Dead End

by Susan Sleeman

  Kelsey took a long breath. “This analysis will be a last resort thing. But you should also know, I recovered a wedding ring in the tub.”

  “The woman was married?” Sierra asked.

  “Looks like it.”

  And the surprises just kept on coming. Par for investigations, but Reed thought this one was more bizarre than others he’d worked on. “If she turns out to be Caulfield’s girlfriend, it could explain why he hid her from his family and neighbors. And if the husband found out and came after Caulfield, it would explain the violent death.”

  Blake started writing on the board again. “Now that we know it’s a woman, I’ll go ahead and contact local authorities for any missing person’s reports that might fit here.”

  “Keep me in the loop on that, will you?” Reed asked.

  Blake nodded. “What else do we have from Caulfield’s place?”

  “Tons of fingerprints,” Sierra said. “I’ll go through them after we break up here. And as we said, Nick has Caulfield’s watch and computers.”

  “Have I mentioned how impressed I am with everyone’s skills?” Reed asked. “Because if I haven’t, I need to say you’ve all lived up to your reputation and more.”

  “Maybe hold that praise until we actually close this investigation,” Kelsey said.

  “Oh, I don’t know.” Nick grinned. “I say keep it coming. I, for one, love being adored.”

  Everyone laughed, and Reed finally felt like he was accepted by these amazing men and women. He was proud to know them. Even prouder to be working with them and would miss them all when the investigation concluded, but none more than Sierra.

  “Any calls on the sketch?” Grady asked.

  Reed nodded. “But none that have given us any leads yet.” His phone rang and seeing Dr. Albertson’s name he quickly stepped from the room and answered.

  “My schedule changed. I can post Caulfield first thing in the morning,” she said. “You available?”

  Reed smiled at the good news. “Name the time and I’m there.”

  On the way out of the meeting, Sierra glanced into the lobby then turned to Reed. “Perfect timing. That’s Sam and Riley at the front desk. Let’s get them going on their assignment.”

  She hurried across the lobby to greet the pair and introduce Sam to Reed. Both Sam and Riley were blond, tall, and very fit. Sam had shoulder-length hair that was nearly straight, and Riley’s hair was styled in a windblown look.

  Sam shook hands with Reed. “Do you know Piper Nash?”

  “Sort of,” he replied, but Sierra had no idea who Piper was. “She was going on medical leave right when I was assigned to the Portland office. Is she a friend of yours?”

  “Close friend to Eryn Sawyer, our team cyber expert, but we’ve all worked with her.” Sam smiled. “Her injury’s finally healed, and she’s going back to work next month.”

  Reed nodded. “I heard it was touch and go, so good for her.”

  “And bad for us,” Riley said. “We were hoping she might join Blackwell, but as Sam said, we’re glad she’s okay and can return to being an agent.”

  “The cyber and computer staff kind of stick to themselves in their own little world,” Reed said. “But the Portland office isn’t that big, so maybe I’ll run into her.”

  Sierra looked at Riley. “Do you want to scope out the building or get checked in here?”

  “I’ll go with Sam and get the lay of the land,” he replied. “She can drop me back here.”

  “Then let me tell our receptionist to call Maya if I’m not here when you get back. An escort is required at all times in the building.” Sierra quickly made the arrangements then gave them the address of the warehouse, and they all walked outside together.

  As they reached their SUV in the chilly damp air, Sierra pointed at Sam’s ring that was glinting in the sun’s rays. “Emory said your wedding was amazing.”

  A beaming smile crossed Sam’s face. “The happiest day of my life, and honestly, I don’t care where we were or what we did as long as we said I do.”

  Riley looked at Sam and grinned. He looked happy for Sam.

  But Sierra saw much more than happiness in his expression. “Another happily married person, I take it.”

  “You know it.” His grin widened. “I highly recommend it.”

  Reed locked gazes with Sierra for a moment, and she saw I told you so in his gaze.

  She snapped her focus back to Riley and Sam. “With the big smiles, you two should be wedding ambassadors.”

  Sierra had made sure she sounded cheerful, but she felt a twinge of jealousy that shocked her to the core. She’d had friend after friend get married, and she’d never felt one pang of jealously.

  Was Reed right? Were Sam and Riley right, too? Was marriage really a wonderful thing?

  20

  Sierra spent the next morning in her lab working on fingerprints from Caulfield’s house while Reed attended Caulfield’s autopsy. A postmortem exam usually took two to four hours to complete, but it was nearly one o’clock, and Reed hadn’t arrived at Veritas. They’d worked in her lab late last night, and thankfully before departing, he’d said he was fine with her working this morning without him lurking over her shoulder. He was either being expedient or he’d come to trust her and accepted that she wouldn’t keep evidence from him.

  She thought it was more the trust factor. Their connection had long ago changed from a typical business relationship, and she sure hoped he trusted her by now. She trusted him. She just didn’t trust the feelings she was developing for him this quickly. Based on her parents quick marriage, she always thought that love could come quickly. But after their bombshell explanation—that didn’t include saying they were in love when they married, just that her mother was pregnant—her theory didn’t hold weight.

  “I finished developing prints on the photos from Eddie’s cottage,” Chad announced from the fingerprint area. “They contain only Eddie’s prints.”

  “Not surprising,” she said as she couldn’t imagine who else would want to look at old pictures of her.

  The lab phone rang, and Chad went to answer. “Agent Rice is in the lobby.”

  “Thanks.” She got to her feet to go check him in, but the door opened and Emory stepped inside. She was dressed in jeans, T-shirt, and her lab coat, and had a mega frown on her face. She came across the lab to Sierra.

  “I have DNA results from Caulfield’s place.” Emory laid a folder on the table but rested her hand on top so Sierra couldn’t look at the reports yet.

  Sierra looked at Chad. “Will you—”

  “Go get Agent Rice in the lobby?” he finished for her. “Yeah, I’m out of here.”

  Sierra turned to Emory. “Let’s wait until Reed gets up here to review this. That way he can ask questions if he has any.”

  Emory nodded, but that frown remained.

  “I’m not going to like the results, am I?” Sierra asked.

  “Not all of them, no,” Emory said. “So was Reed at Caulfield’s autopsy this morning?”

  Sierra nodded. “I hope it gives us something to go on, but at the very least he should have Caulfield’s prints, and I can eliminate them from my stack of cards.”

  Emory nodded. “Are the prints the last of the evidence?”

  “Yes,” Sierra said. “But I didn’t process all of Caulfield’s house myself, so I plan to go back there to do another sweep.”

  Emory tipped her head and studied Sierra. “I was surprised to hear you let ERT do a lot of the work.”

  “Me, too, now that I look back on it. But the body in the hot tub really threw me. I couldn’t think.” Sierra shook her head. “I’ve never seen anything like that, and I hope never to again.”

  “I don’t know how Kelsey can handle it,” Emory said. “But she doesn’t falter. Ever.”

  The door opened, and Reed preceded Chad into the room. Sierra was vaguely aware of Chad going to his desk, but Reed smiled at her, and butterflies took flight in her stomach at the me
re sight of him in his deep charcoal suit with fresh white shirt and red tie. He looked striking and confident as he crossed the room, his gaze remaining on hers and not shifting even a fraction.

  She was captivated by his good looks, but it was more than that for her. He’d shown such admirable qualities. He’d demonstrated his ability to work with a team, and that he was ethical and responsible. He had great communication skills and paid attention to detail. He had a good sense of humor and was compassionate. All characteristics that made him a good agent, but also a fine human being and an exceptional man.

  He came to stop in front of her and acknowledged Emory with a brief nod.

  “How’d the autopsy go?” Sierra asked.

  “Gave us a few things to work with.” He laid fingerprint cards on the table. “First up, Caulfield’s prints.”

  “I was hoping you would bring them.”

  He looked at Emory. “I should have asked if you wanted to hang around and hear about the autopsy.”

  “I’ve got DNA results to share,” she said. “But you can go first if you want.”

  He waved a hand. “You go ahead. I know you’re busy.”

  She smiled at him, but it quickly evaporated as she opened the folder.

  “The first profile is for the blood found on Caulfield's shoe.” Emory met Sierra’s gaze. “I’m sorry, but the DNA matches Eddie’s DNA profile.”

  “Eddie’s blood?” Sierra’s knees felt weak, and she dropped onto a stool.

  Emory patted Sierra’s hand. “Remember, we don’t know how much blood had been cleaned up, and Eddie might not have been seriously injured. But you should also know that the hair you recovered in Eddie’s office matches Caulfield’s DNA. This combined with the blood on the whale and Caulfield’s shoe looks like Caulfield injured and may have abducted Eddie.”

  “And what about your other results?” Reed asked.

  Emory flipped the page. “No match in CODIS for the blood recovered by the hot tub, but the profile does match the blond hairs found in the bed.”

  “And the hair from the hot tub?”

  She shook her head. “Sorry, not a viable sample.”

  “Still, the hair in the bed links the woman in the tub to someone who slept with Caulfield,” Reed stated.

  “Or at least slept in his bed,” Emory clarified. “But yeah, it’s likely his girlfriend.”

  Sierra grabbed her phone, tapped Nick’s number, and put him on speaker.

  “I have you on speaker with Emory and Reed,” she said after he answered. “DNA results lead us to believe that the woman in the hot tub was Caulfield’s girlfriend. Any info on his computer that gives us a lead on her identity?”

  “Sadly, no,” Nick said. “But you should know that Caulfield bought two burner phones about six months ago. If the wedding ring belongs to the victim, Caulfield probably used the phones to communicate with her to keep from leaving any trails for her husband to find.”

  “Sounds likely,” Reed said.

  “I’m still reviewing the drive. I'll let you know if I find anything else.” Nick ended the call.

  Emory tapped the folder. “I’ll leave this with you.”

  “Is that the end of our DNA samples in this investigation?” Reed asked.

  “Yes, unless Sierra finds something else when she goes back to Caulfield’s house.”

  Reed switched his focus to Sierra, and she felt the heavy weight of his gaze on her. She assumed he wanted an explanation. “I don’t like the fact that I didn’t actually process the whole scene. I’d feel better giving it one more look.”

  “If you think it will pay off, then I’m all for taking you over there on the way to interviewing Kuznetsov.”

  “I can’t promise that it will pay off, but I can promise it will give me more peace of mind.” She smiled at him.

  For some reason he didn’t smile back at her, but locked gazes and held on.

  Emory cleared her throat. “I should get going.”

  Sierra snapped her gaze free and faced Emory who was giving her a pointed look. Clearly she was picking up on Sierra’s vibe with Reed.

  “Thanks for everything,” Sierra said, encouraging her friend to leave without saying anything or asking any questions.

  Emory nodded, but her expression remained inquisitive. “Let me know if you need my help with anything else.”

  “Will do,” Reed said. “And thank you.”

  Sierra looked at Reed. “So the autopsy results?”

  He sat on a stool next to her. “The knife wound to Caulfield’s throat severed both the carotid and jugular. He died from severe rapid blood loss. Dr. Albertson said he would’ve dropped immediately and couldn’t have fought back. She didn’t find any signs of defensive wounds or skin cells under his nails, confirming her cause of death.”

  “Sounds like he didn’t know what hit him,” Sierra said.

  Reed nodded. “She also confirmed that the other stab wounds were inflicted postmortem.”

  “Rage maybe?” Sierra asked. “If so, this murder is very personal.”

  “That’s my take, too,” Reed said. “Otherwise, why inflict the final injuries?”

  “I suppose it could just be someone with a sick personality.”

  “True. That’s possible. Either way, Dr. Albertson didn’t collect anything that could give us the killer’s DNA. She did say the wounds suggest a smooth not serrated blade.”

  “That’s something, I guess.”

  “And so is this.” Reed pulled an evidence bag from his coat pocket and laid it on the counter. “She recovered the tip of a knife in one of the wounds by the ribs.”

  Sierra picked up the bag to study the thick metal point. “We can take it to Grady. He might be able to determine the murder weapon.”

  Reed arched a brow. “From a knife tip?”

  “I’ve seen him do it before.”

  Reed just stared at the bag in disbelief.

  “When are you going to stop questioning what we can do?” She grinned at him.

  “Right. I need to stop that, don’t I.” He shook his head. “Seems like I should have learned by now that you’re all superhuman.”

  She lifted the lapel of her lab coat. “We’ve got to stop hiding our capes under lab coats.”

  He laughed in earnest, the deep sound rumbling through her lab, and she loved how it filled such a solemn room with joy. She laughed with him and was suddenly very thankful he’d come into her life.

  “I’m glad you’re here,” she blurted out without thinking about it or wondering if Chad was overhearing their conversation.

  Reed’s smile vanished, and he continued to look at her but didn’t say anything. She wished she could see even a hint of whether he was glad to be there or not, but his blank expression made that impossible. It reminded her of when they first met in Eddie’s office. The antagonistic atmosphere between them was long gone, but he seemed silent and withholding. Sierra sobered as well. She was responsible for his abrupt attitude change, but that was good. Neither of them needed to dwell on something that had no future.

  “The AFIS report for the earlier prints came in,” he said. “You compare Caulfield’s prints with the other cards, and I’ll review the AFIS report. Then we can drop off the knife tip with Grady on the way out.”

  She couldn’t help but notice how he was still trying to dictate their actions. She wasn’t opposed to his plan, it was sound, but she wondered if he was this controlling in his personal life. Not that it mattered. Not one bit.

  She grabbed Caulfield’s print card and spent a few hours comparing them to other cards and pulled matches for his prints. Then she stacked the others according to matches, leaving her with five piles. One was fairly tall, and she suspected it was for the girlfriend or maybe even Caulfield’s daughter or son. She wished you could determine sex by the print size, but both men and women had varying-sized prints.

  “We need to get elimination prints from Caulfield’s daughter and son. I’ll have Chad take care o
f that.” She sent Chad a text. Then she put the cards back in the locker and took out the prints from Eddie’s office and cottage.

  Chad replied that he was willing to take the prints if she would leave him the contact information so he could arrange it.

  She looked up at Reed. “Can you write down contact info for Caulfield’s kids for Chad?”

  “Will do.”

  She turned back to Caulfield’s prints and compared them to the office prints.

  “Bingo!” She shot Reed another look. “Caulfield’s prints are on the whale.”

  “With Barnes’s blood on Caulfield’s shoes that makes sense.”

  “So it really is looking like Caulfield was the one who abducted Eddie.” She paused for a moment as a more terrifying thought came to mind and her stomach tightened. “Or I have to admit, Caulfield could even have killed him.”

  Reed watched her carefully. “And how does the thought of Barnes potentially being dead make you feel?”

  “Feel?” She flashed her gaze to him. “I don’t know…I mean…I haven’t really thought it was a good possibility until now.” And she didn’t want to believe it.

  He frowned. “There’s something else we need to consider here.”

  “What’s that?”

  “What if Caulfield did hurt Barnes at his office, and then Barnes decided to get back at Caulfield and killed him.”

  She gasped. “You think Eddie’s a killer?”

  “It’s a possibility we can’t rule out.”

  She shook her head as hard as she could, but her personal connection to Eddie motivated her response. As a forensic scientist who’d worked many cases, she could see that Reed could be right. “We can’t rule it out, no.”

  He met her gaze. “This is a hard thing to consider, but I’m glad you’re keeping an open mind.”