Love Inspired Suspense April 2015 #1 Read Online Free PDF Page A

set in a circle around the case. As he led Lana closer, Adam noted bright red blood sprinkled on the floor amongst shards of glass. Lana’s blood.
    â€œWhat do you have?” Adam asked as the detective halted in front of them.
    David’s mouth lifted at one corner. “Former Special Agent Adam Donovan. Didn’t realize we’d invited the K-9 unit to the party.”
    Adam flinched at the reminder of his past. He could feel Lana’s curious gaze on his face like an itch, but he refused to scratch. “This break-in may be related to an active investigation of ours.”
    After giving Lana an interested once-over, David bounced his gaze back to Adam, a question in his eyes.
    â€œWhere’s the arrow?” Lana asked, drawing David’s attention back to her.
    Knowing he had to tread lightly to ensure cooperation, Adam said, “This is Lana Gomez.”
    David’s eyes widened then narrowed. “I see. The artifact is with the crime scene technicians.” He turned his sharp-eyed gaze on Adam. “You poaching the case, Donovan?”
    â€œMore like hoping we can work together.” Adam kept his voice neutral. “As I said, part of an open investigation.”
    If push came to shove, Adam knew Captain McCord would involve the woman who’d formed the K-9 unit, the president’s special in-house security chief, General Margaret Meyer. The former four-star general would have no problem taking the case away from the local PD if necessary. Adam, however, preferred to keep interagency relations on good terms.
    David cocked an eyebrow. “Ah, you show me yours, I’ll show you mine?”
    Adam’s lips twitched. “Something like that.”
    David’s attention transferred back to Lana. “I’m sure you’ve already filled my friend, here, in, but we like to conduct our own interviews. Are you up to giving your statement to an officer?”
    Lana nodded. “Yes, sir.”
    â€œGarrison,” David called to a young uniformed officer. “Take Miss Gomez’s statement.”
    Once Lana was out of earshot, David said, “Spill.”
    â€œThere’s a connection between Miss Gomez and the Jeffries case,” Adam went on to explain.
    David grimaced. “Nasty business.”
    Motioning for Adam and Ace to follow him to the back of the museum, the detective pointed to a spot on the gleaming white marble floor beneath an oil painting of the Capitol building. Black scuff marks showed in stark contrast, clearly indicating a struggle.
    â€œThe intruder came up behind the security guard and placed him in a choke hold,” David continued. “Guard passed out and dropped like a bag of stones in the Potomac.”
    Adam frowned as he surveyed the area. The guard would have seen the intruder coming. Did that mean he knew his attacker? But for a choke hold to work, the guard would have had his back turned on the intruder. More pieces of the puzzle that weren’t fitting together. “Has the guard been released from the hospital?”
    â€œYes, he was released last night. He suffered no ill effects from the attack. Right now he’s in the security office with my officers.”
    â€œI’d like a moment with him. How did the intruder enter?”
    â€œThe perp bypassed the security system by jerry-rigging a bladeRF radio device to the system’s keypad and jamming the signal while providing a phony rogue cell network for the keypad to latch on to. So when the intruder entered and the alarm sent a signal, it didn’t really go anywhere, which allowed the intruder to enter undetected.”
    Keeping Ace at his heels, Adam headed for the smashed display case where a short man wearing the blue coveralls of the crime scene unit was placing the artifact back on its velvet bed. “This is where the intruder attacked Miss Gomez.”
    â€œOur best guess is she interrupted the unidentified suspect before he could