Read Chapter One of Please No…
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As Ethan watched Sarah’s plane leaving, he knew he had to go after them, but before he could make his way to the ticket counter, his phone vibrated in his pocket with a low hum.
He took it out and glanced at the screen to see if it was Sarah, or possibly Thomas somehow, only to find it was work calling.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t a call he could avoid, not with police actively working the scene of Lana’s death. And this particular call was one he’d been waiting days for. “Hello?” he said, unsure which representative would be reaching out. Hopefully, the most competent.
“Agent Charles? This is Kellen Loomis with ballistics. I have found something interesting with the bullets from your case and need for you to come down to the office today. Preferably within the hour.”
Ethan knew he couldn’t put this off. Even if he could for a few hours, it still meant that he wasn’t going to be able to track Thomas or Sarah down anyway. Not until they landed.
He let out a big breath and rubbed his temples with his free hand. “Okay. I’ll head right over. Thanks.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you then.” The man ended the call, and Ethan put the phone away, knowing he had to make a choice.
As he left the airport, he hoped it was all worth it. He was stuck moving in two directions—following his survival instincts or doing what was right to protect someone who had obviously given up on him a long time ago. It was wearing him out.
The case had been a roller coaster he hadn’t planned for, and he sometimes wished he had never bumped into Sarah. She had been a catalyst to what was either going to make or break his career. And now that he knew Katherine had gotten herself into the mess by being unfaithful to him, it was hard to be fueled by tender feelings from the past and hope to rekindle them.
But he kept on, hoping it would all fall into place and he could save her from further torment. Even a cheater didn’t deserve the fate she had been dealt. He would keep on because he wasn’t a monster. Because sometimes doing what you had to didn’t always mean following protocol.
He arrived at the ballistics lab, trying not to let his desire to focus on Katherine get the best of him, and he was met by Kellen Loomis, who looked like he had something exciting to share.
The man was much younger than Ethan expected him to be, but the gleam in his eye told him that he was super serious about his job. “You must be Agent Charles.”
“Yes, Kellen, right?”
The man nodded, his posture never failing. “I think you’re going to find what I found as interesting as me.” He waved Ethan back and led him through a maze of desks and lab tables to a small office in the back corner. Everything was neat as a pin, including the things on his desk. Like Kellen, he liked things kept a certain way.
“I can’t wait to find out what you found,” said Ethan as the man offered him a seat.
Kellen went to his desk, moved a stack of files out of his way, and turned his computer screen where Ethan could see it too. “I can’t wait to show you.” He typed something into the computer, and when the screen changed, an autopsy photo appeared. “The bullet came back on a case from years ago. The woman is Amanda Howler. She was murdered in a carjacking, and her killer was never found.”
Ethan couldn’t believe what he was seeing. “That’s interesting. Her husband is one of the latest victims. He was my biggest suspect until his death.”
“Looks like you might solve two cases.” He pushed the ballistics report folder toward Ethan. “Here are the details. You can see it’s a perfect match.”
“Thank you.” There was no question about it. Ethan didn’t have to wonder if there was a mistake with those results. They would be a perfect match, as neat and tidy as Kellen’s perfectly pressed shirt. “I guess I’ll go see if there’s anything in evidence.”
“That would be my first stop.” Kellen stood from behind his desk and reached out to shake Ethan’s hand. “You let me know if there is anything else I can do for you. And please, let me know how this one turns out. I’m intrigued.”
“Thanks,” said Ethan. “Will do.”
He opened the report as he left the office, hoping to figure out where he should start.
After reading over the report, he drove over to the station, hoping he wouldn’t run into Bowden while he was there. He knew he would catch hell for not being at the site of Lana’s murder, but he had already put in enough time there, and the others could handle it from that point on.
Bowden would do anything to get him in trouble with Commander Clark, and he didn’t want to give him the satisfaction. But when he parked, he could see that Bowden’s car was missing from his reserved spot.
He felt more comfortable going inside, where Cleo at the front desk had a big smile for him. “Afternoon, Agent Charles.” She must have gotten used to seeing him around, and he had finally learned her name.
“Cleo, just the person I wanted to see.” He walked up to the counter and rapped his knuckles on the countertop.
Cleo gave him a sideward look. “Wow, don’t I feel special? You came all the way here to see little ol’ me?”
“Yes. And to get your help. I am looking for some evidence from a case back years ago. Amanda Howler. She was killed in a carjacking that was never solved. Do you know anything about it?”
“Not right off the top of my head, but I can send you in the right direction. Let me look it up and make sure you’re in the right place.” She let her fingers work some magic. “Okay. It looks like you are. You can just go down the hall and to the right. It’s the records department. You’ll see Karleen at the window. She’ll help you out.”
“Thanks.” He gave her a smile and headed off, hearing her say something about him making a girl feel special. He hated to be in such a hurry, but not knowing what was going on with Thomas and Sarah on the plane was driving him nuts.
Perhaps his being there and being involved wasn’t an accident? Could the two so cleverly pull him in together? Or was Sarah just a lucky encounter? He hated to doubt either of them, especially her.
When he rounded the corner to where Karleen was sitting behind the window, he tried to focus on the matters at hand.
Karleen opened the window. “How may I help you?” The woman was at least sixty, with gray permed hair from the seventies and thick glasses that were probably not even sold since then.
Ethan flashed his badge and quickly put it away. “Agent Charles. I need to look into a murder from a few years back. It was a carjacking. Amanda Howler was the victim.”
“Do you have the case file number?”
“I don’t have anything else.” Ethan could tell she was unimpressed when she let out a breathy groan.
The woman gave him a blank stare. “And who are you again?”
Ethan let out a sigh and flashed his badge once again. “Ethan Charles, FBI.”
“Right,” she said, giving a nod as if she knew it all along. She hit the button on the wall and gestured to the door. “Come in.”
Ethan hurried to enter, and Karleen met him when he got to the other side. “There’s a computer in the corner. You can search the case file for yourself, and when you have it, I’ll open it up.”
Ethan sighed and went to the desk where he typed in Amanda Howler’s name. The case file number came up, and he took the pen and pad from the desk and jotted it down. When he had it, he carried it to Karleen, who was busy wiping dust off of the shelf.
“Here you go,” he said. “I hope it’s not hard to find.”
“Are you kidding?” said Karleen. “I’ve been here twenty-eight years. If you give me a number, I can take you right to it. I’ve got this place organized better than Oprah’s closet.”
“Sounds impressive.” He had no clue about Oprah’s closet but wasn’t going to argue.
Karleen stopped and turned around to fish out her keys. “Here you go. This one is buried deep.” She pulled another few boxes off the top of the one he needed and gestured back to it. “There you are. I hope you find what you’re looking for.”
Ethan picked it up and saw the seal of blue tape. “What’s with the tape? Do I have to get permission to get in this one?”
“No.” She made a face. “I don’t know what that means. I’ve never used tape like that.” She took out her phone from her back pocket and snapped a photo. “Don’t worry. I’ll get to the bottom of it.”
Ethan could tell she ran a tight ship, and he had a lot of respect for someone who had been in her position for that long. “Thank you.”
“Not so fast,” she said, pointing to a table with a clipboard. “You have to sign that paper, and the viewing area is in the back. Be sure to wear the gloves provided. There’s a table where you can spread it out.”
“Thank you.”
Ethan wasn’t going to argue with her protocol and followed her instructions. After he signed the paper, he walked to the table and opened the box. There wasn’t much from the case at all. A few things, including a shoe, a tire iron, and some samples, were all there. He found photos of the car after it was recovered, but it had been badly burned and left in the desert.
“Who does that?” he mumbled to himself. “Not someone who wants to steal a car. It was more about the murder than anything.” That should have been obvious to Delaney and stuck out like a sore thumb. He found another thing lacking. Notes. There were not many notes at all. And what there was didn’t stand out as anything significant or unusual. Detective Delaney’s signature and initials were found on all of it, so it was definitely his case, but it was like he hadn’t checked out his suspect, which according to him, was Howler, the husband.
Ethan just found it hard to believe there was ever anything of value that came from it and wondered if he had more of the file elsewhere, and maybe it was never turned in. It didn’t look like any other collection of evidence he’d ever seen before. And he knew why.
Howler had his wife murdered and used Delaney to cover it up. That was why Delaney hadn’t worried about what evidence he had and why he hadn’t made more notes, given more information. He wasn’t trying to find anyone, maybe because he had been paid not to.
But Howler had an alibi as Roald Collier’s driver, which was probably a lie too, just like everything in Howler’s life. So, maybe Howler did hire someone, and now that person was getting revenge? For what? Did they not get paid? Did Howler do them dirty on a bet? It just didn’t make any sense to Ethan. There was a huge piece of the puzzle missing, and Ethan was going to have to do his best to find it.
He took a few photos of the items in the box, knowing it was better to have them even if he didn’t believe he’d ever look at them again. And he would have to make a few copies from the reports for his own use.
There was something else missing that made him think that Delaney hadn’t done his job.
Since there was never anyone arrested, naturally, there wasn’t a gun, but there was also no record of any guns being checked, which seemed odd to him, especially since Detective Delaney had his suspicions about Howler.
The husband is always a suspect. He couldn’t help but think that the only person with answers might be the very man he knew he couldn’t trust.
Detective Delaney had proven to be a less than credible source after he and Sarah talked to him. He had seemed as if he had really tried hard on a case that he had barely given the time of day. Ethan was sure as soon as his money dropped into his account, he forgot all about it.
It was time to find the truth and get this guy, once and for all.
