He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead. “Call out if you need me.”
“I will.”
He crossed to the door but kept it open as he spoke to Claudia in the hall. “Did we get the asshole on camera?”
Please say yes. He needed solid evidence against Dylan so that every organization in the state was on the lookout for him.
She shook her head. “No.”
“What?Why not? We have cameras at both the front and back exits of the building. We should have caught him enteringandleaving.”
“When the lights went off, so did the power to the cameras. It’s like this person knew exactly which switches to flip.”
Or he was the luckiest bastard around. Jesse scrubbed a hand over his face.
“Does she remember anything about the guy?” Claudia asked.
“Red shoes. She said everything was a blur, but she remembered the red shoes.”
“It’s something.” She studied his face. “Want me to wait here?”
“No. You get back to the station. Unless you need to go home. Are you doing okay?”
A mixture of sadness and anger flashed over her face before she straightened. “I’m angry. And I need to keep busy right now. I’ll head back to the station and call the rest of the deputies to let them know about Margot. I’ll also see how the cleanup’s going.”
Cleanup…the cleanup from Margot’s murder.
The band tightened around his chest. “Look after yourself, Claudia. And let me know if you need me to make some of the calls.”
She nodded and had just turned to head down the hall when his phone rang, Luke’s name on the screen. Jesse had left a message for him, asking him to call. As Luke’s friend, he needed to take care of that himself. He wasn’t sure exactly where the man’s feelings sat with Margot, but regardless, the two had been close.
He shot a look at Aspen to see her still on the phone before answering the call. “Luke.”
“Jesse…hey. Got your message. Everything okay down at the station? Or are you missing my witty humor already? I wouldn’t blame you.”
Jesse swallowed. “Something happened tonight.”
“Cryptic. What kind of something?”
“The bad kind. Margot was shot.”
An audible gasp sounded over the line. “Shot? What the fuck? Is she okay?”
“She’s dead.”
There was a pause. “Dead?”
“I’m sorry. I know you and her had a thing and—”
“Who did it?” There was a new edge to Luke’s voice, one Jesse had never heard before. It was low and full of rage.
“I assume Dylan, as a way to get to Aspen, but we don’t have any evidence. The killer turned the power off, which disconnected the cameras.” At Luke’s silence, Jesse ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry. If you need some time off—”
“No. I’m heading into the station now.”
“Luke—”
“I’mgoing, Jesse. I’m helping get to the bottom of this.”
