FOURTEEN

When the doorbell rang at 2:30 in the morning, Seth looked up at Ava. She raised an eyebrow, smirked, and got up from Mitch’s chair. Since her mother and sister had left, they had been working non-stop trying to find Bella’s murderer. She had emailed and badgered police departments across the country for parking tickets or other violations around the time when the murders had been committed. Seth had worked his connections to see which property had been sold to the Army. They were definitely making progress. He was confident they would have the killer’s name by morning.

Seth got up from his chair and followed Ava to the entryway. She glanced at him, before opening the door. Her old friend, colleague, and FBI forensics mentor Robert Parrish, also known as Blood Spatter Bob, stood in the doorway. He stepped aside to reveal the three other members of Ava’s old laboratory team – Nelson Weeks, Leslie McClintock, and Fran Dekay. They had worked for Ava until she was relieved of duty because her father had used his connections to place her in the job. Collectively, they were also the Denver Police Department’s backup forensic laboratory. They had just come off their shift at the lab.

One at a time, her friends held Ava and whispered their condolences. Seth took their coats and hung them on a nearby coat rack. Bob shook Seth’s hand.

“Good of you to come,” Seth said.

“How is she?” Bob said in a low tone.

“Shut down,” Seth said. “Wants to catch a killer first.”

Bob nodded. Ava looked up from her conversation with Leslie.

“Please, would you like to come in?” Seth asked.

He made a vague gesture to the house. Bob walked through the kitchen to the den area. Fran went to the kitchen and began digging around in the refrigerator, while Nelson sat down on the couch. Ava stopped to look at a picture of Leslie’s six-month-old son on Leslie’s phone.

“Maresol left dinner for you,” Seth said to Fran. “It’s in the oven. She said it should be warm, but to give it a few minutes at 350.”

“Great!” Fran turned on the oven and put things back in the refrigerator.

“How did she know we’d be here?” Nelson asked.

“She’s a smart lady, but it’s not a huge leap,” Seth said. “Did you work on the case tonight?”

“Cases,” Bob said. “Plus, those marshals?”

“Jasper and Kowalski?” Ava asked.

“Shot each other,” Leslie said.

“Or that’s what it looks like,” Nelson said.

“They’re dead?” Seth asked.

“Dead. One of them . . . uh . . .” Leslie squinted and looked at Bob for confirmation. “Jasper?”

“Jasper survived the shooting,” Bob said. “Called 911. By the time they got there, he wasn’t able to speak. Died in the ambulance on the way to the hospital.”

“They have nothing?” Ava’s rich voice cracked with fatigue.

“We have something,” Fran said. “Don’t worry, Ava. They don’t fool us. Not for one minute. Now let’s eat, and we can discuss all the gory details over dinner.”

Ava’s colleagues moved to sit at the bar between the kitchen and the den where Fran was setting out their dinner.

“I’m a little surprised you don’t know this,” Bob said.

“Me?” Seth asked.

“Jasper mentioned your name when he called,” Bob said. “Something . . . I wrote it down.”

Bob fished around in his pockets for his reading glasses.

“O’Malley,” Bob said. “Tell or sell and then it’s garbled.”

“I have the recording on my phone,” Nelson held his phone out to Seth.

“They thought he had something to tell you,” Fran looked up from where she was plating enchiladas. “But we think it’s something you need to let people know.”

Seth shrugged and took the phone from Nelson. He played the recording once, and then again.

Both times he heard: “O-mmm-lly, f-s-t . . . eh . . . l.” He knew why they thought it was “O’Malley, tell . . . ,” but he didn’t think they were right. He looked up at Bob and shook his head.

“You’re the last person to have had a real conversation with them,” Bob said. “The marshals will be here early tomorrow to get you.”

“I have a murderer to catch,” Seth said. “I can’t really spend a day hanging out with them.”

“We’ll have to be on our way then,” Ava said.

Seth’s worried eyes flicked to look at her.

“Chicken with no cheese for you,” Fran took a small dish out of the oven and gave it to Nelson. “Maresol knows how you feel about cheese.”

“Me?” Nelson smiled. “I love cheese. It’s just not good for my figure.”

Nelson patted his flat, bodybuilder’s abs.

“Are you eating?” Fran asked Ava. She shook her head. “Seth?”

“No thanks,” Seth said.

“More for us,” Bob said.

Ava’s lab team fell silent while they ate. When Ava ran the team, they’d eaten dinner here at least once a week. When they were nearly done, Bob cleared his throat.

“We should talk and get out of here,” Bob said.

“Right, we don’t want to know more than we can testify too,” Fran said.

“Exactly,” Bob said. “Have you heard from your mother? Sister?”

“So far, so good,” Ava said.

“That’s a relief,” Leslie said.

Nelson, Fran and Bob nodded in agreement.

“Are you still working on the tickets?” Nelson asked.

“I’ve received information from seventeen cities,” Ava said.

“What’s this?” Bob asked.

“We’re testing Éowyn’s idea that over the course of all these years, this guy might have received a parking ticket or a speeding ticket or something, somewhere,” Ava said. “You know, one in this city, another in that one. It’s a real needle in a haystack.”

“Might not pan out,” Seth said.

“I have all the paid and unpaid tickets for the weeks before and the week after the murders,” Ava said. “It’s a lot to get through.”

“Why don’t you send me what you have?” Nelson asked.

“You’re sure?” Ava asked.

“Of course,” Nelson said. “It’ll only take a half hour or so to see if I can find the same person. I can start it while we talk.”

“You should check license plates, in case he had fake IDs,” Ava said.

“Make and model,” Seth said. “Even if he rents, he’s likely to get the same vehicle every time. Something he likes and trusts.”

“Sure,” Nelson nodded.

“In all the places?” Seth asked.

“Of course,” Nelson smiled.

“Nelson was my data geek,” Ava said.

“Is,” Nelson took his laptop out of his backpack and turned it on. “But I won’t ruin the surprise.”

“What?” Ava asked.

“Send me the files,” Nelson said. Ava jogged out of the room.

“Let’s talk murder first, and lab second,” Bob said. “I want to get Seth’s take on the recording.”

“I heard what you heard,” Seth said. “And . . . I have a sense that what I hear isn’t what he’s saying.”

“Exactly,” Bob said. “Any ideas?”

“None,” Seth said. “What do you know about Jasper and Kowalski?”

“They were killed with bullets from each other’s Glock 23s,” Leslie said. “U.S. Marshal’s Service-issued weapons. Ballistics matched their service records.”

“Notice any beef between them when you talked to them?” Bob asked.

“No,” Seth said. “They seemed like they’d been partners a long time and knew each other well. They moved, and even talked, in sync.”

He looked up to make sure Ava was still upstairs.

“They didn’t like Alvin much,” Seth said. “But I doubt they killed him.”

“How did they seem when you talked to them?” Fran asked.

“Angry,” Seth said.

“At each other?” Bob asked.

“The situation,” Seth said. “They felt bad about Bella. We all do.”

With his words, a cloud of sorrow came over them. Leslie looked away. Nelson focused on his computer. Fran went to the sink, and Bob cleared his throat.

“One thing,” Seth said. “They had no idea how Bella knew her father was going to be in town. And I don’t think they were faking. They were freaked out when she called and even more disturbed when she received permission to see him. We haven’t been able to track who approved all of that or how it went down. Jasper and Kowalski were going to do that when they left the hospital.”

“You think it was a hit on both of them?” Nelson said.

“Bella didn’t just get in the way?” Leslie asked.

“It was a hit,” Seth said.