Kill Fee

Kill Fee Read Online Free PDF Page B

Book: Kill Fee Read Online Free PDF
Author: Owen Laukkanen
Tags: thriller, Suspense, Mystery
warehouses before he found the place. He parked, showed his badge to a couple security guards, navigated the metal detector, and rode the elevator up to Criminal Investigations and cut through the office to Windermere’s cubicle. Set a paper bag of takeout Thai on her desk and grinned at her. “Brand-new building and they still can’t get you a real office, huh?”
    Windermere scowled. “Nope. I took down Arthur Pender and Carter Tomlin and I still can’t get any privacy, Stevens.”
    “Wait a second,” said Stevens. “
We
took down Pender and Tomlin. I think I helped a little.”
    “You got an office yet? I rest my case.” Windermere eyed the bag. “What’d you bring me?”
    “Pad Thai,” said Stevens. “It’s decent.”
    Windermere rolled her eyes. “It’s Minnesota, Stevens.”
    “Better than Taco Bell. What’s the story?”
    “Yeah.” Windermere unpacked the bag. Set a foil takeout plate on her desk and removed the cardboard top. Studied the contents for a moment, her face impassive. Then she glanced at him. “Pull up a chair.”
    Stevens pulled a chair over. Sat down and listened as Windermere explained the situation in between bites of pad Thai.
    “So the rental car guy, Salazar,” she said, chewing, “he’s not the shooter. Omaha brought him in, flew him back here. He had a little tantrum in the interview room. Broke an FBI chair, but he never killed anyone.”
    “But he rented the car.”
    Windermere shook her head. “He didn’t even. And he got pretty mad when I had the gall to suggest he would ever rent from Liberty. Apparently he’s an Emerald Club member, whatever that means.”
    “National?”
    “Rented a white Chrysler 300C,” said Windermere. “Had it all week. Brought it back a half hour before our shooter returned his Chevy hatchback.”
    Stevens reached into the bag and pulled out a second foil container. Cashew chicken. “A half hour.”
    “A half hour, Stevens. Right about the time our shooter was giving me the cold shoulder in the parking lot.”
    “So what’s Salazar’s play? How does he fit?”
    “He doesn’t,” she said. “He swears he’s innocent. Right now, I have no reason to suspect otherwise.”
    “You account for his whereabouts on Saturday? Do a background check, all that? Look for any ties to Spenser Pyatt?”
    Windermere pointed across the office to a young kid bent over a computer. “Mathers’s on it,” she said. “We’re working this case. So far, we have nothing. Salazar spent the whole week selling manure at some trade show. Has witnesses putting him at the RiverCentre all Saturday morning. And then he was in transit at the time of the shooting.”
    “Guy’s got a clean background.” Stevens looked up to find Windermere’s new partner standing beside him. Mathers, she’d called him. The kid was clean-cut and damned tall. He nodded at Stevens and then turned to Windermere. “No criminal record anywhere. No ties to Pyatt, at least not superficially. Maybe there’s something in his background.”
    “Keep looking,” said Windermere. “A Minnesota TV billionaire and a fertilizer salesman from Iowa. Who the hell knows?”
    Mathers nodded again and walked back to his workstation. Stevens watched him go. “Your new partner?” he asked Windermere.
    Windermere grinned at him.
    “Where’d you find him, the Bureau day care?”
    “He’s a good kid,” she said. “Kind of goofy, but he saves me the grunt work.” Her smile faded. “Anyway, Stevens, this damn case is starting to give me a headache. I can’t hold Salazar, and I’m not sure I want to.”
    “You think he’s clean.”
    She nodded. “My instinct says yes.”
    “You check out the airport? Maybe they have something on tape.”
    “Just about to,” she said. “Was just waiting on you.”
    Stevens stared at her. “That’s why you called me in? To ride out to the airport?”
    Windermere shook her head. “No,” she said. “I need a statement. You witnessed the
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