Free Still Life: The Randi Lassiter Series, Book 1 by DB Kennison Page B

porch ceiling at the corner of the building, in a prime location to take in the entire area, just like what she had seen on the video.
    She stood on tiptoe and put her head against the log siding to get a look behind the camera housing. At first glance, everything appeared normal but as she looked closer, a chill ran up her spine. She could see the wiring that ran from the back of the camera housing into the lodge. Randi heard Georgia quietly come up behind her and gasp.
    Someone had severed the camera wires clean through.

Chapter Fourteen
    Terri had waited as long as she could. Driving home from the crime lab, they were out of city traffic and stuck behind a tractor hauling a manure spreader, as good a time as any to make another push. “So who was the chick on stilts and why did you become a gibbering idiot in front of her?”
    Jon groaned. “Her name’s Rebecca Howell…”
    “Yes, I remember.” She looked over at him so she could see his face. “That’s not what I meant.”
    “She’s someone I knew from Milwaukee,” he mumbled toward the passenger side window.
    “Really? She seemed nice enough. Did you work with her or date her?”
    Jon hedged on his answer. “Worked with.”
    “Spill it, this is your partner you’re talking to.”
    “Hey, I just didn’t expect to see her, you know. Caught me off guard.”
    “So what does she do at the Department of Justice?”
    “She transferred to the DOJ a year ago to take a position inside the DCI.”
    Terri slowed down to avoid the trail of cow crap that the farmer was leaving on the road. “Wow, Division of Criminal Investigation. That’s exciting stuff.” Her eyes widened but Jon did not elaborate, and it got quiet in the car.
    Terri broke the heavy silence after another five miles. “So you know that call I got while you were finishing up paperwork?”
    Jon narrowed his eyes. “Do I even want to know?”
    “Don’t think so but I’m going to tell you anyway.” She bit her lip. “We might have positive ID on the vic.”
    His brows arched up. “Can’t be from latents, we already know she’s not in the system.” He eyed her suspiciously. “How?”
    “It was the Lassiter woman.”
    “What do you mean it was the Lassiter woman?”
    “Seems she did some digging and figured out the woman was staying at a bed and breakfast just outside town. She’s already gone to talk to the owner.”
    There was a hard line to Jon’s lips, but he remained silent.
    “What the hell. Might as well throw fuel on the fire…” Terri paused, gauging his mood. “Lassiter said to tell you that someone tampered with the security systems out there and that she made certain not to contaminate anything this time.”
    “Christ. How in the world…in less than forty-eight hours…and we couldn’t even…” The rest was unintelligible.
    Terri shrugged. “It’s a small town. Not much gets by the locals around here.”
    “Hell, you’re a local. The guys at the station are local. Why in hell didn’t we know about this first?”
    “Wacko would probably say we’re too busy following official protocol.”
    “Well, this small-town shit is making the PD look like imbeciles.”
    “Careful now. Remember, you’re a newly minted member of that team.”
    “Can I presume that you’ve already dispatched one of said imbeciles to that B&B and that we will be meeting them out there shortly?”
    Terri smiled. “Yes, but I need something to eat first.”
    Jon didn’t argue. They were both quiet as they watched the sun sink over the limestone bluffs and set the sky on fire with streaks of red and orange. A few miles down the road she pulled into a bar in Riverton, the sign outside advertising Taco Tuesday.
    As they made their way across the gravel lot Terri asked, “So which arm did you break snowboarding?”
    Jon’s head snapped up. “What? How do you know about that?” He held his left arm up as if some indication of the long ago injury showed.
    Terri couldn’t hide her smile.