Page 40 of Forgotten Girls

“Room twelve.” The woman pointed. “The paramedics have just arrived and so have two other agents.” She frowned. “Is Dr. Brewer someone important?”

“No.” Jo glanced at Styles. “Just a friend.”

Walking fast, Styles headed along the passageway, to find Beth just inside the door to a spacious room. Beside her, Carter was holding his badge out to the paramedics and raising his voice.

“Okay, you’ve established the man is dead, now step back.” Carter glared at them. “This is a crime scene. Go and wait outside or you’ll destroy evidence.”

“How do you know it’s a crime scene?” One of the paramedics stood hands on hips, nose to nose with him. “There’s no evidence of injury.”

Styles shouldered his way into the room. “If Agent Carter says it’s a homicide, you better believe him.” He held up his creds. “Agent Styles. Now please wait outside. As soon as we’ve taken photographs and called this in, we’ll speak to you again.”

The paramedics walked out, mumbling to each other, and Jo came inside.

“I grabbed these from a housekeeping cart.” She held out gloves. “What happened here?”

“I’m not sure but he’s dead—and look here.” Carter pointed to the floor bedside the body. “If I’m not mistaken, that’s a tarot card.” He looked at Styles. “The thing is, no one went in or came out of the hotel since we arrived. People walked past and someone came out to pick up a pile of newspapers from the steps. That’s all. If the Tarot Killer is here, he’s still in the building.”

Shaking his head, Styles stared at the card and then took out his phone and took photographs. “I very much doubt it. I’m assuming this place has a back door and a fire escape. He’ll be long gone.” He looked at Beth. “Glove up and we’ll search the room for evidence.”

“Chances are if the Tarot Killer murdered him, he took his laptop.” Beth pulled on gloves with a snap. “I hear he strips Bitcoins from his victims. He’d need the laptop to find the wallets.” She went to the bed and tossed around the sheets and then bent to look under it. “Touchdown.” She dragged out a laptop and smiled. “Now we can find Shoebridge. He’ll have all his contacts hidden right here.”

“What else do you need?” Carter smiled at her.

“Any personal property he has with him.” Beth dropped the laptop on the bed and opened it. “Oh good, fingerprint protected.” She picked it up and went to the body placing it beside him. “Right index finger, for sure.”

Always amazed by her businesslike attitude around corpses, Styles watched as she pressed Brewer’s finger to the reader and the laptop opened. “Good, now move away. I need shots of the room.”

“I’ll remove the password protection.” Beth went to work. “Done. Okay, did anyone find anything else we can use?”

“Yeah, wallet and keys to the rental on the bedside table.” Jo opened drawers. “Ah good, plastic laundry bags. We can use them for evidence.” She dropped the keys and wallet inside.

“It looks like he tried to shoot the Tarot Killer.” Carter bent to pick up a Glock. “This might have the killer’s prints on it.” He examined the gun. “Interesting. He didn’t rack the slide.” He dropped it into the bag Jo held out for him.

Styles looked around the room and frowned. “It looks to me as if they struggled on the bed. It was a mess when we arrived. Brewer tried to fight back but was overpowered. He didn’t get the chance to shoot.” He bent to look at the body. “There’s no signs of injury. Maybe he had a heart attack.”

“The Tarot Killer must be a big guy to take him on. He must weigh three hundred pounds and then some.” Beth bent to look at Brewer. “I wonder how many lives he ruined or ended. Serial rapist and killer.”

Styles looked at her. “You’ll need to prove it, Beth.” He looked at Carter. “Who do you want in on this?”

“Right now, I figure this is so sensitive we play our cards close to the vest.” Carter turned away from the closet and looked at him. “This man is a respected doctor who might have had a heart attack, but we need a forensic sweep done on this room. There is only one person we can trust and that’s Wolfe.”

The Black Rock Falls medical examiner was licensed to practice across the entire state, and he’d be the one to call. “Okay, call him and explain what we need.” He thought for a beat. “Without elaborating, I’ll call the director and inform him we have a suspected Tarot Killer murder in Helena and we’re on the case. It will cover us for any problems down the line.”

“What reason will you give him for why we’re all here?” Beth straightened from bending over the laptop.

Shrugging, Styles met her gaze. “We’re following up a lead Ginny gave me.” He indicated toward Jo and Carter with his chin. “Jo and Carter were needed for surveillance, and it was too sensitive to bring in the local cops.”

“Yeah.” Carter grinned. “That works for me. I’ll call Wolfe now. He headed into the bathroom and closed the door.

After making the calls, Styles spoke to the manager about opening the vacant room next door. “We’ll need a place to wait for the medical examiner.”

“Okay, that’s fine.” She handed him a key. “I’ll keep everyone away from the rooms.”

Styles tossed the key to Beth. “Get started on the laptop. We’ll go and grab some takeout from the diner. It will be hours before Wolfe arrives.”

“Okay.” Beth moved to his side. “I’m not sorry he’s dead. That man was pure evil.”

Nodding, Styles looked into her brown eyes and blinked. “I wish you’d both remove those contacts. They’re darn-right scary.” He looked at Carter. “You both look so weird it’s like I’m talking to strangers.”

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