Page 36 of Targeted at Christmas

“I care, too,” Cooper promised her. “So does the entire Bureau and local law enforcement. We’ll do whatever we have to in getting to the root of it and seeking justice.”

Lexi nodded. “I know.” As usual, she felt comforted by his reassuring words, even while concerned that someone was still out there calling the shots—with paid killers and carjackers—that meant harm to those in her industry. And might not stop till things came to a head.

After they finished eating, Lexi and Cooper made their way to her bedroom. It was filled with mid-century modern furniture, including a bamboo platform bed with fluffy velvet throw pillows and an oversize green boho duvet cover.

Lexi began removing her clothes and watched as Cooper did the same. Both were becoming more comfortable in showing themselves unabashedly while exploring the expanse of the other in anticipation for what was to come.

Once Cooper had put on protection, they went to bed and began kissing and caressing each other, building the carnal need to be together.

This was certainly how Lexi saw it, as her libido was off the charts and when it became unbearable, she prompted Cooper to stem the tide rising within her through action. He was more than accommodating, as he moved atop her and slowly but determinedly entered her. She arched her body just enough to get the full measure of him while they made love like it was the first time.

Lexi came first, crying out, as the sensual waves of pleasure hit her like a bolt of lightning. Cooper reached his own potent climax shortly thereafter, his entire body quavering and carrying her along for the frenetic ride—till both were satiated and left to catch their breaths in the aftermath.

Neither said a word as they cuddled, content to be where they were with each other.

Lexi listened as Cooper snored lightly. She could feel the steady patter of his heart beating and wondered if he, too, was starting to fall in love. Or was she reading the signals all wrong?

She sighed and closed her eyes, while feeling protected in his muscular arms. Yet she still felt a vulnerability that could be a defense mechanism for not getting hurt. Or if it extended beyond their personal relationship to outside forces that threatened their very existence as a couple.

ON MONDAY, HALLIE WAS at her desk, reading the autopsy report from the medical examiner, Dr. Yvonne Pellazar, on Neal Zapponi’s death. It didn’t surprise her in the least that the contractor died from two close-range bullets to his head, destroying much of what was inside it. The death was ruled a homicide. This mirrored the execution-style slaying of Horace Eckhart, making it obvious to her that someone had it in for both men in relation to the local property development industry.

As she saw it—and considering that Zapponi had been Cooper Reid’s confidential informant—Zapponi must have been taken out before he could shed more light on who was behind Eckhart’s murder. The fact that both victims had been carjacked—with Zapponi’s SUV found abandoned on North Cave Creek Road a few miles from the shopping center construction site where it was taken from—appeared to be just a smoke screen intended to throw off the FBI’s investigation into public corruption. Especially since surveillance video indicated that it was the same unsubs for the two carjackings.

Hallie left her desk to head to the Crime Lab’s firearms section, where she expected to further link the two homicides by matching the bullets used to kill Eckhart and Zapponi. Still, I won’t know for sure till I know, she told herself, though feeling confident about the outcome.

A few minutes later, Hallie was with Iisha Mínguez, the laboratory tech charged with comparing the ballistics evidence.

Hallie asked her anxiously, “What did you find out?”

Iisha didn’t mince words as she responded succinctly, “We got a match!”

“Really?” Hallie waited for more.

Iisha continued, “The spent shell casings collected from the Neal Zapponi murder scene came from the same Korth 2.75-inch Carry Special .357 Magnum revolver as the shell casings recovered where Horace Eckhart was killed.” She ran a hand through her hair. “Both victims were shot with bullets from the same weapon and fired through a gun barrel with five lands and grooves that had a right-hand twist.”

“Okay,” Hallie told her, confirming that one of the carjackers was likely the shooter in the gunshot deaths of Zapponi and Eckhart. She wouldn’t rule out that one carjacker could have shot one of the men and the other carjacker took his turn with the other victim. Not that this made either unsub any less guilty in the deliberate and calculated conspiracy to commit murder. “I don’t suppose you came up with anything more when entering the cartridge casing evidence collected into the NIBIN program?”

Iisha shook her head. “So far, nothing. But that doesn’t mean the unsubs haven’t committed more crimes with the Korth 2.75-inch Carry Special and took the spent shell casings or other evidence with them. Or has yet to be recovered.”

“Keep me posted if you get anything else,” Hallie told her, raising her chin, then leaving the Crime Lab for the latent print comparative section and forensic DNA section for an update on any evidence that might have come out of the crime scene where Zapponi was shot to death.

Unfortunately, they had nothing conclusive to link directly to the unsubs. Though frustrated, Hallie still had a feeling that this case was definitely solvable—and that the killers and whoever was footing the bill were running out of time to stay ahead of the law.

LEXI WAS SITTING on a drafting chair with flip-up armrests at an adjustable desk in her home studio, going over plans for a new wine café on North First Street and a brewery on East McKinley Street. Both were being developed by the Figueira and Duldulao Company—a real estate development firm that specialized in restaurants, cafés and drinking establishments—with the openings planned for late next year.

I’m so glad they chose me to design these, Lexi told herself as she glanced at some notes and then used her sketchbook for some early concepts. She was happy being in her element, even while a cloud of uncertainty hung over the entire local construction industry like a shroud, with investigations under way into public corruption and two homicides that seemed to be connected to this. I can’t let these terrible things consume me, she thought, knowing that they would end soon enough when Cooper and the Bureau completed their investigation. In cooperation with the Phoenix Police Department.

In the meantime, she still had her career—thriving as it was—and now had a new man in her life as well. Cooper was everything she had hoped to find again in an intimate. Lexi trusted that he felt the same, with her entering his life as a widower. Now they only needed to bridge any gap that was still there and see where they landed.

Her thoughts were put on hold when her cell phone rang. She took it off the desktop and saw that the video caller was her sister, Gabriella. Seven years older than Lexi, she was an associate professor in the Department of Horticulture at Michigan State University, and lived with her husband and fellow professor, Ralph McClintock, and their eight-year-old daughter, Natasha, in East Lansing.

Lexi accepted the call and watched as Gabriella’s face appeared on the small screen. They had similar features, including the color of their eyes, but Gabriella was blond-haired, worn in a lob with piecey bangs.

“Hey, sis,” Lexi said, smiling at her. She’d always looked up to her sister, envying her as a mother, wife and educator—proving one could truly have it all. Gabriella had supported her relocation to Arizona and was a shoulder to cry on when she became a widow.

“Hey.” Gabriella smiled back. “Just calling to check on you—and say that the invitation is still there to spend Christmas with us. You really shouldn’t be alone at this time of year. Since I’m on holiday break, we’ll have time to hang out together. And Natasha would love to see you.”

“I’d love to see her, too—and you and Ralph,” Lexi assured her, while suspecting that they would find a way to get the entire family together.