“Stop Agent O’Dell. Your hands – they’re bleeding.”
She hadn’t even noticed.
“There isn’t anything more we can do. We’ll let the CSU techs bring him in.”
He focused on turning the boat around against the current. Maggie rubbed her hands, trying to warm them and wiping the blood on her jeans. She’d pricked several fingers and scraped the back of one hand. It looked worse than it was. Not that big of a deal.
But something didn’t feel quite right. That’s when she realized that somewhere in the murky water she had lost her wedding ring.
Chapter 9
Maggie tucked her hands under her arms trying not to shiver. She stayed back at the crime scene while Cunningham and the sheriff took one of the CSU techs to the river’s edge and offer directions. The rest of the CSU team unpacked equipment onto the front lawn while they waited for the medical examiner to arrive.
Deputy Wilson had offered Maggie the backseat of the cruiser. She noticed he didn’t make the same offer to any of the men. Tempting as it was, she shook her head. She didn’t want any special favors.
Cunningham had insisted that Delaney crawl into the ambulance when Katie had refused to get in. Not just refused but started screaming, arms flailing, bare feet ready to kick if anyone dared to grab her.
“I can’t leave without my dad.”
Maggie wasn’t sure what Delaney told her, but somehow he had convinced her. The role he had taken on – negotiator, friend, father – was now the only bond the girl had. The ambulance had left just as the CSU mobile crime lab pulled into the long driveway.
Turner and Maggie waited for Cunningham. Their work here was finished as the next set of investigators took over. With his boss gone Wilson suddenly became talkative.
“Pretty gruesome inside, huh?” Wilson was watching the three CSU techs. “Sheriff didn’t want us contaminating the scene but I got a pretty good look.”
Maggie guessed the deputy was around her age, early thirties, but something about him seemed younger. Too much swagger. A bit too cocky. He was as tall as Turner but smaller built, narrower in the shoulders and waist but still lean and muscular. His gray uniform shirt fit tight across his chest. His shirtsleeves bulged at the biceps, almost as though he wore a size smaller to emphasize his physique.
He wore no jacket and didn’t seem affected by the cold damp weather. He kept the brim of his hat low over his eyes and stood with legs spread apart and his thumbs looped on his utility belt. He reminded Maggie of gunslinger in a classic Western.
“I’ve seen worse,” Turner finally answered shooting a look at Wilson. “That piece of pie though – that was the craziest freakin’ thing I’ve seen in a long time.”
“What are you talking about?” Wilson wanted to know.
Immediately Maggie saw Turner’s face register regret. There were details of a crime that you held close. Certain things that only a handful of investigators and the killer knew. Technically the deputy was part of the investigation but Maggie understood Turner’s regret. The deputy obviously had not gotten a good enough look.
“Son of a bitch left something on top of a plate.” Turner glanced at Maggie, checking to make sure she was okay since this was what sent her out the door to vomit up her breakfast. “Looked like pie alamode with something added.”
“What? Whadya mean, something added?”
Turner looked at the deputy and he raised an eyebrow waiting for the man to figure it out. But Maggie could see Wilson still mulling it around like it didn’t make sense.
“That doesn’t sound right.”
“Tell me about it,” Turner said. “Ruined one of my favorite desserts.”
“Sheriff is convinced we got a serial killer on our hands,” Wilson told them. “You think that might be the case?”
This time Turner didn’t blink. Maggie was too cold to have this conversation. She glanced over her shoulder and was grateful to see Cunningham and the sheriff on their way back. Wilson noticed, too, and his entire demeanor changed like he’d flipped a switch. Hands went in his pockets and he leaned against the cruiser as if he was returning to the same stance he was in when his boss left.
“How bout I buy you folks a drink,” Sheriff Geller offered. “Before you head back home?”
“Any chance that drink comes with a cheeseburger and fries?” Turner asked.
After all they’d seen and been through Maggie was surprised that actually sounded good.
Chapter 10
Washington, D.C.