Save Her Child by CJ Lyons (best historical biographies txt) 📗

his own ambitions to sabotage him. While Ray, despite being five years older than Luka, would happily end his career without ever seeking promotion. He’d come up through the ranks working undercover for Vice and Drugs, and still, even in his Sunday suit, could be mistaken for a grate man. But he was the smartest cop Luka knew and, despite being slowed down after getting shot in the leg six months ago, there was no one Luka would rather have beside him if things went south.

“Fancy new accessory you’re sporting there, boss,” Krichek quipped, nodding to the glass protruding from the swath of bandages.

“Yeah, I think you’re taking this body piercing fetish a bit far,” Ray added, but his gaze was fixed on Luka’s face, checking to make sure that he was all right.

“Only hurts when I laugh,” Luka said. “Anything at the house?”

“Ahearn’s there. Widow took a sedative, so nothing more from her. Has a neighbor—that Hansen guy—sitting with her. So far nothing on the search—” Ray glanced at Krichek.

“Place is weird,” Krichek took over. “Downstairs like something out of a magazine, upstairs, most of the rooms were empty.”

“And their bedroom? Cheap furniture and boxes.” Ray shrugged. “Either they never unpacked after they moved in—”

“Or they were getting ready to run,” Luka finished. Which meant Tassi might not be as innocent as she acted. “Any sign of Spencer’s cell?”

“No,” Ray answered.

“I’m waiting to hear back from the carrier to ping its location,” Krichek added. “When’s Harper getting here? She should be helping with the scut.”

“She’s working her own case.” Luka gave Ray a quick rundown of what he’d found so far at the office—including their dumpster-wielding intruder. Krichek went into the office to start work. “Dig into Dean, see if you can get him talking. He knows more than he’s sharing. And Matthew Harper—” Luka glanced around the parking lot. Matthew’s SUV was gone.

“Harper? As in our Harper?” Ray asked.

“Her father. He’s Standish’s—or Spencer’s—attorney. And minister.”

Ray groaned, immediately realizing the complex implications the reverend’s presence presented. “Think he knows who Spencer really was?”

“No idea, but we’ll need to formally interview Tassi. But first we need as much intel as we can get about how involved she was with her husband’s scams.” He beckoned to Sanchez, who stood behind Ray, bouncing from one foot to the other like a kid. “Sanchez, what did you find?”

“That’s what I wanted to tell you,” the tech said in a rushed voice. “Every hard drive has been purged. Like military-grade level, completely overwritten not once or twice but at least a dozen times. I’ll take another look in the lab, but chances are, we got nothing.”

Ray swore.

“Okay then, we’ll just have to do it the old-fashioned way,” Luka said. “Walk and talk. Someone’s got to know something. Starting with the widow. I want her in my office tomorrow.”

“Ahearn won’t like it,” Ray said. “She’s got a lot of friends in high places.”

“He’ll like it if we can close this quickly and quietly. You and Krichek dig up everything you can so we’ll be ready for her.” He thought for a second. “Do a full background check on Dean and invite him in for a formal interview as well.”

The medics had loaded Luka into the back of the ambulance when he waved Ray back. “Let’s ask Leah Wright to help us with Tassi’s interview. That way no defense attorney can claim that we ignored her emotional distress.”

“You got it, boss. Have fun in the ER,” Ray said as he slammed the ambulance door shut, the vibration making Luka wince. Funny how he hadn’t noticed the pain at all while interviewing Dean or discussing tactics.

He felt embarrassed about being forced to abandon his crime scene—even if it wasn’t his fault. He made a list of priorities: obtaining any camera footage of their intruder, full background checks on everyone involved, tracking down the financials to verify the documents Spencer had included with his deathbed confession, getting the postmortem to the top of the ME’s schedule, reviewing Spencer’s SUV’s black box, finding his missing cell phone, talking with the Denver authorities as well as anyone possibly involved with Spencer’s current Ponzi scheme… and that was all mere preparation for his interviews tomorrow.

As always it came back to the three Ps: profit, passion, power. If what Dean said was true, then there were a lot of people who could lay claim to all three motives for wanting Spencer dead. Had the man killed himself to avoid their retribution?

That question led to more: how complicit was Tassi? And, even if she somehow was ignorant of her husband’s misdeeds—which Luka sorely doubted—how far would Spencer’s victims go to get their money back? Would they assume Tassi knew where it was?

Now that Spencer was dead, was his widow in danger?

Fourteen

As Harper returned the cooler to her car and headed over to Second Avenue to find Macy, she couldn’t help but feel frustrated by her inability to convince Heidi to accept a way off the streets. But she also understood the girl’s wariness—she was under-age, so if she left Freddy’s protection, she’d either need to make it on her own on the street or she’d be forced into foster care. A kid like Heidi could easily be swayed to choose the devil she knew in Freddy and his so-called love.

Halfway down Second, Harper spotted a skinny blonde sheltering in the shade of a doorway. Macy. Lily’s friend was only a year older than Lily, Harper remembered from Macy’s arrest report. How was it that she was getting older and these girls were getting younger and younger every year? As if there was a never-ending supply to replace the ones used up, burnt out, or dead.

What would it take to change things? In a country that could put men on the moon, surely there was a way to break the endless cycle of girls and women being used, abused, and tossed away like garbage? Like Lily had been. She flashed on the image of