“Who owns the restaurant?”Georgie asked.
Hank smiled a respectful smile and told her carefully,“Those leads have been followed and there’s nothing there.If there wassomething hot, it wasn’t uncovered when it should have been, and it’s gonecold.The detectives on this case are solid and they did the work.I hate toadmit it, any cop does, but even if this was my case, I’d keep the file on mydesk, but I’d have no choice but to move on.”
“Same,” Eddie grunted.“And not just because we’repartners.”
“What’s her risk here?”Georgie kept pushing.
“Her risk?”Hank asked.
“Giving a false report to the police,” she stated.“Andsince it’s likely she knows this man, let him in, and is covering for him,abetting a crime.Because it’s a crime, yes?Even if Carlyle’s dad forcedentry, he didn’t do it for nefarious reasons, so a crime was committed.Onethat’s punishable.”
“There would be discussion about that if it was a lovers’spat that he interrupted and they mistakenly shot him, thinking he was anintruder,” Eddie said.“But how this is looking like it actually went down,it’d be hard to stick murder one on them.Though, if the prosecutor gotcreative, and there was something dark they’re hiding, darker even than hercovering for a lover, or other, that something being the reason she’s nottalking, they could get murder two and she could get hit with false reporting andaccessory.”
“So if this guy is found, and if she’s found out, they’ll godown,” Georgie concluded.
“If the evidence is there, the prosecutor doesn’t screw itup, no deal is struck, yeah,” Hank confirmed.
Georgie then looked to Dutch and there was a light burningso bright in her eyes, he felt it scorching his skin.
But it didn’t hurt.
It was beautiful.
“How’s the kid?”Eddie asked.
Dutch tore his attention from Georgiana and looked to Eddie.“Not good.”
“I can imagine,seein’ his dadlike that,” Eddie murmured.
Dutch’s blood ran cold.
It was Georgiana this time who wrapped her hand around hiswrist, but it was like a phantom touch, his focus was hyper-alert on Eddie.
“Seein’ his dad like that?”Dutchasked, his voice sounding funny to his own ears.
Choked.
He felt both Eddie and Hank’s attention sharpen on him butthat was phantom too.
He was staring at Eddie like taking his eyes off the manwould mean he’d forget how to breathe.
“Yeah,” Eddie said slowly.
“Carlyle saw his father dead?”Dutch pressed.
“Dutch, honey,” Georgie whispered, squeezing hard at hiswrist.
He ignored her.
“Followed his dad,” Eddie said carefully.“Didn’t you know?”
Oh Christ.
Followed him?
“Followed him…how?”Dutch forced out.
“His mother tried to stop him, but he followed his dad tohis neighbor’s.He spoke to the police at the scene, said his dad was down bythe time he got up there.He wasn’t dead.When the police got there, the kidwas still pressing on the wound, but it was too late.The carotid was hit.Theman was gone,” Eddie shared.
