Page 63 of Viper

Troy cursed. “You fucking serious?”

“Yup. I suspect we’re gonna find a lot of shit that’s been buried, depending on this cop’s rank.”

“Is he one of the officers on the case?”

“I’m assuming so. Officer Don Hedley. Did you meet him at all?”

“Can’t remember.”

“Took the liberty of tracking down his picture.” Havoc flicked on his computer and turned it to face him.

A middle-aged man with thinning gray hair, brown eyes, and glasses filled the screen. There was something familiar about him. “He could’ve been there the night I got Paige off the boat.”

“That would explain why they never found Craig.”

He cursed again and got to his feet, raking his hand through his hair. “What info do we have on him?” he managed to say, through the tight pinch in his chest.

“Address. Not much else.”

“We need to know more about Craig’s ties to this area. He’s an investment banker and friends with the dispensary owner—what’s his name?”

“William Barre.”

He rubbed his chin as his mind sorted facts. “Right. So Craig’s obviously spent enough time here to not only get to know people, but also sink his teeth in them. Blackmail, extortion, whatever.”

He wasn’t coming to any groundbreaking conclusions, but talking it out made his wheels spin faster.

Havoc’s fingers moved swiftly over the keys.

Anger simmered inside Troy. He wanted to find Don Hedley and put his head through a wall. “What are you looking up?”

“Doing a background on the cop. It’s gonna take some time though, since he’s not a regular Joe.”

Troy sighed and tapped his touch pad. “I’ll see what more I can find on Craig.”

They worked side by side in silence, occasionally showing each other something that could turn into a lead. The next time Troy glanced at the clock, it was after 1:30 a.m. They’d been working steadily for an hour.

He’d learned that Craig had graduated from a local school before moving to Tampa to study finance, accounting, and economics. He’d graduated from college in 2003.

Now he was searching for any articles that might mention the guy. When nothing popped up, he searched the college and graduation year.

Young woman brutally murdered off campus.

He froze. “Holy shit.”

“Hmm?” Havoc said absently.

“Check this out.” He inched his computer closer to his friend and clicked the link. “Found this from 2003.”

On Friday night a twenty-four-year-old student was brutally raped and murdered off campus. Her body was found near the shore of Ben T. Davis Beach. Police are asking anyone with information to please come forward.

He balled his hand into a fist and reread the words until the letters blurred on the bright-white background.

“Sounds like him.” Havoc pulled away from the screen as if reading it again would haunt him.

Troy brought his focus back to learning about Craig. The asshole had only one social media account that was public. Lots of pictures of him on his yacht indicated he traveled often. If the guy had a wife or girlfriend, she wasn’t mentioned online.

“What about women?” Havoc asked, his mind clearly on the same track as Troy’s.