Page 17 of Justice for Daesha

Amos raised his hand. “Could I ask a favor?”

“Have at it,” Mack answered with a nod.

Rising from his seat, Amos made his way to the box. “I wanted to bring this in today and ask if a couple of you would volunteer to help me. It’s a file I got from a friend. Her sister was murdered fourteen years ago and so far, nobody’s been charged with her murder. I know we don’t do this, but if I could just get a couple more sets of eyes, maybe somebody would see something that’s been missed. There’s a lot of stuff here, so it might take a while. I was hoping to spread it out and leave it. Come in and look at a few things, then leave and come back again later. I really believe in looking at things and then removing myself from them so I can let my brain do the work, and I’m hoping some of you operate that way. If nobody wants to do it, I understand, but it would mean a lot to me.”

“You can count me in. I don’t mind helping at all.” AlexRoss hadn’t even hesitated, just jumped right in. Alex and Amos shared a special bond. They’d been there when a missing person in the far western end of the state had been found. Unfortunately, she’d been deceased, and they’d even attended her funeral. There was nobody Amos would rather have as his wing man in a bad situation than Alex.

“I’ll help too,” another voice called out, and Amos turned to see JesseTalbert stand in the back of the room. Jesse had helped out on a case in far western Kentucky too, one in which a Kentucky State Police trooper had been killed. Jesse was a fine investigator, and Amos was thankful he’d agreed to help.

“Thanks, both of you. Just come in whenever you want, look at whatever you want, and when we finish here, I’ll brief you on the overview of the case so you know what you’re looking at before you start. Is that okay, Mack?”

Mack nodded. “Sure. I think it helps hone our skills when we can do something like this. Don’t take too much time from your assignments, but thanks for offering to help Amos. So you’re a friend of the family?”

Amos nodded. “Yeah. Her younger sister. And she’s a veteran who lost a leg in Afghanistan to an IED.”

“Then we’re most certainly proud to be able to help them out. Okay, guys, you know your assignments. Let me know if you need any help. I’ve got a meeting with the AG at eleven thirty, so I’ll be out of commission until after lunch.” Mack made his way out of the room and Amos waited until everyone except Alex and Jesse were gone.

“So exactly what’s going on with this case?” Alex asked as he and Jesse took seats by Amos near the box.

Amos spent fifteen minutes explaining the larger points of the case to them, during which time they asked a few questions. “So they’re sure the husband didn’t do it?” Jesse asked.

“It’s my understanding that during the time the murder took place, he had their two young children with him. They’d been with him for two days. A lady at a gas station said she saw him at approximately the time the coroner gave as the time of death, and the kids were in the car with him, so it couldn’t have been him. Did he pay somebody to do it? Maybe, but if so, there’s never been a connection made. As noted, it seemed to be someone she knew. No forced entry, alarm system turned off, and total overkill on the murder itself, indicating it was personal and heated.”

Alex sighed. “Fourteen years. The trail’s gone cold.”

“I wouldn’t say that. The state police have continued to work on this, but they’ve gotten nowhere, as has the sheriff in the county where it took place. I’m sure there are things that haven’t been noticed in these pics, and I’m hoping we find them.”

“We’ll give it our best shot,” Jesse promised.

“Thanks. Thanks to both of you. I owe you. Now I’ve got to go out here, check out my stats for the case I’m working on, and figure out what to fix for dinner because the sister’s coming over.”

“I’ll call Cynthia for you,” Alex told him, and Amos smiled. Alex’s sister was a chef at a restaurant in Louisville and if anybody could help him figure out what to make, CynthiaRoss could.

“Thanks. I appreciate that. I told her I’d cook for her and then I remembered I can’t cook!” Amos said, laughing. “I’m a dumbass.”

Amos went out to his desk and started looking through the stats on the case he was working on, an embezzlement case that had to have auditors assigned to it. Good thing they had forensic auditors. He couldn’t imagine having to sift through all those numbers. He’d been sitting there for about five minutes when his email notification went off, so he opened it.Thank you, Cynthia!he whispered to himself as he looked at the recipe, complete with step by step instructions. It looked easy enough, so he’d do it, and he didn’t neglect to shoot back an email thanking her profusely. As soon as he could, he’d buy a nice bottle of wine and send it to her. Hey, he’d get a bottle of that merlot Daesha had served! His brain sang out,Shit! I’d better get two and I’d better do it tonight on the way home. I have no wine for dinner!

Amos saw Alex and Jesse go into the conference room several times during the day, spend about five or ten minutes, and come back out. That was okay. They had work of their own to do, and he really appreciated them at least taking the time. He did the same, looking over the pictures, and he re-read the arrest reports for the ex-husband, the wannabe girlfriend, and the fake hit man. Boy, they were real pieces of work, and Amos wondered how someone like Daesha’s sister got mixed up with a man who could behave that way.

Three thirty came and he wrapped up the work he was doing, getting everything ready for the forensic auditors to work on the embezzlement case. Mack was in his office, head down and poring over something, when Amos tapped on the doorjamb. “Hey! Come on in,” Mack said and pointed to a chair.

Amos took a seat and then smiled at his supervisor. Mack was great to work for. He understood people, understood their jobs, and helped when needed but never got in the way. His caseload was smaller, but it consisted of cases so sensitive that they didn’t want the other agents handling them. Being there longer than everyone else, he knew the ins and outs of that kind of thing far better. “Got a tough one?”

Mack sighed and sat back in his chair. “How in the world are you supposed to feel when you find out the mayor of a small town has been sexually abusing girls there for years? I’m disgusted that he’s been able to get by with it for so long, but I’m more disgusted that the people there kept reelecting the bastard! I mean, really, they had no clue?”

“Ugh. I don’t envy you that case.”

“Yeah, thanks. If I could choose any other one, I probably would. What’s on your mind, Amos?”

He shifted a little in his seat. “I just wanted to be up front with you. The murder victim’s sister who was in Afghanistan? I’m seeing her. That’s where I got the files.”

Mack looked at him like he had an arm growing out of his forehead. “Is this serious?”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure. We just started seeing each other. Hell, I’m not even sure she considers it seeing each other. But I wanted you to know?I didnotwant somebody else to find out and tell you before I could.”

“I appreciate that. I don’t mind you doing this for her, and I don’t mind Alex and Jesse looking at it. Matter of fact, I tried to read between the lines when you were presenting the basics in there. You think this was something bigger, don’t you?”

Amos nodded. “I do. Daesha?that’s the girl I’m seeing?thinks she was killed by a man she was seeing. Nobody knows if she was actually seeing anybody, but we’ve talked about it, and I’m inclined to believe she might be right.”

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