Page 66 of Deep Tide

“I agree.”

She shook her head and looked away.

“I’m not the only one involved here,” Sean said. “My project’s being run by the FBI’s cyber section chief.”

She looked at him. “Does Brady know?”

“He knows the general gist of it, but there’s a lot we can’t disclose. He’s agreed to keep his focus on the Albright homicide and share anything relevant with us if anything comes up.”

Nicole wondered what else Brady had been withholding from her. Were his hands really tied here? Or had he been fine to keep his lead detective in the dark about all this? In the past, she’d known Brady to be territorial. He didn’t like other law enforcement agencies horning in on his investigations. So maybe keeping her out of the loop hadn’t been his choice. But it bothered her all the same.

“So, what’s the theory here?” she asked Sean. “You think some thug working for Saledo killed Amelia?”

“I don’t know.”

“Or are you saying Gagnon did it? I really don’t see some rich tech geek stabbing this young woman in the back and dumping her body in an alley.”

“Neither do I,” Sean said. “Anyway, he was at a conference in San Jose the weekend of the murder, so we know he didn’t actually do it.”

“So, you think it was a hired hit?”

“Could be. The fact that she had her hands bound—that’s what first got our attention. It suggests someone held her somewhere and questioned her before she was killed, maybe to find out something she knew or something she’d done.”

“Then... possibly she had some sensitive information about Gagnon’s business or his clients, either something she came across by sleeping with him and working for him?”

“It’s a possibility.”

“Maybe she tried to extort someone,” Nicole said. “Or maybe someone thought she might go to the police.”

“Or maybe someone wanted to eliminate a risk to a major deal going down.”

Nicole tensed. “Something’s going down? When?”

He shook his head. Another topic that was off-limits.

“What you’re telling me is that you think either Luc Gagnon or someone in the Saledo organization had Amelia questioned and killed.” Her chest got tight just thinking about it. A young woman’s entire life snuffed out, just to eliminate a risk to some guy’s business.

Sean watched her, not confirming or denying anything.

“I can only imagine Gagnon’s clients are like a who’s who of dirtbag criminals,” Nicole said. “They probably cover the whole spectrum. And cross borders. You must really want this guy.”

“Oh yeah.”

“Good.” She nodded. “I want the doer.”

Sean raised an eyebrow. “You mean—”

“You’re focused on Gagnon. I’m focused on the person who killed Amelia.” She leaned forward. “Someone ambushed and terrorized this girl, then killed her and dumped her in an alley. People can’t come to our town and murder someone with impunity. Whoever the hell this guy is, I want him. You guys can have the bigger fish, but I’m going to keep working this case until we get this assailant, and we’re not leaving it to some outside agency.”

“We have more resources,” Sean pointed out.

“This one’s ours. I’m sure Brady told you the same thing, didn’t he?” Nicole didn’t even have to ask. “Whoever this guy is, we’re going to figure it out, and he’s going down.”

•••

Sean looked at her, wondering if he was going to regret bringing her into the loop—even though he’d barely scratched the surface of what he was doing here.

“What?” she demanded.

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