Free The Gender Experiment: (A Thriller) by L.J. Sellers Page A

hurried out before her boss gave her a different assignment. Bailey could afford to be choosy about what cases she took because the director loved her work. She’d tracked down a power-mad CEO who’d kidnapped scientists—and a North Korean cryptologist—in his quest to dominate the cell phone market. In doing so, she’d averted another crisis with the North Korean government, and that had moved her to the top of the director’s list of rising stars. Yet Lennard was still her boss, and Bailey had to play every situation to her advantage. She should have tried to show empathy for Lennard, but that emotion wasn’t real to her, and she’d never learned to fake it.
    On her way out to meet Garrett for lunch, her phone rang with a Colorado area code. She turned back to her desk. “Agent Bailey.”
    “Detective Miller with the Colorado Springs Police Department returning your call. Why is the FBI interested in Bonnie Yost’s murder?”
    “She’s the sister-in-law of Owen Granger, leader of the Freedom Guardians, an armed militant group that doesn’t recognize the authority of the federal government.”
    A pause. “I hadn’t learned that yet.” The detective cleared his throat. “On the surface, the homicide looks like a burglary gone bad. But her car was in the driveway, so the perp had to know she was home.”
    “What was stolen?”
    “Her cell phone was missing and there was no computer in the house, but we’re still trying to interview people who knew her. She was mostly a loner.”
    The missing items could have been taken to make the homicide look like a robbery. “Have you run prints?”
    “There were none on the murder weapon, and those we took from the house didn’t match anyone in our database.”
    “Any witnesses or leads?”
    “We have a suspect we’re hoping to pick up soon.”
    “Who?”
    “We don’t know her name yet, but we’re watching for her.”
    A woman?
That surprised Bailey. “What’s her connection to the case?”
    “We don’t know that either, but she was seen outside the victim’s house at the time of the murder.” A pause, as though he hesitated to give her too much information. “The suspect was seen at the clinic right before as well.”
    “What’s the description?”
    “Young, slender, maybe still a teenager. Straight dark hair and attractive.”
    A teenager? Odder still.
“Will you update me if you find her?”
    “Sure.”
    Bailey gave him her cell number but didn’t expect to hear anything. She’d had to drag every nugget of intel out of him. After she clicked off the call, the young ages of the two accident victims in Denver came to mind. Particularly, Logan Hurtz, who was connected to the clinic. This was all related somehow, and she felt an urgent need to figure it out. But was it a federal matter that could justify the attention of the Critical Incident Unit? Her boss didn’t think so. Yet.
    Bailey called the Denver police again. Maybe they could tell her something about Hurtz’s death that would connect him to Owen Granger, who was someone of interest to the CIU. The transfer took a few minutes, but she finally reached Detective Pat Delphy’s phone and was asked to leave a message. The voice wasn’t distinctively male or female and neither was the name. Bailey didn’t particularly care, but it would be nice to know before they talked.
    Her cell phone rang, and she looked at the ID.
Garrett!
She’d been on her way out to meet him for lunch and had gotten sidetracked.
Oh hell.
Garrett understood the nature of her job, but this kind of thing bothered him. He would also be upset to learn she might be leaving town again soon. The thought of his distress caused a tug on her heart. Not guilt. She never felt that. But some level of empathy. A new experience since she’d met him. He was the one person she’d ever really connected to—besides her father. Yet she didn’t empathize with her father because he didn’t feel much pain. Garrett was a kind soul