Free The Watched (CSI Reilly Steel #4) by CASEY HILL Page B

under different circumstances. Not, he had to admit, that he limited himself to a specific type. It was more about the intelligent fire he saw in the eyes, no matter the color. At the moment, he had a pair of light gray ones sneaking into his thoughts; light gray framed by blond hair, sparkling as perfectly shaped l ips curved upward in a smile.
    Bradley’s words cut through the reverie. ‘Peni Westmore from the Cyber Crimes Unit, meet Todd Forrest.’
    ‘Daniel Forrest’s son, impressive. Though no doubt there are some latent daddy issues.’ She winked at Todd. ‘Another time maybe. Now, where’s this stuff I’m supposed to take a look at?’
    Todd motioned to the table, amused despite himself. He liked the way she handled herself even if he didn’t care for the mention of his father. Still, he guessed he should have been used to that by now. It had been hard enough trying to overcome the specter of the respected criminologist when Daniel was still at Quantico. But when he’d moved down to the beach house permanently last year and started working with the department, all bets were off.
    ‘ Am I looking for something specific?’ she asked, her tone becoming more professional.
    ‘ Pretty much anything you can give us is good.’ Todd stood and stretched. His joints were stiff from sitting so long.
    ‘ This makes us even now, Bradley.’ Peni pulled on a pair of gloves.
    ‘ I don’t know about that . . .’ he said.
    ‘ I do. I’m missing Ivy’s poetry reading. Do you know how pissed she’s going to be?’
    ‘ Sleeping on the couch tonight, then?’ he grinned and Todd turned to look, intrigued by this revelation about her sexuality. He never would have guessed.
    ‘ Thanks to you.’
    Bradley chuckled. ‘ Just yell if you find something interesting.’
    ‘Erm, sir?’ Emilie cleared her throat across the room, ‘I finished the analysis comparison you asked for. Only some of the sand and debris from the bodies matches the soil sample you took from the scene.’
    ‘ And the rest?’ Bradley asked, all playfulness gone now.
    ‘Dr Kase found dried leaves and wood slivers not consistent with the crime scene photos,’ Emilie continued. ‘In fact, it’s not consistent with any beach.’
    ‘ Could all of that have come from being transported in the back of the truck?’ Todd asked.
    ‘ Get me a sample to match and I can tell you for certain,’ Emilie said. ‘But that’s as good a theory as any. What I can tell you is that the extra sand that doesn’t match with the crime scene has a higher concentration of quartz, which is consistent with a stretch of beach approximately fifteen miles from where the bodies were found.’
    ‘ Good work,’ Bradley said.
    ‘ The trace came back on the 911 call too,’ she went on.
    Todd sighed. ‘Let me guess, burner cell, no way to track who made it.’
    Emilie nodded. ‘And it hasn’t been used since that call was made.’
    ‘ Do you think we can get a hold of the call?’
    ‘ I’ll see what I can do,’ Emilie said as she returned to her desk.
    ‘ Damn.’ Peni sounded impressed.
    ‘ What?’ Bradley and Todd turned their attention to the cyber expert.
    She looked up from the laptop. ‘This guy’s good.’
    ‘ So he was watching then?’ Bradley said, crossing to his friend.
    ‘ He wasn’t just watching.’ Peni pointed to a set of specs. ‘See this here? Your unsub sent the footage to an email address. This is some serious encryption.’ She shook her head. ‘I can’t crack it tonight though, not with this laptop.’
    ‘ What do you need?’ Bradley asked.
    ‘My own equipment.’ Her expression was serious. ‘Whoever this guy is, he knows what he’s doing.’
    The phone rang and as Bradley reached for it, Todd mulled over the new information. The killer had come prepared with chloroform, and had stolen a truck that could transport the victims. He’d set up cameras to not only watch the kill he’d staged, but to keep a record of it, for what