Free Bad Break by CJ Lyons Page A

absent from her office?
    The video resumed, grabbing Lucy’s attention. It centered on Fleming, duct tape over his eyes and restraining his wrists, sitting on a toilet in a tiny bathroom—probably on the cabin cruiser, Lucy thought. It looked like that kind of tight space. The Pastor’s color was gray, his lips parched, speech strained. No obvious cuts or blood and his clothing didn’t appear damaged, but the camera was shaky and mainly focused on his face.
    “They want a million dollars. Deliver it and my insulin tomorrow or they’ll let me—” His voice broke. “I’m going to die.”
    And that was it. Except for the final frames when the person manning the cell phone went to stop the recording and swung the phone just enough that a mirror on the back of the bathroom door came into view. Along with Mateo’s face and upper body. His eyes were wide—Gant would probably assess him as “crazed,” but Lucy thought the kid looked scared and confused.
    “This whole scenario doesn’t make sense,” Lucy argued.
    “Of course it doesn’t. What would you expect from a teenaged perpetrator? Maybe it started out as a crime of opportunity that went wrong. Mateo knew he’d be the first person suspected—especially with your daughter coming any minute—so he made it look like the type of crime scene you’d only find on TV. Things just went too far, he lost control.”
    Hayden paused. “I’m grateful to you. Your suggestion that we test all the blood was very helpful. We found a second blood type in addition to Pastor Fleming’s A positive.”
    “Where?”
    “B negative. Pretty rare. Same type as Mateo, according to his mother. And we found it exactly where you’d expect it if he did attack Fleming.”
    “On the knife.” It was common for attackers wielding knives to cut themselves as their grip on the blade slipped.
    “Not something a subject faking a crime scene would be likely to know or think to do. So far, that’s all they found. It’s a lot of blood to process and I told them to check every area, not just take a random sampling.” She grimaced. “I’m pretty much blowing my department’s budget on this one case, so there’d better be some answers.”
    Lucy tried to imagine a scenario that would fit the evidence. “Staging that scene would have taken time. Mateo’s uncle said he was supposed to be at Fleming’s house at three, but that’s also when he said he’d meet Megan.”
    “His family told us he left their house half past one. Even on his bike, he’d be at Fleming’s place well before two. Gives him plenty of time to grab the money, get interrupted by Fleming, stage the crime scene, and grab Fleming.” Hayden frowned. “Or maybe he needed Fleming to get the combination to the safe. Maybe Mateo was the one who called Fleming and asked him to come home early.”
    Lucy still wasn’t buying it. “Okay, but if he’s vicious enough to torture Fleming, why not just kill him once he got what he wanted? Why take him? A hostage adds a ton of complications and slows him down.”
    “A chance for more money? But that is a lot of risk. He could have just taken the money and run.”
    “My point exactly.” Lucy paced to the doorway and looked across the bullpen to where Megan was comforting Mateo’s mother. She wondered about Mrs. Fleming. Who was comforting her? Why wasn’t she here? “How was the video sent?”
    “Anonymous account. They texted Shelly with the link. Got so upset, we had to get her some valium. She’s at my house resting now.”
    Lucy wished she’d been here to see Shelly’s reaction to the ransom video. This whole thing didn’t feel right. “Let’s look at it another way. What story did our actors want to tell with the scene?”
    Hayden pursed her lips. “That the Pastor didn’t give up the money without a struggle. That he was hurt badly. That he might still be alive despite all the blood.”
    She paused, then jerked her chin, her body straightening. “Kid