Capital Crimes Read Online Free PDF Page A

Seventeen rooms still empty, but Amanda loved the echoes. Larry, though, needed a hobby.
    Derrick Coltrain said, “I wouldn’t mind early retirement if I had all the toys.”
    Giving her a curious look. The unspoken message: what the hell are
you
doing here?
    On a day like this, good question. She’d gone through Grayson’s phone, had progressed to the representative’s state-issued BlackBerry. The woman’s life had been a series of endless meetings. Over the last two years, she’d scheduled one vacation—a trip to Tecate, Mexico. Probably the spa. Amanda and Larry had been there. She loving the exercise, he bemoaning the lack of wireless.
    Coltrain said, “What’s he into, the genius?”
    “He’s thinking of starting up another business.”
    “Hey, let me know when he’s about to go public.”
    Tandy Halligan said, “By the time it goes public, it’ll be too late.” She began the process of examining the body. Going slowly, nervous, which wasn’t like her. But what if the head detached from the body?
    Carefully, she lifted each hand, examined digits closely. “No ligature marks on the wrists. Fingers and nails look clean and undisturbed, doesn’t appear there’s much, if anything, to scrape.”
    Steeling herself, she rotated the head to get a side view of the face.
    “No scratch marks on the right side…none on the left either. But there is a sizeable bruise on her forehead.”
    “She was sitting at her desk, someone came from behind, shot her and she fell forward,” Amanda said. “Or she napped through the whole thing and the impact bounced her forehead into the desk. The floor is old wood planks, it squeaks when you walk on it. Alone, late at night, if she was awake she’d have heard someone behind her.”
    Tandy said, “Unless she was too focused. Like talking on the phone, or typing.”
    Amanda wondered if there had been an intruder. No pry marks on the front entrance, the lock was a dead bolt, solid, in working order. The windows also appeared untouched. “Or she wasn’t concerned because it was someone she knew. Which doesn’t negate the sneak-up-and-blow scenario if the killer paid her two visits. The first was a ruse, to get the door unlocked. The second was to blast her.”
    Derrick Coltrain said, “Can I suggest something? Sometimes representatives make a fetish about keeping their doors open. To be accessible, kind of a Berkeley thing.”
    “At that hour?”
    No answer.
    Amanda said, “Any idea when she was murdered?”
    “Maybe six to eight hours ago but that’s just a guess.”
    Will entered the office and heard that. “Between two and four AM ?”
    “It’s a guess,” said Tandy. “Ask Dr. Srinivasan.”
    Amanda said, “No pries on windows or doors. You know her to leave her door open?”
    “She had a rep for hospitality,” Barnes said. “Continuous coffeepot, plate of crullers. For anyone who stopped in, including the homeless. It was chilly last night. Maybe she let one of them crash in the outer office while she worked. Maybe he had a psychotic break.”
    “A homeless man with a shotgun?”
    Barnes shrugged.
    Amanda said, “I went through her cell calls last night. Lots came in but she only returned a few. One she returned was to a Donald Newell in Sacramento—”
    “Donnie’s a homicide detective.” Barnes sighed. “I think they were friends in high school.”
    “Another homeboy. How big was your town?”
    “Big, but small. Shit, I wonder if Donnie knows. I’ll give him a call.”
    Simultaneously they looked back at the body. Tandy was in the process of wrapping it up in plastic sheeting when screaming outside the office froze her. Through the window, Amanda saw two policemen trying to restrain a hysterical young woman. She was trim with shoulder-length platinum hair, pink cheeks, and Marilyn Monroe lips. Tight black leotard top over low-rider jeans, high-heeled sandals.
    The two detectives rushed outside.
    “What’s going on?”
    “I’m going in!”