AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Damnit. I sure as fuck hoped that wasn’t the case here. Given Delilah’s condition, there was no way in Hell the assailant inflicted an assault that heinous without busting up his hands and knuckles. I guarantee there was DNA on that mask, possibly fingerprints—
“Wait…Was he wearing gloves?”
Delilah thought back and then blinked, her lips parting. “Actually, yeah. He was.”
I frowned then, sighing. Shit. No fingerprints then.
“Do you remember what he was wearing?”
“Not specifically, no,” she replied, frowning miserably. “I remember the gloves because even now I can still feel the leather pressing against my mouth.” She swallowed and then reached a hand up and began tenderly rubbing her bruised throat. “And around my neck. As far as the rest of it goes, I really don’t know. I want to say he was wearing regular clothes. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help but that’s literally everything I remember.”
“I think we’ve got everything we need for now.”
I rose to my feet, digging into my pocket to hand her my card.
“Rhodes? Hutch?”
“Yeah, we’re good,” said Hutch. “We’ll be in contact, Delilah. Be safe out there, kid.”
She nodded. “Thanks.”
“You guys hungry?” Detective Rhodes asked when we stepped out of the hospital room and began our trek back to the lobby. “We have a lot of ground to cover, so I thought we could discuss things over brunch. My treat.”
I wasn’t about to reject free food, so I agreed to the proposal and told them I’d meet them at the restaurant.
Detective Hutch downed his cup of coffee not even thirty seconds after the waitress had placed it on the table, looking frustrated because now he had no choice but to wait for her to come back with the coffee pot.
“Rhodes said you two pulled an all-nighter,” I said as I sipped my water, frowning at him. I was sitting across from him in the corner of the L-shaped booth with my case file and menu in front of me on the table. Detective Rhodes had excused himself to the bathroom and should be back any minute. “That bad, huh?”
“It is when you have fifty suspects stacked on your plate.”
I coughed mid sip, damn near choking on my water. “I’m sorry, did you just say fifty?”
“We eliminated about half of them last night,” he told me, looking away to cover his mouth as he began releasing one of the largest yawns I’d ever seen in my life.
“What?” I asked, my brows crinkled. Obviously, I’d misheard him. “How? You mean to tell me you gathered over twenty DNA swabs overnight? There’s no way in hell the lab—”
“No,” he said thickly. “We didn’t gather any DNA because we didn’t need to. Everything we need is all over the security feed.”
I slightly cocked my head at him, my brows furrowing. “I’m afraid I don’t understand, Detective.”
He tiredly rubbed his eyes and scuffled his fingers through his black hair, sighing as he gaped around the restaurant for both our waitress and his partner. Thankfully, Detective Rhodes had turned the corner and was headed our way. He approached the table, raising his brows at Hutch, and then turned, offering me a charming smile as he slid into the booth.
“Are we ready to order?” a young blonde asked as she quickly trotted over with the coffee pot in her hand. She offered Hutch a flirty smile and then refilled his mug.
“Would you mind doing me a favor?” he politely asked her, his hand dipping down to his pants pocket. He pulled out twenty dollars and swiftly guided it to her empty hand, enclosing the currency around her fingertips. “I need two large to-go cups filled to the rim with coffee. This little mug here isn’t cutting it.”
“Oh.” The pretty waitresses’ face flushed. “Yes, Sir, of course.” She cleared her throat then and gazed between me and Rhodes. “Would you like some more time?”
“I’m ready,” said Rhodes. “I’ll take the stacked omelette with ham, bacon, sausage, extra cheese, and a side of hashbrowns.”
“You know what,” I said, pursing my lips as I considered what I wanted. “That sounds fantastic. I’ll have the same, please.”
“Same for me as well,” Hutch replied.
“Of course. I’ll get that in and be right back out with your coffee.”
The waitress spun on her heel and when she was gone, I wasted no time turning to Detective Rhodes. “You care to explain to me how you two were able to eliminate twenty suspects without obtaining DNA samples?”
