A blend of cop instinct and him wanting to clear his conscience…“First thing you need to do is call her off.”
Corey shook his head furiously. “I can’t do that.”
“Are you refusing to cancel the job?” Amanda required clarification.
“No. It’s not possible. Once the hit is ordered, there’s nogoing back.”
“You’re going to find a way,” Amanda said, and Trent touched her arm.
“There’s another option here,” Trent said to her, and she received his unspoken message and nodded.
Set the bait and lure the Anaconda Killer out…“Tell us everything you know about her, where you hired her, when… all of it.”
“I made an ad on this site. A person with the handle A. Killer responded. You’re saying they’re a woman? I didn’t even know that much.”
The Anaconda Killer hadn’t wandered far from her original moniker. Though it was probably just enough to obscure any searches by the FBI. “What’s the name of the site?”
“Death at Your Door.”
Like they were DoorDash or the many services that offered home deliveries. Only instead of food or other products, a person could order murder. “Can you still access this site?”
“I think so.”
“Good, because you’re going to reach out to A. Killer. You’ll be telling her when and where she can find Dominique Sharp.” They were going to lay a trap for the Anaconda Killer she couldn’t resist walking right into.
FORTY-FOUR
Corey Shea confirmed the site and A. Killer’s profile remained active. He expected she’d stick around until she completed the job and was compensated, as it was the only means they had of communicating.
“And how much does a life go for these days?” Amanda asked, though not sure she wanted to know.
Corey looked away. “Thirty K.”
“Thirty…” Trent snapped his mouth shut.
“Since I told you about her and the site, I get a deal, right?”
He’d failed to understand her earlier despite saying he had, and she couldn’t care less how much he was given right now for his role. “Who paid you to do this?”
“No. I’m not saying any more until a lawyer is involved and a deal is on the table.”
Amanda gave him a tight smile. “That’s not how this works. You give us information and if it pans out, then we talk about a deal.”
Corey crossed his arms, and Amanda stepped into the hall.
She called Malone to inform him of their conversation with Finch, serving the warrant on Molly in accounting, and theirrelative success with the IT employee. “He’s refusing to tell us who paid him to do this until there’s a lawyer involved and a deal on the table,” she summarized.
“That’s not how this works.”
“That’s what I told him. But we have something in mind that might help us catch the Anaconda Killer.” She laid out their plan.
“Simple, but do you think it will work?”
“There’s no reason it shouldn’t. She’s not getting paid until she finishes the job. We’re going to set it up for tonight at eleven. We’ll have officers on scene for immediate backup should things turn sideways.”
“And you think that setting this up at Sharp’s house is the best plan?”
“I do. It’s believable. The killer must know that Sharp is a strong-willed career lawyer. It’s conceivable she’d return home.”
