“That’s better. You’re the closest to the situation, so it’s your opinion that matters.”
I pulled in a relieved breath.
“Sit down, son.” He rolled his chair back to the desk and sat. “Jordy told me about her identity issues.”
“She refuses to get the police involved, and she spun a story about an ex-boyfriend who was shot by cops as an excuse, but I don’t buy it. I also saw her chart at the hospital last night, and she didn’t use the name Peyton Smith when checking in.”
“Beyond having Jordy check out her and her neighbor, what do you want?”
As I should have expected, Jordy kept his brother Lucas well informed.
“I think Duke and I should have a chat with her neighbor, Frankie. There’s something off about him, and I’d like to see what the fingerprints tell us. In addition, I’d like Jordy to check whatever local video feeds are nearby to see if we can get a look at who broke into the condo. We know they took a backpack, and if they didn’t ditch it in the building, we may catch them carrying it away.”
He steepled his hands. “That’s it?”
“For this morning, yes.” My phone announced that a text had arrived, and I silenced it.
“Two problems. First, Duke has an assignment already that I don’t want to upset, so take Winston along with you.”
I nodded. “Okay.”
“Second, we need to learn what she’s afraid of, who she’s running from. That’s for you to press her on.”
“I have been, and I’ll keep it at it, but if I push too hard, I’m afraid she’ll run.”
“I didn’t say it was easy, but we have to know.” He waved me away. “Get on it. And…” He slid a sheet of paper across the desk at me. “This is Constance’s report on the fingerprints.”
“Thank you.” I took the paper and strode to the door.
“Oh, and Zane…”
I turned.
“Remember, we don’t bullshit each other.”
“Copy that, boss.”
Winston was at his desk when I made it down the hall. “Sounds like you got the intro lesson.”
“I guess.”
“He can be scary, but that’s because he doesn’t like repeating himself.”
“Is the scuttlebutt about him true?”
Winston leaned back in his chair. “Depends on which one you’re asking about?”
“That he killed a tango with just one finger?”
Winston answered with a slight chuckle. “Duke says the Omega guys all swear it’s true, and it doesn’t pay to disagree with them.”
I nodded like I knew all about Omega. “Ain’t that the truth?” The group was so secret that it hid behind a reference from the movieTrue Lies, and nobody knew where the line between movie fiction and reality stood.
I opened up the paper from Constance and read it.
She’d initially found three sets of fingerprints in the house, which she assumed were Peyton and the owners, since they matched prints on hair brushes and toothpaste tubes. Two women and one man, she’d guessed by the print sizes. That matched up. But there was also one other print and multiple smudges left by someone wearing leather gloves.
At the bottom of the sheet was a question.Do you want to run all of them?
