Unforgivable Read Online Free PDF Page B

Clovis?”
    “There you go. Clovis. Vic’s mom helped her move into the apartment, doesn’t recognize the cord. We’re thinking the perp might have brought it with him,maybe had it stashed under his coat. Clovis is supposed to run it down for us, see if there’s anything unusual about it.”
    Clovis, like so many experts at the Delphi Center, had access to a mind-boggling assortment of databases— cord, rope, fibers, tape, cigarettes, auto paint. The tracers could track down the origin of practically any forensic evidence imaginable.
    “Mind if I call him and request a look?”
    “Hell, I’ll call him for you,” Kubcek said. “You really think you might get something?”
    Mia sensed someone behind her and swiveled on her stool. Her boss stood in the doorway.
    “I won’t know until I have a look. Ask Clovis to send it up here as soon as he’s finished with it.”
    Harvey Snyder was the head DNA specialist at the Delphi Center. Fortunately, he preferred to leave the real work to his underlings, which meant he mostly stayed out of Mia’s way. Less fortunately, he had a gold-plated résumé and some impressive connections in his field, which meant that he wouldn’t be leaving his coveted post anytime soon.
    “I presume you’ve been down to HR to inquire about your new badge.” He said it as a statement, not a question, and she felt a spurt of annoyance.
    Snyder stepped into her workroom and glanced around. He was one of those short, wiry guys who compensated for his size by puffing out his chest and flaunting his authority. Peering up from his desk yesterday, he’d reminded Mia of a weasel. But standing in front of her right now, he looked more like a meerkat.
    “I stopped by on my way in,” Mia said pleasantly.“They said they’d have a new one ready for me by the end of the day.”
    She met and held his gaze. If he’d come up here to admonish her yet again for misplacing her ID badge, he was going to be disappointed. Given last night’s events, she was well past the point of getting weepy-eyed over a reprimand from her boss.
    “I understand you had quite an eventful evening.” Now he sounded smug.
    Mia sighed inwardly. She hadn’t wanted anyone at work to ask about what happened, but of course, that was impossible. Her name had been kept out of the newspaper—a miracle she felt sure Ric Santos had played a part in—but law enforcement was a close-knit community that thrived on gossip. It was only a matter of time before everyone she worked with knew the identity of the unnamed “Delphi Center staffer” who was involved in yesterday’s homicide.
    “Are you sure it’s wise for you to be here?” Snyder asked. “You’re welcome to take a personal day if you’re feeling less than a hundred percent. I’d hate for your work to suffer.”
    Yeah, right. He’d love for her work to suffer. It would give him an excuse to get rid of her. As it was, he had nothing on her, so he’d made an issue of her one slip-up in two years at the Delphi Center: misplacing her ID badge when she went to the gym this week. Snyder had used her “reckless disregard for security” as an excuse to take her down a peg.
    “I’m perfectly fine,” she said. “One hundred percent, absolutely.” She replaced her eye shields, hoping he’d take the hint.
    Instead, he leaned a hand on the counter. “By the way, you’ll be getting a package up from Evidence soon. Three packages, actually, submitted by the San Marcos Police Department.”
    “Okay.”
    “It’s a murder case. The DA called me Wednesday and specifically requested you for the analysis. I told her how backed up you’ve been”—as if the nationwide back-log of DNA testing was a result of Mia’s ineptitude— “but she insisted. Female solidarity, I guess you would call it.”
    Mia gritted her teeth. He’d sat on this for two days, no doubt to show the district attorney that he wouldn’t be pushed around. Forget about expediency. Forget that there were