Not exactly professional. And not exactly like it hadn’t happened before...even this week. She tended to freak out—a lot. Her teammates, at least, were used to it. And they had quirks of their own, anyway .
“What is it? Tell me .”
Gabby thought about it and thought about not telling Brynna, but…Brynna was more than relentless when she was worried. It was the way her best friend was. “The Marshall killers may have struck again .”
Sara Marshall had been her best friend in the world all through junior high until they were sixteen. Until Sara and three members of her family had been brutally murdered .
One night when things had gotten particularly tough for Gabby, she’d broken down and poured out the entire story to Brynna and Brynna’s older sister Melody. Their father had been friends with the murdered family. Mel and Brynna had been on their way to Sara’s house that night, too. It had been luck that had their father stopping at a gas station. If he hadn’t…well, that was something Gabby refused to think about .
Gabby had needed that connection at first. That shared understanding of what was lost .
Their friendship had grown since then .
Her stepfather Art had always kept Gabby safe, and today’s phone call was just another way for him to do that. “In Oregon, there’s been a case that’s similar .”
“Similar, but not a guarantee. We see lots of similar cases in this business.” Brutally frank, that was Brynna’s way. “It doesn’t mean anything yet .”
Brynna always spoke the truth, didn’t she ?
No, there was never any guarantees, but she knew the truth—until they had the killers in custody and could compare forensics, they had no way of knowing if it was the same or not. She’d just be left wondering, and wondering. Probably forever, wouldn’t she? “Still, it was enough to have Art calling me. Warning me .”
“I see. What are you going to do ?”
Exactly what she had done every time a similar case hit Art’s radar. Absolutely nothing. “I’m not sure there is anything I can do. The case has been cold for ten years.” Gabby had never understood that. With such a high profile case, she’d have thought it would have been at the front of the TSP’s case load every day since .
It wasn’t. And in the five years she’d worked at the Finley Creek TSP it had never been. Even though a good portion of the people at this branch had been there when the Marshall murders had occurred, it was rarely talked about. That was one thing she and Brynna had never fully understood. They talked about it a lot—but not usually within the walls of the TSP .
“The new chief starts today .”
Gabby looked at Brynna again. Her friend had a habit of wild conversational jumps at times. Brynna was on the autism spectrum and sometimes Gabby had a little difficulty keeping up with how Brynna’s mind worked. When that happened, they talked about it so Brynna would have a chance to recommunicate her thoughts. And so Gabby didn’t miss anything. “So? I heard we were getting a new guy after Chief Blankenbaker’s retirement .”
The former head of Finley Creek TSP had taken early medical retirement to help his wife battle breast cancer and spend time with their teenage children .
Gabby had always liked working for him and hadn’t bothered to ask who the emergency appointment to the position was going to be. It wasn’t like her position came into contact with the chief that often. Most of her direct work was under Bennett Russell, chief of the entire Computer Forensics division of the TSP, not just Finley Creek. Most anything extraordinary that they dealt with had Benny’s name on it .
She and Brynna liked it that way. Gabby lived for anonymity, but Brynna just didn’t like people all that much .
In the four years since she’d been promoted from the IT department to the computer forensics department of the TSP, the chief had entered her office exactly three times. Gabby liked it like that .
People in authority made her nervous. People made her nervous. When she got nervous, she rambled. When she rambled, she said something royally stupid. When she said something stupid, she got embarrassed. When she got embarrassed, her skin turned beet red and her blue eyes watered. When she turned red, and her eyes watered, she looked ridiculous. Not exactly how she wanted her career to go. Gabby would rather just hide in the computer lab most days. Her supervisor could handle anything with people in authority that came her way, right? It had worked this long .
“I said , the new chief starts today.” Brynna was still looking at her with her pale brown eyes so serious. No surprise there, Brynna was serious most of the time. Brynna serious, Gabby freaked. Both of them a little bit more than weird .
“So? You’re going to have to elaborate , Bryn .”
“You know who it is, right ?”
“No. I missed the memo…and the meeting.” Gabby tried not to feel too guilty. She wasn’t good when shoved in a small room with bunches of people. She was better when they left her alone with her computer. Brynna was the same way. One of the reasons why the two of them got along so well. “I covered Benny’s calls. You were with Major Crimes that day .”
If people just left them alone to do their jobs, there pretty much wasn’t anything they couldn’t accomplish together—with the computers, that was .
The former chief and the rest of the officers and detectives they worked with understood that .
Hopefully, the new chief would be the same way .
“You know who it is, right? Gabby !”
“ No . Who ?”
“It’s Sara’s oldest brother, Elliot Marshall. Junior .”
Gabby just stared .
“Maybe he can help you .”
That was definitely something she would never have expected. Elliot Marshall was back in Finley Creek. Back. Wow. “Unh-uh. No way. Elliot Marshall wouldn’t have anything to do with the Texas State Police. Especially here in Finley Creek. I heard he quit almost five years ago to go to the FBI. And he definitely wouldn’t believe me. He always thought I was nuts. That I didn’t see anything that night. And he wasn’t all that nice to me before that.” Sara’s two oldest brothers, Chance and Elliot, had already been adults with their own careers at the time Sara and the rest of her family had been murdered. They’d both had sudden other plans the night their family was killed. It had saved their lives; Gabby didn’t doubt that at all. Chance was around eight years older than her and Elliot was a few years older than him—she hadn’t known them well. They’d scared the timid kid she was back then .
“Well, a lot has changed in ten years. You have, right? Maybe he has , too .”
Somehow Gabby doubted it. “I don’t know, Bryn. I guess I just need to think about what I want to do before I say anything to anyone else. Besides, Oregon, where this latest case was, is a really long way away. It was probably not related. I hope .”
“I understand. Just...keep your doors locked, ok? Statistically, these probably aren’t the same killers. But why play the odds? Why don’t you come home with me tonight ?”
“No. I’m ok. If I start hiding with friends instead of facing things head on, I’ll never be able to live my life without the fear, right?” A hard lesson she’d had to learn over the past ten years .
“Sometimes I just don’t understand your reasoning. You’d be safer with us. Dad and Mel both have guns .”
“I know. But thank you for offering. It means a lot .”
If someone was coming for her, there was no way she’d want Brynna and Mel—or their younger sisters and father—in the line of fire. No way. She’d stick it out in her own apartment, with Bug the Cat and her panic attacks for company .
If someone was coming for her, she would never want her best friends standing between them . Ever …
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Discovering the Doctor (Masterson County Book 2) Page 15
