Karen Vail 01 - Velocity Read Online Free PDF Page B

eyes remained on the carpet. “Whatever happened here, there was substantial blood loss.”
    “Not enough that someone bled out,” Dixon said. “Right?”
    “Probably not. But the sooner you can get Detective Hernandez’s DNA—”
    “Whoever caused that wound didn’t want anyone finding it,” Dixon said. “They cleaned it pretty good. We didn’t see anything.”
    “Nothing,” Aaron said, “until the luminol.”
    Vail nodded slowly. She pul ed her BlackBerry and tapped out an email to Bledsoe, asking him to go over to Robby’s house and get some hair from his bathroom, as wel as his toothbrush. She told him to overnight the hair to the Sheriff’s Department, and to bring the other sample to the FBI lab.
    “Can you send a section of the carpet pad to the FBI?” Vail asked.
    Aaron, who had begun packing his case, froze. His set jaw and narrowed eyes said al that needed to be said.
    “I want a second set of eyes looking at this. No offense.”
    “You know,” Aaron said, “whenever someone says, ‘No offense,’ it’s usual y preceded or fol owed by an offensive remark. And why shouldn’t I take offense that you don’t trust my work?”
    “Matt,” Dixon said. “Please. Just do it.” She tapped Vail on the shoulder and extended a hand. Vail grabbed it and Dixon pul ed her up.
    Vail sighed deeply, then looked around the room. She had only stayed there a couple of nights, but they held intense memories of Robby. Her eyes lingered on the bed, where they had spent their last hours together.
    No. Not our last. Please, not our last.

    7
    A s Dixon drove back to the Sheriff’s Department, Vail left a voice mail for her son Jonathan to cal her when he took his lunch break, or between classes if he had enough time.
    They used their electronic proximity cards to enter the secured section of the building and headed to the task force conference room, where Brix was seated beside Merilynn Lugo. The woman’s face was streaked and flushed.
    Vail sat beside her. “I’m glad you came. We sure could use your help.”
    Brix shook his head. “She’s here because she wants our help.”
    “Of course,” Dixon said. She remained standing, across the conference table from Merilynn and Vail. “Anything.”
    Brix cleared his throat and curled his face into a squint.
    Reading Brix’s expression, Vail guessed they were thinking the same thing: blindly offering “anything” was dangerous.
    “She wants witness protection,” Brix said. “ Federal witness protection.”
    There was a long silence as Vail and Dixon processed her request. Merilynn kept her gaze on the table, apparently content to let Brix do the talking for the moment.
    “To get that,” Vail final y said, “to even get consideration, you’d have to level with us. Tel us everything you know.”
    “I can’t live like this anymore,” Merilynn said. “I need protection.”
    “Protection from what?” Dixon said.
    “WITSEC, the witness security program, isn’t something that’s given out lightly,”
    Vail said. “There are procedures and requirements. It has to be approved.”
    “You’re the FBI, you can make it happen.”
    Vail shook her head. “It’s not like that, Mrs. Lugo. The FBI doesn’t administer WITSEC. The Department of Justice does. Application has to be made to the Office of Enforcement Operations, and it has to be approved by DOJ
    headquarters. Then you’re interviewed by the U.S. Marshals Service, which oversees the program, to determine if you’re a good fit.”
    “You have to understand the reason why WITSEC exists,” Dixon said.
    “Witnesses are given protection because of testimony they agree to provide against another criminal the government’s trying to build a case against. In exchange for that testimony, the government relocates you, gives you a new identity and financial backing to make it work.”
    “Don’t take this the wrong way,” Brix said, “but you don’t have any testimony we need. John Mayfield,