Intersecting Lines Book 3
95 Post script
Los Angeles San Quentin Penitentiary
Irene Simms viewpoint
I watched as my 'client', Danny Wynter, was escorted into the meeting room. The two guards made sure to secure him to the table and turned to go to give us the privacy that lawyer-client confidentiality required but I stopped them with a word.
"Wait" They both stopped and looked to me.
"Yeah ma'am?" one asked.
"I won't be long, and then you can return Mister Wynter to his cell" I smiled as nicely as I could. "So could I ask you to wait, please?" They exchanged surprised looks before they both nodded.
"Sure" one said while the other looked a little surprised.
"I guess" I nodded happily and looked down at Wynter who was peering up at me suspiciously, I didn't both being seated.
"Mister Wynter, I am formally informing you that I am withdrawing my services as your defence attorney of record"
"What the fuck is this?" He growled, drawing a wider smile from me as I delivered the news I'd wanted to give him for so long.
"You will need another lawyer as I will no longer be representing you from now on"
"You're quitting?" I nodded.
"Essentially yes, I prefer to deal with clients who don't threaten my children to ensure my cooperation" I saw both guards eyes widen at than before their expressions hardened even as I kept going. "Justin Simmonds has been arrested and will be extradited to Iraq where he will be hanged for a number of murder charges he was previously convicted of, removing your leverage over me and my family"
"This isn't over" he growled, scowling fiercely. I made an off-hand gesture.
"It is for me, on the other hand you still face capital charges and thus you will need a new legal representative, however once I explain to my bosses why I am walking away from your case I doubt they will want your business, even if they could find an attorney willing to take on the case of a sex slaver who threatens to have the children of their legal representative killed to ensure their cooperation" I saw the guards faces set into angry expressions even as Wynter let loose his growing anger, standing and leaning forward over the table, setting his restraints rattling against the table.
"You'll pay for this"
"Prisoner, stay seated!" Wynter was pushed back down, none too gently by the officers as I nodded my thanks and continued.
"I doubt that, your hatchet man is in jail and will soon be meeting with a noose, your organisation has been smashed, all of its senior echelon either dead or behind bars, law enforcement is combing through your online databases and chasing down all of your customers and accomplices, honestly I believe it is you who are to pay for your actions" He went to stand again but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. He glared at the officer then looked to me.
"You're a fucking dead woman, you know that?" I shrugged, having realised that his ability to affect much beyond these walls had already evaporated.
"It is not as if you haven't already threatened me with that, well that and the death of my kids" I stared grimly down at him. "The phone messages you recorded are privileged and therefore I can't pass them to the authorities, but I still have them, and should anything happen to me, they will end up in the hands of the police not long afterwards"
"Enjoy your little game Simms, I'll make sure you don't get to enjoy it for long" I shook my head slowly.
"And how do you plan to do that exactly? Your contacts outside these walls are either dead, under arrest or in hiding, so I think all you are left with are empty threats"
"One phone call, that's all its going to take and you and your kids are dead, no one tries to fuck me over and live, you hear me, no one, sure as hell not some gook slut like you" I scowled down at him, at the slurs and the threats.
"By the time I am finished spreading the word about your actions and threats, I doubt a first year law student would take your case" I shrugged. "You will probably end up with someone from the public defender's office, I pity whoever gets detailed to your case but that is no longer my concern" I looked to both guards. "We are finished here" The look he turned on me was incendiary.
"This isn't over you ugly cunt!" he ground out but I shook my head.
"Keep telling yourself that if it helps you but it is. Your estate will be billed for my time and costs" I smiled. "Goodbye Mister Wynter" With that I turned and walked out, hearing him screaming threats and abuse behind me before the closing door cut off his voice, drawing a small smile as I walked down the corridor and walked away from Wynter.
Philadelphia The Golden Lotus Thai restaurant
Kate Murphy's viewpoint
Megan and I were trying out that whole 'life outside work' thing, in this case lunch outside the office. She'd apparently heard good things about this place so we were giving it a try. I have to say while the décor was a bit humdrum the food was sensational, the entrée, little spice, vegetable and meat-filled parcels called 'money bags', apparently because their shape resembled them, were delicious and we were now settling down with Satay Lamb with stir fried vegetables for her and a spicy Red Duck Curry and rice for me.
"Thanks for the invite Megan, this food is amazing" She nodded, finishing chewing before speaking.
"The review said it was good, plus it's close" That it was, only three blocks from the office and they delivered take out, something I pointed out.
"I think these guys are definitely on the menu if we're working back" She nodded.
"I can really recommend this satay, it's delicious" I nodded, making a mental note to get a take-out menu when we were leaving.
"So what are you planning this weekend" I got a slightly surprised look and spoke, a little defensively. "Isn't that what normal people talk about?" She nodded slowly.
"Point" She looked at me for a few seconds then continued. "The weather's supposed to be pretty cold, so I might stay indoors. My daughter, Lacey, she signed us up for the Disney streaming service, so I suspect we'll be watching something from the mouse house" I nodded.
"It also means you get to watch all the Star Wars and Marvel movies, plus I guess there's other stuff too, I mean they did buy Fox so they have all their output as well" I got a nod.
"Thank god she's grown out of Frozen though, if I hear one more rendition of 'let it go' I swear I'll go postal on someone" I snickered at that.
"You and pretty much every parent over the last few years, Mind you it is a way too catchy ear worm" Megan nodded.
"When I heard they were making a sequel, I shuddered; fortunately Lacey isn't interested anymore, now it's Little Mix and Taylor Swift" I gave her a sudden grin as I spoke in a sing-song voice
"We never go out of style, we never go out of style" I got a fork waved at me.
"Don't you dare start" I laughed at her, at the memory of that karaoke night and at the fork with a piece of lamb on the end pointed at me.
"Careful or I'll have you charged with assault with a delicious weapon" She looked perplexed then saw the fork, and what was on it. Unabashed she withdrew it and put it in her mouth, biting off the lamb even as I teased her. "Don't tell me you don't like 'our' song"
The filthy look I got made me burst out laughing, getting a slow smile in return as we continued eating in a companionable silence, making me realise we could try and make this whole friendship thing work.
New York NYPD Central Crime Lab
Mac Taylor's viewpoint
I was working at my desk on paperwork when a knock on the door made me look up, seeing Jo standing there.
"Hello" she said.
"Hey" I smiled, sitting back away from the computer.
"I'm not interrupting am I?" she asked as I shook my head.
"No, you're a welcome break from end of month reporting paperwork" She smiled and wandered in, a manila folder in her hand.
"I have the results from the Pellew autopsy" I raised an eyebrow, getting a quiet smirk back.
"And?" I asked.
"Definitely poison, he has a high level concentration of barbiturates in his system"
"Not an overdose?" Jo shook her head as she came to a stop on the other side of my desk.
It's a good fifteen times a recreational dose, he was dead in less than 30 seconds" I nodded slowly.
"He was supposed to be a regular user, and regular users don't make those kind of mistakes" She smiled and dropped the file on my desk.
"Not if they want to live long enough to be a habitual recreational user, so definitely murder" I smiled up at her.
"I'll pass it along to the investigators, they'll be happy to hear it" She nodded as I continued. "It's good to be back to less…intense, normal cases"
"After our trip to LA, it surely is" She paused then continued. "Have you heard anything about Kate and Rick Castle?" We'd both worked with Kate on that child prostitution case, back before we'd ended up working together on the 'Lost Girls' case in LA. I shook my head as I answered.
"Nothing so far, I suppose that's not the sort of thing you immediately bounce back from" I grimaced. "It'll take time, for both of them" She nodded.
"If you hear anything, you'll let me know. Okay?" I smiled up at her, but that was Jo, she cared about people, especially her friends, I was lucky to one of them.
"The moment I do, you'll be the first to know" I got a happy smile.
"Thanks" She waved at the desk in front of me. "I'll let you get back to your paperwork"
"And here I was thinking you were my friend" Her smile widened.
"I am, this way you get it done and don't get another yelling at from the people upstairs"
"Thanks for keeping my welfare in mind" I got a little head tip and wink.
"Always" Jo turned away and strolled for the door. "Catch you later"
"That you will" I looked at the door she'd exited through and smiled then, with a sigh, got back to work.
Los Angeles LAPD Major Crimes
Brenda's viewpoint
"Hi honey" I looked up at the welcome words and took in my even more welcome visitor, Sharon was standing there, her handbag over one shoulder as she leaned in the doorway.
"Hi sweetie, it's good to see you" I said as she smiled happily, walking into my office and dropping the handbag on the edge of my desk as she walked around it and leaned over, one hand on my shoulder as she gave me a kiss before pulling away, leaving me a little wanting, mind you Sharon's kisses do that to me.
My eyes followed her as she made her way round the table and sat in one of the visitor's chairs, sighing as she sat down before looking up, the tiredness evident in the faint circles under her eyes, barely visible through the makeup, the fact I could even see them a testament to her tiredness. In addition to her full-time job running Robbery Homicide, Sharon was still acting departmental media spokesperson, even with Natalie's supportive team she was still working very hard and long hours and it showed. It was almost seven and we'd both worked an eleven hour day, again.
"How was your day?" I asked.
"Busy, I'll be happy when Natalie gets back" I nodded, we'd all be happy to have them back. "How was yours?" Sharon asked, drawing a smile from me.
"Interesting, it seems Wynter is now without legal representation" Her eyes widened at that.
"Oh, what happened?"
"Apparently Wynter and Simmonds had threatened her kids to get her to play ball, now, with Wynter not going anywhere and Simmonds bound for a meeting with a noose, his leverage over her has ended, and so has her job as his legal representative" Sharon smiled slowly, a little wolfishly.
"Couldn't happen to a more deserving individual" She looked over the paperwork scattered across my desk. "What are you working on?" At her question I glanced down at the report in front of me and sighed before looking up.
"It's the consolidated final report on the fire fight out at that warehouse in Fullerton, I keep coming back to it" I got a nod.
"Are you about ready to wrap up though, and head home?" I looked down at the report I was reading, yet again, frowned then looked back up at her.
"I probably should" I shrugged. "It's not like we have much to go one" She nodded and tipped her head to regard me, inviting me to continue. "Our assailants left almost no physical evidence at the warehouse. Based on the forensics evidence the pistols were Glock 9 mills, three of them, plus a long arm" I shrugged again. "No brass from the rifle was found, but the slugs recovered from the bodies and the walls where they went right through the victims were 300 Winchester magnums, according to the forensics report…" I shuffled papers on my desk for a moment then read out from Kate Murphy's weapons report the section I'd been looking for. "Either 'Hollow Point Boat Tail ammunition'…" I glanced up at Sharon. "…which is sniper rifle stuff, or 'Tungsten Carbide Penetrator' which are armour piercing bullets, the rifling marks supports that, apparently they're consistent with a M2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifle, which is a weapon our military use" Sharon nodded.
"Not the usual weapon of the street gangs, thank god" I nodded in response and pushed on.
"The armour piercing round would have gone right through flak jackets; it went straight through brick walls and the people hiding behind them" Sharon frowned a little at that before speaking slowly.
"Someone knew what they wanted to do and used the correct weapon to do it" She pulled a little expression of annoyance; I thought she looked cute but didn't dare say it. "You said no cartridges were found on the scene?" I nodded.
"We found the firing point, but all the brass was gone, apparently they'd taken the time to clean up after themselves" She nodded thoughtfully then spoke.
"Methodical and careful, leaving us with few clues" I tossed the forensics report back on the desk in exasperation.
"That pretty much sums up what we have, few clues" I fell back in my chair as I continued. "Not one of those Glocks has ever turned up in any database anywhere, they were manufactured, sold to a dealer in Fort Worth, listed as stolen in transit to them almost two years ago and then nothing till now, they're all virgins" Sharon nodded as she replied.
"So basically bought for the job, or held awaiting a job like this that would require just such weapons, then discarded" I nodded slowly, she was right.
""They've probably been disassembled, broken down for scrap or melted down or something, god knows but I'll bet my pension they'll never, ever, be seen again" In response Sharon nodded slowly.
"And the sniper rifle?" She asked.
"Apparently went missing with the rest of a shipment that was hijacked almost 18 months ago in Delaware, on its way to an army unit" She frowned.
"That doesn't sound like the Cabal's work" I nodded.
"They sourced their weapons from inside the Pentagon, this was someone else" I shrugged "We looked into it with the local police and military, they suspect it was an organised crime operation, some of the weapons, pistols mostly, have been turning up all over the country, in the hands of various criminal elements"
"Interesting, so we have two separate organisations that managed to get their hands on military-grade weapons"
"Yeah, though only one seems to be selling them, the other, the Cabal, was keeping them for internal use"
"Interesting that the rifle and the Glock's were both stolen in transit" I nodded agreeably.
"In both cases the truck was stopped by a roadblock, armed men pulled the driver out of the cab, tied him up and left him and drove off with the truck, by the time the driver raised the alarm the trucks and weapons were long gone, in both cases the truck was found a few miles away, empty" Sharon nodded slowly then replied.
"Sounds like a pattern, suggesting the same organisation, and having the weapons sold onto the street does suggest an organised crime connection" I nodded.
"With no real leads there we don't have much more to go on, and no link to the weapons used in the warehouse, well not that we can find"
"You're probably right, they haven't left too much to chance, or so it would appear" I mentally sighed, she was spot on with that comment.
"Almost certainly professionals given they left us with nothing to go on, no unidentified fingerprints on any of the brass we found on the scene so they wore gloves even when loading the magazines" I grimaced; we'd caught more than a few criminals because they'd got careless that way. "Based on the damned little we've got, at least three or four people assaulted the place, killed everybody in there bar the hostages, made sure no one got near them actually, that seems to have been the sniper's job, then made sure everyone there was dead before exiting stage left with no one the wiser"
"But they then went out of their way to call it in to the Navy people" Sharon's lips twisted a little sardonically before she continued. "Let me guess, that's a dead end too?" I nodded resignedly.
"Yes, a burner phone, bought from a store downtown that's well-known for selling phones without questions; they 'don't remember nothing'…" I put it quotes. "…about whoever bought it and they don't have a camera in a position to film their customer's faces" I shook my head. "According to the records, the phone was turned on, a couple of emoji-only text messages were sent to another burner phone, bought at the same place and which has also disappeared, then that one call to that NCIS woman, Kensi Blye, was made before it was turned off and hasn't been used since" My lips made a little moue of annoyance. "Based on what we've seen so far, that phone's probably in a million pieces in a dumpster somewhere, both of them probably"
"And there's nothing useful on the recording of the call?" I shook my head at her question then explained.
"They were very careful about it, plus the voice was run through a voice distorter so we can't even tell if it's male or female, a few voice mannerisms, phraseology mostly, suggests they might be British or maybe Australian, but nothing for certain"
"Amazing no one heard or saw anything" Sharon mused quietly. I nodded resignedly as I answered.
"We can thank the kidnappers for that; they chose a warehouse out of the way down by the railway in Fullerton, probably chosen as it was a standalone building, hidden away from anyone, plus given it was a weekend the area was deserted" I shrugged. "The railway line runs right through there, almost next door in fact so any sounds would probably have been dismissed anyway, even if there had been anyone around to hear them"
Sharon nodded slowly, obviously thinking about it and I slipped into the same quiet reflection, it was getting late and the Murder Room was particularly quiet with our combined team now having dispersed back to their home cities. It was especially noticeable with Jane and Olivia away, they'd vanished together with Maura and Alex, Natalie and Ana, taking time to recover; mind you Pope hadn't reinstated Jane and Olivia so they were still on suspension on full pay while Ana was on enforced leave from the Bureau and the others were officially on 'special' leave for the next few weeks. Officially no one knew where they'd gone but I'd had Mikki discretely check and she'd discovered Bass and Jo were still at the vet while all three of their places were locked up tight, digging a little deeper she learned they'd flown out of LA, bound somewhere east; heaven knows where they were right now though I had my strong suspicions. Finally Sharon spoke up, her voice drawing me back from my musings.
"So we have what looks like a team of professionals hit the place, made sure they left no survivors, then disappeared, all very slick" I nodded in agreement, it was the sort of thing you saw in the movies about the special forces people, something I shared.
"You see that sort of thing in the movies, Hollywood's idea of the special forces soldiers where nothing ever goes wrong and the bad guys all die without a hitch or any friendly casualties" Sharon's head came up at that.
"Maybe you should look at it from that angle; it was quick and professional right…?" Sharon looked the question at me and I nodded.
"According to the statements from Maura and Nat and the others, from the first shots to the last was only a few minutes, then nothing for well over an hour before the first cops arrived" I said. Sharon nodded once.
"Ensuring they got a clean escape" I nodded agreeably, wondering where she was going with this. Her next statement surprised the hell out of me. "Maybe you should talk to Carl Waters from Talisman Personal Services" My eyebrows shot up at that, why them?
"You don't think they were involved…?" Surprised, Sharon shook her head abruptly.
"No, of course not, but they may know of any groups of freelance former special forces people who might do this sort of job, I mean you did say it looked professional" I mulled that over for a bit before replying.
"Skilled, professional, ruthlessly efficient and deadly…" I let my voice trail off as I thought it through. It was possible I suppose though I had my own fairly strong suspicions. I was certainly right about the deadly part though as I explained.
"Two of the dead bore significant blunt trauma wounds, consistent with physical blows, while another had his neck cleanly broken" At Sharon's widened eyes I explained. "His neck was snapped, twisted savagely from behind most likely, but surely hard enough to snap the spine and paralyse the victim as they died" Sharon's eyes narrowed as she processed that before she spoke.
"Physically strong too" I wagged my hand in a so-so gesture.
"Maybe, it's apparently a standard military take down, part of some of the nastier forms of martial arts taught to military personnel for taking out sentries and such quickly and silently" I shrugged. "That one took place just inside the front door of the building so it may have been a lookout, though we found half a dozen pizza boxes scattered near him so he may have walked right into the middle of it. He was no pizza delivery boy though, he was carrying a pistol and wearing a shoulder holster" I sighed. "The only other body found near a door was next to the fire door, they'd barely got it open before two shots from the sniper, one to the chest, the other to the head, left them very dead"
"They were being very thorough about leaving no witnesses and letting no one escape" Sharon commented, I nodded at her words then spoke.
"According to forensics, at least two were still alive before being shot in the forehead, execution style" Sharon nodded.
"Execution or clean-up" I sighed then replied.
"Dead men tell no tales" Sharon scratched the back of her hand as she replied.
"Ruthless, no doubt about it" I gave a one-shoulder shrug then tossed out a line, wondering if she'd nibble at the bait.
"Or very, very angry" She nodded once slowly then froze, her eyes narrowing at me as she thought that over before they closed. She was silent and still for almost 30 seconds then spoke softly, eyes still closed.
"Four angry, ruthless, skilled people, three with pistols, one skilled with a sniper's rifle, obviously capable with martial arts, killing everyone there without pity or remorse while ensuring no harm came to the hostages..." She stopped and her eyes opened, staring at me. "Are you suggesting..." Realising she'd come to the same conclusion as I had I felt excitement rising, I mean I'd always respected Sharon's experience and instincts, to have her on the same page… now though I tried to remain calm as I spoke.
"Like they teach at the Academy Sharon, motive, means and opportunity" Sharon sat there for a moment more thinking about it then spoke quietly.
"An interesting supposition, defend it" I nodded and did just that.
"Assume they somehow found out where they were, we know they were searching, well rescuing them is their only concern, ensuring they're safe and sound and out of danger" As she listened Sharon's elbows came to rest on the chair's arms as her fingers steepled in front of her and her chin came to rest on them, Sharon's 'thinking hard' pose. She tipped her head noncommittally and spoke; she knew exactly who 'they' were.
"Why not call us instead, even anonymously?" I wasn't offended by her skepticism; I understood she was instead playing Devil's advocate.
"Didn't trust the hostage's safety to anyone else" I stated. "After all standard procedure would be to send in a Black and White, follow up on the call and then escalate from there if there was something untoward happening" I shrugged. " Even if the call had come to us and we'd rolled out, S.O.P says to contain the site, set up a perimeter then try and negotiate a settlement" I shrugged, having already given this some thought. "That makes the hostage's welfare bargaining chips and god knows we already knew what ruthless sons of bitches they were" Sharon nodded agreeably and coaxed me on.
"Go on" I carefully laid out my reasoning for her.
"Three Glocks handled by people that knew exactly what they were doing" I grimaced. "Jane is outstanding, Olivia's not that far behind and I checked with the NYPD, Beckett's range scores are almost as good as Jane's and they all shoot with the Glock" Sharon nodded once as she spoke.
"Given that attack on you, thank god they were there" I nodded agreeably.
"No argument from me there sweetie" I pressed on. "But all of them were certainly capable enough to pull it off" Sharon's response was non-committal.
"Interesting" Undeterred I continued making my case.
"A check with the Army revealed what I already knew from Lieutenant O'Farrell downstairs in the armory; Ana is very, very good with a rifle and had gained both marksman and sniper's qualifications from the Army's Ranger school at Fort Benning, something her range scores back up" Sharon raised an eyebrow.
"Interesting, so far you have supposition, what else?" I held my hand out in front of me horizontally and rocked it back and forth.
"What I have is means plus motive, getting Maura and Nat and the others back safe, well god help anyone in their way" I pulled a face at that. "As the bodies found on the scene attest"
"Opportunity?" I shrugged at her question.
"I haven't been able to link them to the warehouse, or even found a way they might have found out about it, Jane denied any knowledge of the one link we'd found…" I sighed. "Any connection there seems to have vanished. If they were investigating..." Sharon's dry retort interrupted me.
"If?" I nodded ruefully.
"I know, I know; I can't prove it but I'd guess that their investigation's gone off on a different tangent and led them to the warehouse, anyway they've gone in and killed everyone in their way, making sure the hostages were safe, then bugged out and called it in, giving them enough time to ditch the evidence and wait to be called" Sharon looked at me, not unkindly, and spoke.
"Honey, you are aware how flimsy that all sounds, aren't you?" I nodded wearily.
"Yeah, but it fits Sharon, three assailants with Glock's and overwatch from someone skilled with a sniper's rifle, go in, kill everyone there, ensuring the hostages are safe, before fading away like they didn't exist, leaving no evidence or leads for us to go on, because of the isolated industrial location and the fact it was a Sunday there was no one there to see anything, no one to hear anything, and the whole thing was over in a couple of minutes" She nodded agreeably as she spoke.
"It all sounds plausable, but there's nothing there beyond supposition, nothing you could use to pull them in for questioning"
"No, they're all way too smart and experienced to have left any traces, as the forensics report says, so there's nothing to go on, it's a dead end"
"So what now?" I shrugged, a little helplessly.
"Even if I wanted to, I have nothing to drag them in on, all they have to is deny anything and we're sunk" I pulled a face as I thought of the reactions. "Besides, Alex would have them out so fast it'd make your head spin, probably with a side order of a harassment suit against the department if we continue to pursue them" Sharon nodded then replied, her voice reflective.
"We've seen a pissed Alex before, I wouldn't want to be standing in her way" I shook my head at that nightmare thought as she pressed on. "Besides, can you imagine how well that'd play out in the media? I don't want to be the one to have to explain that we couldn't find them so now we're accusing their partners of the 'crime' of saving them" She put it in quotes. "Natalie would have a field day with the media stoking that particular fire..." I grimaced at the media's response to that little tidbit.
"Yeah, Pope would have an aneurism" The smile Sharon gave me was wintery, as was her tone.
"With any luck..." I pulled a face as I replied.
"Given how Jane and the others feel about him pulling them off the case, they'd probably consider Pope as more than acceptable collateral damage" Sharon shrugged.
"It was the right thing to do..." I swiped a hand across the space in front of us, sweeping that away as I cut in
"Done in completely the wrong way Sharon, in front of everyone in that investigation, he shamed all four of them and treated them like criminals, demanding they be escorted out of the building for God's sake" She nodded slowly before replying.
"No one ever accused Pope of having any tact whatsoever" I snorted.
"There is one of the great rite truths of the universe" We shared a small smile before she spoke up.
"So what happens now?" I gestured at the files scattered across tabletop.
"My report will state that these eleven people, identified as some of the individuals who kidnapped and held the victims hostage, were killed by person or persons unknown and, given we have exhausted all available avenues of investigation without success, the case will be declared open but designated as a cold case, pending any new information turning up" She nodded slowly.
"If it's what we both suspect, we know nothing ever will" I nodded. Somehow I knew Jane, Olivia, Ana and Kate were responsible, but just as certainly knew we'd never, ever prove it. Sharon was quiet for a moment then spoke quietly.
"What about the rest of the kidnappers, the ones who were on the other shift guarding them?"
"We have some first names and descriptions of a few of them, plus we're looking into known associates of the dead, but not really enough to ask them to sit down and go through what's going be a massive list of mug shots trying to identify any of them, even if they were still here to do so"
"Speaking of which, do you have any further idea on where they are now?" Sharon asked, in response I shook my head.
"They took their partners and vanished, their homes are still locked up, I had Mikki do a little digging, she found they'd boarded a private jet and headed east. I then pulled a couple of strings and found their jet took off with a flight path filed to the mid-west so my best bet is they've gone to Wyoming" Sharon pursed her lips, thinking it over for a second before speaking.
"The Dearing family farm" she stated. I nodded, it seemed most likely.
"Probably wanted to go somewhere safe where they can deal with everything that's happened" Sharon stared off into the distance for a moment then sat back.
'Completely understandable, all things considered" She stretched for a moment then continued. "We'll just have to get by without them for a bit longer" I sighed and replied.
"Yeah, they need the time to recover somewhere safe and the Dearing family home is a good place to do just that" Sharon paused then spoke.
"Speaking of which, you ready to head home?" I unconsciously smiled at that word, home. For so long it hadn't really meant what I thought, I'd called places home when in fact they were simple houses, now though, with Sharon, it was truly our home. Looking into her eyes I smiled.
"I think so, nothing more to do here" She returned my smile and stood gracefully as I swept the reports and other information into a single, mostly neat pile and pushed it into it's case folder, staring at it for a long moment.
Almost a dozen people dead, I was pretty sure I knew who did it, even if I couldn't prove it. What did that make me?
"Coming honey?" I looked up to see Sharon standing by the door, looking back at me over her shoulder, half her face hidden by her hair, the sight bringing a small smile to my face, I was so fortunate... I nodded. I'd do anything to protect Sharon, same as I knew she'd do for me, so who was I to judge Kate and Liv and Jane and Ana really?
With a single move I swept the file into my open drawer and slid it shut, mentally closing the case at the same time.
"Sure am sweetie" I grabbed my bag and my cell. "Let's get out of here"