty just yet,” Jack said. “There’s a lot of moving parts and players in this.”
“But you think he’s involved?”
Jack sighed and pulled out a denim shirt with the sheriff’s office logo over the breast pocket. “It doesn’t look good for him right now.”
“You’re looking very official for the weekend,” I said, watching him pull a black sweater over the denim shirt. The sweater also had the sheriff’s office logo over the heart and on the left sleeve. He pulled on a pair of jeans and a black belt and his boots. “And you are also looking entirely too sexy to be going out in public like that.”
He grinned and winked at me and then he put on his duty belt and grabbed his nice black suede coat from the closet. I’d never seen him wear that coat to work.
“Kirby’s a narcissist and he’s always going to want to be better and seem smarter than everyone else. We’re going to disappoint him today. The Lawson name and money comes in handy from time to time. Wear the black boots with the red soles and this too,” he said, pulling out a black suit that still had the tags on it.
“I have an autopsy to do today,” I said.
“You can change beforehand,” he said. “This is strictly for Kirby’s benefit. We’ll stop by Machilenski’s place, and then head over to the restaurant to meet Kirby. You’ll barely have time to get it dirty.”
