Legal Heat

Chapter Seventeen


Katy awoke with a start.

Light filtered through the window blinds, illuminating the sleeping form beside her.

Mark.

Mark’s apartment. Mark’s bed.

She desperately needed to pee. Moving quietly so she didn’t wake him, she slipped out of the covers and left the room. Traffic crawled through the streets below. She checked the giant clock over the fireplace. Eight a.m. She should be at work.

After attending to her needs, she found her purse and pulled out her Blackberry. Six days and 800 messages worth of work awaited her at the office. She scanned quickly through her emails and found a message from her secretary about a phone call from Julia Davidson. Julia had changed her mind and would speak to Katy but only at eleven this morning.

Damn. Mark would never let her go. He had woken her half a dozen times to make sure she was okay. Exhaustion had finally dragged him into a deep sleep in the early hours of the morning. Maybe she could go and come back before he woke up.

She gave herself a physical check. Shoulder still throbbing, body still aching, head still pounding. Dizzy. Good enough for work.

She stuffed the Blackberry in her purse and found her clothes neatly folded on the hall bench. Shirt from the hospital, now missing several buttons. Blood-stained skirt, missing one button. No bra or panties. Blood-stained heels. Very professional. All set for a witness interview.

She rubbed down the shoes and secured her clothing with a few safety pins from her briefcase. Then she tiptoed toward the door.

“Going somewhere?”

Startled, Katy gasped and spun around. Mark leaned against the wall, arms folded, biceps bulging, six-pack rippling. Thank God he’d put on a pair of gym pants. Her brain ceased functioning the minute he stripped off his clothes.

“I have to interview a witness at eleven. I didn’t want to wake you. I would have called you from the cab.”

He looked her up and down, taking in her shabby ensemble. “Like that?”

Katy grimaced. “I was going to stop at home and change first.” Her knees wobbled, and a wave of dizziness hit her. She rested her hand on a nearby chair to steady herself, hoping he wouldn’t notice.

He studied her, his face impassive. “You aren’t going anywhere except back to bed.”

She closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath. “This is work. It’s important. The witness initially refused to talk to me and she has only given me this one window. I have to go.”

“I’m sure she’ll understand if you tell her what happened.”

A dull ache began to pound in her chest. She didn’t want a fight. Not after last night. “I can’t take the risk. I appreciate your concern, but I’m fine.”

His eyes wandered over her trembling body. “No, you’re not. Even if you make it downstairs, James is outside. He won’t let you go anywhere. In fact, he’ll probably throw you over his shoulder, carry you up the stairs and handcuff you to the bed.”

Having seen James in action at the hospital, Katy had no doubt he would do exactly as Mark said.

He took a step toward her. “Bed. Now.”

Katy didn’t move. Couldn’t move. Her body and mind at war.

“I’m not asking, sugar,” he said softly. “I promised to look after you, and I don’t break my promises.”

“If I want to go, you can’t stop me.” She willed her legs to stop shaking, her head to stop pounding and her body to stop shivering.

He walked over to her and unclasped her hand from the chair. “I won’t have to.”

Without the chair for support, her body gave up the fight. Dizziness blackened her vision and she reached blindly for support.

“I’ve got you.” He caught her and pulled her down onto his lap as he settled on the chair.

She leaned against the broad expanse of solid muscle and breathed in his scent of sleep and sex and sandalwood. “F*ck.”

He ran a warm finger over her lips. “That’s not a nice word for a lady to use,” he whispered in her ear. “My lady—who shouldn’t be hiding things from me.”

“I couldn’t tell you. First, I knew what you’d say. Second, it’s for our case and I don’t want you to know who my witness is.”

He leaned his forehead against her cheek. “There’s no property in a witness. You know that. Our duty is bring the best evidence to court. Plus I’ve withdrawn as counsel.” He circled his fingers along her inner thigh, so close to her sex she could feel the heat from his hand.

“Does Steele have a new lawyer? If not, I may still be at risk of losing my tactical advantage.” Her voice caught as his finger flicked along her folds.

“With a body like this, you don’t need any tactical advantages.”

Katy pushed his hand away. “Stop it. We’re having a serious legal discussion.”

He peppered little kisses along her jaw line and pushed up her skirt. “I think this is seriously legal in almost every country.” His hand dove between her thighs again.

Katy drew in a ragged breath. “How about a deal? You take me to the witness and I will agree to return to bed.”

His hand froze and his eyes glittered. “Considering the fact you are still recovering and likely unaware of exactly what you’re offering, I would be taking unfair advantage if I agreed to your terms.” He wrapped one arm around her and cupped her breast. “Also you cannot offer me something I intend to enforce anyway.” He pinched her nipple and her belly tightened with desire.

Katy glanced down at her watch. If she didn’t hurry this up, she’d run out of time. What did he want? The fact he hadn’t dismissed her offer told her he would take her, but what was the price?

She cupped his face between her hands, running her fingers over the rough stubble on his strong jaw. “Please come with me?” She brushed her lips over his, softly, gently.

With a grunt of satisfaction, he palmed the back of her head, pulling her closer to him. He teased her mouth open and then plunged inside, sweeping every inch, until she forgot everything but his taste, his touch and her overwhelming need to crawl back into bed with him and drown herself in the sensuous feast of his body.

Finally he pulled away, leaving her breathless and flustered. “You just had to ask.”

Fifteen minutes later, dressed and shaved, he escorted her out of the elevator and into the main lobby. “Look lively,” he said, tightening his arm around her waist. “You have one more obstacle to overcome.”

“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” James stood in the foyer, his feet braced and his arms crossed.

“I’m taking her to interview a witness. I assume you’ll have someone following us.” Mark edged them toward the door.

“You’re not going anywhere. Look at her. She’s in no condition to be running around. I was there when the doctor said she was to stay in bed. Plus, we don’t have an ID on the shooter yet. It’s not safe to leave.”

Katy crossed her arms. “I have a job to do, just like you. Mark is coming with me and you can have someone follow us, but I’m not going back upstairs.”

James stared at her and then glanced at Mark, his clear, blue eyes missing nothing. “Guess I’m joining the party.”





“Please let me go by myself.”

“No.” Mark trailed Katy through the crowded Metrotown shopping mall in Burnaby with James following close behind them. When had he last been in a mall? He eyed the brightly lit stores filled with shoppers and grimaced. Definitely not something he missed.

“I thought you were going to sit in your car,” she said, sidestepping a man weighed down with shopping bags.

Mark sighed. “I can’t watch you from the parking lot, and neither can James. Why couldn’t you meet with the witness at your office or at her home?” He dodged two women with baby carriages, so engrossed in their conversation, they didn’t realize they had narrowly missed running him over.

“Her husband is very ill and she doesn’t want to upset him by having people in the house. Apparently, he became very distressed last week when they had a visitor. She also can’t leave him alone too long so the drive to my office is out.” She smiled up at him. “Probably a good thing. Ted wouldn’t have let you into the interview room, no matter how much you growled.”

“I don’t growl.” His voice rumbled deep in his chest.

Katy laughed. “Of course you don’t.”

Did she know how much pleasure her laughter gave him—especially when he had thought he would never hear it again? Would she still be laughing when she found out Ted was going to pull her from the case because of him? Would she believe he had been motivated solely by his desire to protect her?

After seeing her at the courthouse, covered in blood, only the stronger need to stay by her side had kept him from seeking Ted out right then. He knew Ted well enough to genuinely fear for Katy’s safety when she returned to work. The bastard wouldn’t hesitate to throw her back into the fray. If she uncovered something at Hi-Tech, the publicity would be even greater than the shooting itself, and Ted never turned his back on free publicity.

Katy led him into a coffee shop. “I’m meeting her in the café opposite this one. You’ll have to content yourselves with spying on me from here, but I’ll buy you both a coffee first.” She reached for her purse, but Mark grabbed her wrist.

“No.”

Katy rolled her eyes. “It’s the twenty-first century. It’s okay if I buy you a coffee. No one will think you’re any less of a man.”

“I don’t care what anyone thinks.”

“Fine,” she said.

Mark’s surprise at her capitulation gave way to concern when she looked around and pointed to a nearby chair. “I just need to sit for a minute.”

“We shouldn’t have let her come,” James said, echoing Mark’s thoughts.

“Damned if I could stop her.”

He watched Katy weave her way through the tables and chairs, her hips swaying gently as she walked. What it would be like to see her every day? To make her laugh, share her stories and play with her kids? To know she would be in his bed every night?

“Mr. Richards?”

Mark spun around, recognizing the woman in the blue coat at once. Julia Davidson.

She gasped and stepped back, her hand flying to her mouth.

Suddenly Katy was beside her. “Julia Davidson? I’m Katherine Sinclair. Is something wrong?”

Julia’s eyes narrowed. “What’s he doing here? I thought you said it was just you?”

“You know him?”

“Hi-Tech’s lawyer? Yes, I know him. He came to our house last week. He’s the reason Peter became so agitated.” Julia shuddered and glared at Mark. “I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing, Mr. Richards, but I didn’t say anything to anyone and you won’t trick me into saying anything now.” She whirled around and ran out of the café.

“Julia, wait.” Katy took a step and staggered. Mark grabbed her around the waist to steady her.

“I thought I could trust you.” Katy’s accusing glare shriveled his heart.

“You can,” he said. “I don’t know what the hell is going on, but I’m going to find out and we aren’t leaving you until I do.”

“I take it that was the witness.” James motioned them over to a free table and Mark helped Katy to her chair.

“Mark got to her,” Katy said. “He told her not to talk to me. Just like last time.”

James raised an eyebrow and settled himself at the table. “Doesn’t sound like Mark. Sit. We’ll sort it out.”

Mark raised his eyebrows at the tone in his friend’s voice. A tone he hadn’t heard in a long time. Although he was older than James by two years, his friend had always managed to gain the upper hand with the force of his will, the strength of his conviction, and that tone his voice.

Mark joined Katy and James at the table. Katy rested her head in her hands but wouldn’t look his way. Her body trembled as she struggled to stay upright, and Mark had to fight the urge to put his arm around her, knowing she would just shrug him off.

James fixed them both with a cold, hard stare. For a moment Mark felt as if he was back in the principal’s office after a schoolyard fight.

James sighed. “Right. I understand you have restrictions on what you can disclose but the coincidence seems hard to believe. You said it happened twice, Katy?”

She nodded.

“Same case?”

“No.” Mark shook his head. “I went to see the other witness on a matter unconnected with the case we’re working on together.”

Katy looked over at him and her eyes widened. “How can it not be connected? Two random people, two random cases? I don’t buy it.”

“Neither do I.” James pulled out his notebook. “Usually when trouble comes calling there’s no such thing as coincidence. How did you find the witnesses?”

Katy drew in a ragged breath and glanced over at Mark. “I can’t tell you with him here.”

“I’m off the case,” Mark said. “The papers were filed with the court the day before your…accident. If you want me to whip up a non-disclosure statement on one of the napkins and sign it, I will.”

Katy frowned. “Maybe I should call Ted first.”

“No.” Mark’s voice rose almost to a shout. The last thing he needed was for Ted to tell her over the phone she was off the case. “If you don’t trust me or you’re uncomfortable with a name or detail, then write it down on a napkin and give it to James.”

“Good idea.” James pushed a few napkins in Katy’s direction and handed her a second pen. “Okay. Shoot.”

“The two witnesses were on a list my client got from…” She wrote a name on the napkin and handed it to James.

“F*ck,” James muttered as he stared at the napkin. “It’s all connected. This is why I needed to speak to witnesses right away. Now I have a possible motivation for the killing.”

“I thought the motive was pretty clear.” Katy cut herself off when two women walked past their table.

Mark’s mind raced. That one wasn’t hard to figure out. Martin. Was this what Steele had been referring to when he had complained about Katy poking her nose into his business? Did he know about the list?

James scribbled furiously in his notebook. “Who else is on the damn list?”

Heat flushed Katy’s cheeks and she wrote on another napkin and slid it across the table.

“Christ.” James slammed his fist on the table. Coffee sloshed out of the cups, spilling across the worn surface. “Did you not think that was information I needed to know?”

“James.” Mark growled a warning, his frustration and anger boiling over.

Katy mopped up the spilled coffee with a napkin. “Sorry I didn’t tell you at the hospital. Things have been a bit overwhelming.”

Reeling at the possibility she might be even more involved than he had thought, Mark grabbed the remaining napkins and crushed them in his fist. “We’re done here.”

“I want that list,” James said to Katy. “I don’t give a f*ck what the partners in your firm think. If I don’t have it today, I’ll get a warrant to search your damn office.”

“She’ll get it for you,” Mark said. “Calm down. We’re all doing our best to sort this out.”

James stared pointedly at the crush of napkins in Mark’s fist. “I’m not the one who needs to calm down.”

“I remember another name,” Katy interjected. With slow, gentle strokes, she traced along each of Mark’s tightly clenched fingers, lifting them one at a time until his hand opened, allowing the white blossom of compressed tissue to spring free.

Mark held his breath, eyes riveted on her delicate fingers, as she carefully drew a napkin from his palm. For a moment everything fell away. His world narrowed to the brush of the napkin over his skin, the slide of Katy’s fingers over his wrist, and the heat of her breath on his cheek.

“I see you’ve soothed the savage beast,” James chortled, breaking the spell.

Katy scrawled on the napkin and handed it to James. “He never returned my calls. I tracked him down to an apartment building on the corner of 13th and Hemlock. I was going to pay him a visit before…” She choked off her words. Before she was shot.

Mark couldn’t sit by any longer and watch her fade. He dragged her chair over to his and pulled her against him. She didn’t protest, but leaned into his chest with a soft sigh. He looked at James and narrowed his eyes. “She’s done here. I’m taking her home.”

James nodded and snapped his notebook closed. “I need to get my team on these leads. I’ll meet you both at the station at four o’clock. Get whatever clearance you need from your firms and the Law Society and be prepared to give me all the facts.”

Mark frowned. “She shouldn’t—“

“I’ll be fine,” Katy murmured.

“You won’t.”

“She’ll have to be,” James said, his face grim. “There’s a killer on loose. Maybe more than one.”





“I’m pulling you off the case.” Ted folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. Katy had rarely seen him so still. Usually he was in motion: foot rocking, pen tapping and body swaying. But today, except for the rise and fall of his chest, his body was frozen with disapproval and his eyes glittered with anger.

Katy sucked in a breath, shock and horror giving way to crushing disappointment in a heartbeat. She should have taken Mark up on his offer to take her home and saved herself from this unwanted surprise.

“Why, Ted? I’m okay. I’m fit to work.” Did he know she was lying? Or that the doctor at the hospital had told her to take at least another week off work? No way could she do it. In the “up or out” culture of a big city firm, another week of sick leave would not only destroy her chances of partnership, it would kill her career.

“Where should I start?” Ted’s voice was uncharacteristically cold and hard. “Someone killed your witness and tried to shoot you. Another one of your witnesses is dead. You are running around when you clearly should be in bed. And you are compromising the reputation of the firm by engaging in a relationship with opposing counsel.”

She closed her eyes for a second and tilted her head up to the ceiling. She had known in her heart they would never get away with it. They had danced on the edge of the abyss and now they would have to pay the price.

Still she couldn’t stop her emotions from flooding her face. “Ted—”

“Don’t look so surprised,” he said abruptly. “The legal community is a small one and you already had a reputation for causing trouble. I bent over backwards to get you into this firm. You let me down.”

“It’s not what you think.”

“Bullshit. Don’t lie to me, Katherine.” He pushed back his chair and rounded the desk. “When I called Steven to find out where you were, he said you’d gone to Richards’s place, and you’ve just finished telling me you went with him to see a witness. How is that going to look to the client, or to the Law Society? You’re lucky no one else has found out.”

“But he had withdrawn as counsel before I went to his place.”

“I should have known something was up when he called,” he muttered to himself.

“When who called?”

If he heard her question, he chose not to answer. “It’s not just that. I like you, Katherine. You’re a nice person and one hell of a lawyer. Steven was a bad choice. But someone like Richards would be far worse. You have no idea what he’s really like. He runs a sex club in his spare time for chrissakes. He’ll corrupt you, use you and throw you away.”

“But he was off the case,” she said again.

“Was he?” Ted arched an eyebrow. “We haven’t received any documents from the court or from his office to that effect. He lied to you and I think it’s obvious why. I never thought you’d be so gullible.”

Katy sucked in a breath. No documents? There had to be a mistake. Why would he deceive her?

For a bit of fun.

She shook her head. She didn’t believe it. Not after everything he had done for her. Even now her gut told her he wasn’t lying—not about the withdrawal and not about the witnesses.

“It’s not just that,” Ted continued. “Jimmy Rider is dead. Someone beat him to a pulp and left him in an East Side alley. I spoke to the detective in charge of the case. Witnesses saw a tall, broad-shouldered man in a black suit fleeing the scene. The police believe it was personal and not drug-related, but they haven’t said why. I don’t suppose you know someone with a questionable past who might fit that description and who might be upset to find out his girl had been roughed up?”

“Oh God.” She wanted Ted to stop talking. Stop filling her with head with doubts. Mark had threatened to make sure Jimmy would never hurt her again. Would he have used the experience he had gained on the streets as a youth to make good that threat? Had she misjudged him as badly as she had misjudged Steven?

No. She couldn’t reconcile the gentle lover from last night with the portrait Ted was trying to paint of a violent and dishonest man. She wasn’t ready to give up. Not on Mark and not on the case.

“Martin told me lives are at stake,” she said, her voice steady and clear. “Martha is relying on us. It’s not fair to her or to Martin’s memory if we just let this go. No one knows the case as well as I do. I’m on to something and I’ve got the police protecting me now. Let me see it through.”

Ted shook his head. “I don’t want you involved in this case. Someone shot at you. Two men are dead. I’ll take it over myself and settle with Steele. I’ve already drafted the press release.”

“Justice won’t be served that way,” Katy said. “I know Martha. She’s a good person. Steele will offer next to nothing and she’ll take it so no one gets hurt. Just give me some time. A few more days. I have a document review scheduled at Hi-Tech on Friday and I might be able to find the evidence we need to expose them. Think about the publicity for the firm if I do uncover something. It will eclipse the publicity of a settlement.”

Ted exhaled a long breath. “I know I’m going to regret this, but I’ll give you two days. The file is yours until after the document review…then I’m calling Steele.”





Mark rolled his eyes when he walked into the boardroom. The long, serious faces of his fellow partners told him this “impromptu” partners’ meeting had been planned well in advance. Could his day get any worse? Exhausted and emotionally drained, he didn’t know if he could take what he knew they were about to give.

“An ambush?” He sat down and waited for the circus to begin.

Tony took a deep breath. “I’ll get right to the point. You have to break it off with her. We’ve all agreed you’ve crossed the line into conflict territory. If you’re caught, it could damage the reputation of the firm.”

“And we don’t want to lose the client who is single-handedly keeping the firm afloat.” Curtis didn’t meet his gaze. A contracts solicitor to the core he abhorred confrontation.

Mark tightened his lips. “After all these years, do you not trust me?”

“When it comes to her, no.” Tony didn’t mince his words.

Mark spun his chair around and stared out over the water, bitterly disappointed at his fellow partners. “Over the last few years, Steele has been pushing me close to the ethical line. When he finally he asked me to cross it by scaring Katy off the case, I decided Hi-Tech was not the kind of client we wanted to represent. No client is worth compromising our reputation. I withdrew as counsel before she was shot. What happened after that is of no concern to the firm or to Steele.”

No one moved. No one spoke. The loss of Hi-Tech’s work could ruin the firm, and they all knew it.

“F*ck.” Curtis ran his fingers through his hair. “Why didn’t you do what he wanted, but in a roundabout way?”

Mark shook his head. “You know Steele. If I crossed the line once, he would expect me to do it again and again. Before you know it, I would be destroying documents and forging signatures. I wasn’t prepared to step onto that slippery slope.”

“You should have come to us before you so blithely dumped the firm’s major client.” Tony rested his forehead in his hands and stared down at the table.

Mark gritted his teeth. “I’ll admit I was already looking for a way out of the case. And maybe I didn’t try as hard as I could have to salvage the client relationship, but Steele has gone down a road we can’t follow without giving up our principles. He gave me an opportunity to bow out and I took it.”

“We can probably make up the shortfall with the Translife Electric litigation.” Always the optimist, Tony broke the silence with a way forward.

Mark shook his head. “I’ve withdrawn my bid. I asked Ted to pull her off the case, and he wanted something in return. The tender was his price. We were his only real competition. To be honest, after the publicity surrounding the shooting, I think he had planned to take it from her anyway and steal the limelight. I just gave him a reason to do what he wanted to do.”

“Have you gone f*cking crazy?” Curtis growled. “That was the biggest piece of litigation we’ve seen all year. You’re going to destroy the firm over a woman.”

Mark swiveled his chair. “We were never guaranteed to get the tender, so I’m not affecting our bottom line, and it seemed a small price to pay to keep a fellow lawyer safe. Everyone in the legal community knows what Ted’s like. He doesn’t give a damn about the welfare of his associates, so long as they fill his pockets or get him in front of a camera. She was assaulted by her client, Rider, and Ted didn’t want to pull her off the case until he collected his fee. Now she’s been shot at, the killer is still on the loose, and yet he told me he planned to send her back out on the street, chasing down witnesses.“

“I don’t think any of us have an issue with saving a fellow lawyer from Ted,” Tony said. “But there is more to it than that.”

Mark nodded. “You’re right. This isn’t about profits or even looking out for a fellow lawyer. It’s about principle.”

“At this stage, with our books in the red, I’d give up principles for profit,” Curtis muttered. “If you had just kept yourself under control, you wouldn’t be in the position of having to pay any price.”

“But then I wouldn’t be able to protect Katy from Steele,” Mark countered. “I don’t think we could have continued to represent him in any event.” He folded his arms and paused for effect. “I think he arranged the shooting.”

The partners inhaled a collective breath.

“Go on,” Tony said.

“I don’t have anything concrete. Steele made veiled threats during several of our meetings and in the last one he said he would deal with the witness and Katy himself.”

“Why?” Tony scratched his head. “It doesn’t make sense. You said it was a dismissal case.”

Mark shrugged. “Steele hinted she had uncovered something he wants to keep hidden. He has a big product launch coming up. Something revolutionary. Worth billions. If the two cases are connected, she might have found something worth killing for.”

Tony pressed his lips together. “I think we all understand the motivation behind your actions, but the bottom line is you put the firm at risk and you didn’t consult us. We’ll have to discuss everything that happened and then form a view as to whether or not we ask you to step down from the partnership or impose some form of sanction.”

He sighed and looked away, unable to hold Mark’s gaze. “I’m sorry. We all are. But you’re the one who wrote the rules.”

Mark swallowed and forced himself up, despite the overwhelming sense of betrayal crushing his chest. These were the men he had thought would stand behind him no matter what. Men he had trusted.

Unable to speak, he gave them a curt nod and left the room. He didn’t regret his actions. He had always stood by his principles. But more than that, he would do what it took to keep Katy safe. He hadn’t been there for Claire. But he would damn well be there for Katy.





“So where are we with our mountain of cases? Surprise me.”

James looked around the war room at his exhausted investigation team. They were working round the clock and their weariness showed. The cups of coffee were larger, the jokes lamer and the smiles less frequent.

Mike took a deep breath. “Forensics analyzed the residue of the contents of the two baggies. It’s not a known substance, although the components are readily identifiable. Whatever it is, Wood and Garcia both ingested it and both died as a result.”

“I think we can tell the coroner’s office we’ve ruled out the possibility of a communicable disease,” Joanna said.

James nodded for Mike to continue.

“Our street team has confirmed that Rider was the go to guy for black market pharmaceuticals, and he was pedaling some new product before he was arrested.” Mike twisted his lips and looked away. “We…um…have no leads on who killed him.”

“Are we still thinking this is a new kind of street drug?” Joanna flipped through her file and pulled out a sheaf of papers.

James shook his head. “Not if we only have two bodies. A street drug would be widely disbursed. There would be other players involved and likely more deaths.” He wrote a few notes on the whiteboard and turned back to the group. Although Joanna and Mike did all the talking, their report was the result of a group effort. A group that was growing by the body.

“Anything else on Rider?”

“We’ve talked to people at the club where he used to hang out.” Mike flipped through his notebook. “He was cheating on Valerie Wood with a woman we haven’t been able to identify. Apparently he told his friends she was too classy for them. The only lead we have is a description from the landlord at his apartment building of a woman who didn’t fit the usual profile for his evening entertainment. Early thirties, short blonde bob, gold-rimmed glasses. Always wore a black suit. We’ll keep on it.”

James nodded. “Joanna, how are you doing on the Kowalski murder?”

“We haven’t been able to get an ID on the shooter yet. The best we’ve come up with is a tall man, over six feet, with broad shoulders, average build, wearing black and driving some kind of black sedan. Forensics still can’t determine if Sinclair was a target.”

James scrubbed his hand over his face. “Let’s keep a team on her and her kids. Apparently she’s ruffled a few feathers. She’s also connected to Silver through the same case. I think there has to be a connection between Silver, Garcia and Wood through the facial swelling. Do we have a toxicology report for Silver yet?”

Joanna shook her head. “The pathologist said he died from the gunshot wound but he was also suffering from aggressive lymphatic cancer. He also had suffered damage to most of the major organs in his body from…get this…a cytokine storm.”

James smiled. “I don’t suppose forensics found any plastic bags at Silver’s place?”

“No, sir.” Mike gave him a weary smile.

“Well good work everyone. I’ve got Sinclair and another lawyer coming in this afternoon. I’m hoping they’ll have some of the missing pieces to the puzzle… if they can stay out of trouble for the next few hours.”