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Kelly nodded.
“You got me thinking just maybe your brother was right, and she’s not a willing participant.”
“Duh. Of course not.”
“But since she was part of the robbery, she’s a criminal suspect, and she’s going to be treated that way.”
Kelly moved closer. “What happens now?”
“Now we try to find her.”
Chapter 18
Kelly
I woke once againto the sound of the shower, but it stopped before I rolled out of bed, so I waited for Adam to finish before venturing in. The thought of repeating the previous shower challenge terrified me. Baby steps on the road to more adventure.
He came out before long, fully dressed. “Morning, Sugarbear. Sleep okay?”
“Yeah. How about you?” I regretted the question as soon as it escaped my mouth.
He stretched. “I’m acclimating.”
How one acclimated to sleeping on the floor escaped me. “We could switch?”
He laughed. “That’ll be the day.”
There was another challenge for me, but not one I had to decide on this morning. Did I have to prove a Benson was as tough as a Cartwright?
I climbed out of bed and didn’t miss the way he looked at me as I walked by. My boobs bouncing under my thin nightshirt drew his eyes.
He went downstairs to make breakfast while I got ready. After the shower, I dressed in non-office attire, which meant jeans, sneakers, and an extra long-sleeve shirt in case they had the air turned up too high. Good thing my purse was stocked with caffeine pills because watching guys use an x-ray scanner sounded about as exciting as watching a Senate filibuster on C-SPAN.
* * *
Adam
I’d hadto go home to trade out my car for the stakeout junker after I dropped Kelly off. My Lexus would stick out like a sore thumb in this neighborhood.
Harper’s expression said it all when I arrived a few minutes later than normal at our perch overlooking the trafficker’s house. “I have a family to get back to, you know.”
“Couldn’t be helped, Sal. I’ll be early tomorrow.”
“Still nothing going on down there. I sure hope the intelligence wasn’t buggered up.” He shook his head and left.
It had been a long time, and his concern was warranted.
I made a mental note that tomorrow I was going to arrange to have the city maintenance guys trim one of the branches on the nearest tree, which was partially obstructing our view. It was something we should have done the first day here.
I opened my computer and went back to the BENSNAP file. A little while later, I got a text.
KELLY: Thanks for trusting me
She could wait. I went back to the file. It was the shooting review board report.
Special Agent J. Cartwright’s statement that he believed the suspect fired a weapon at him is not corroborated by the evidence at the scene. Special Agent A. Spencer stated that at no time did he observe a weapon. No weapon was recovered at the scene. All bullets and cartridge casings located at the scene were matched with Special Agent J. Cartwright’s service weapon. Lighting at the scene was determined to be suboptimal. However, Special Agent J. Cartwright’s statement regarding a muzzle flash from the suspect was not corroborated by Special Agent A. Spencer, the only other person at the scene in a position to witness said muzzle flash. It is therefore the determination of the board that in the shooting of 12 July, Special Agent J. Cartwright did not follow proper procedure, and that the use of excessive lethal force led directly to the death of the suspect and failure to recover the victim in this case. Appropriate disciplinary action is left to the discretion of the local SAC. It is not in this board’s purview to review actions that led to the confrontation with the suspect prior to recovery of the victim in this case. Agent J. Cartwright’s statements regarding the victim in this case also bear further investigation.
It took a few minutes of searching the file to find the statement they were referring to in a separate interview with Uncle Jack, and it was horrible:
