1
“Stop. Right there,” I said, pointing at the large display screen in the security office. “Who is she?”
Drexel zoomed in. Even in 4K, the nurse wasn’t identifiable.
The camera had captured an angle of the suspect entering Miguel Gomez’s room. She wore teal scrubs, and her raven hair tickled her mid-back. A surgical mask covered her face. From this angle, all we saw was her backside. Not a bad angle. She had a shapely figure, but she was a killer, no doubt.
Drexel scrubbed through the footage. The woman exited the patient’s room a few minutes later. She kept her head down. Her long hair obscured her face. Sunglasses covered her eyes. She hurried out of frame and disappeared.
The ID badge on her uniform was unreadable on camera. Maybe it could be enhanced. There was no doubt in my mind it was fake. No point in wasting time or resources.
The assailant had worn surgical gloves. There would be no fingerprints.
“Toxicology found rocuronium in Miguel’s system,” Sheriff Daniels said. “The assailant must have injected it into his IV. Gomez didn’t stand a chance.”
It was maddening. Miguel Gomez was our only link to Catalina Navarro.
Drexel pulled up other feeds, and we tried to track the movement of the Angel of Death. But she was keen to the cameras. She left the building, made her way across the parking lot, and disappeared.
Catalina was still in jail. Otherwise, she’d have been my prime suspect. Still, there was no doubt in my mind Catalina was pulling the strings. From her cell in the pod, she could run the cartel. The Navarro gang had long arms. Nobody was beyond their grasp.
I would come to know just how deadly their reach was.
Drexel exported the footage and sent download links to the sheriff. We thanked him for his cooperation, then stepped out of the security office and into the hallway.
“You know Catalina is going to walk,” Daniels said with a somber face. “Without Gomez, we’ve got nothing to connect her to the assassination attempt of Senator Bergen, and nothing to connect her to the jewelry heist.”
I gave a grim nod.
“I’ve got to pull you and that nitwit off this case.”
Frustration tensed my jaw. “You can’t do that.”
“You’ve got a clear conflict of interest.”
“No conflict. I want to see her go down as much as anyone else.”
“You slept with her, Wild,” he quipped.
I shrugged innocently. “That was before I knew she was a cartel boss.”
Daniels stifled an eye roll. “Stay away from her and this case. I don’t need the aggravation.”
“Who are you going to put on it?”
“I’ll think of somebody,” he said as he walked away.
My lips tightened. I didn’t like it, but itwasa can of worms. One I didn’t need to open. It was probably best if I walked away and forgot all about Catalina. But she had a memorable quality.
I left the hospital and made my way back to theAvventura. When I pulled into the lot, two FBI agents hopped out of their black SUV and approached. Special Agents Jennings and Beckett both had smug grins on their faces.
This wasn’t my first encounter with them.
In their mid-30s, Jennings was taller with a flat top and light brown hair. He was more bulky than Beckett, who was a little shorter. Shorty had dark hair and an athletic physique.
“Well, looks like your friend isn’t so innocent after all,” Jennings said, rubbing it in.
I shot him an annoyed look.
