Page 75 of Once a Killer

She cleared all the rooms, then said, “Come on in” as she walked toward the front door. “Everything looks fine to me, but this is your place and you know it better than I do. Take a look and see if anything looks wrong.”

He set the suitcases down by the door but didn’t close it. After checking everything, he said, “Nothing’s been disturbed, as far as I can tell.” He closed and locked the front door, then moved their suitcases into the bedrooms. “Let me take a look at the back door.”

The top lock was unlocked. He opened the other two and opened the door, peering intently at the locks. When he squatted to study them more carefully, Bree moved to stand beside him.

“What do you see?” she asked quietly.

He touched the top lock. “This one was unlocked.” Then he indicated the lower two locks. “Tool marks on these,” he said. “As if someone tried to pry them open. They’re fresh.”

She crouched beside him and studied the locks. “Yeah,” she finally said. “Looks like someone tried to get in.”

“Didn’t have any luck,” he said grimly, tapping on the retinal scanning lock. “Couldn’t get past this baby, thank God.”

“You have video cameras at your front and back doors, right?” she asked.

“I do,” he said. “Let’s go take a look at them.”

They stepped back into the apartment, and Jameson pulled his computer out. Set it up on the kitchen table, then opened the file with the video footage.

He scrolled through it quickly, beginning the day they’d flown to New York. Finally stopped when he saw a flash of black on the screen.

When he rewound the file, Bree saw a figure dressed all in black, including a black ski mask, standing at the back door. The creep had what looked like a set of lock picks in his hand, and he was using them on the first lock.

From his fist bump, he’d apparently managed to get that one open. He tried a number of different combinations of letters and numbers on the second one, even plugging in a random number generator, but couldn’t get it open. Then he looked at the retinal scan lock and peered straight into it, as if the lock would open for any old retina.

When that lock stayed stubbornly closed, the guy kicked the door a few times, then turned and ran down the steps. He disappeared into the alley, still wearing the ski mask.

“Rewind to the part where he’s running away,” Bree said, peering intently at the screen.

Jameson played the tape again, and she tapped the screen. “Anything familiar with the way that guy moves? The shape and size of his body? Think about the people in your lab. Could it be one of them?”

Jameson played the tape several times, slowing it down. Finally he slumped back in his chair and blew out a breath of air. “I don’t see a damn thing that looks familiar,” he said.

“I don’t, either,” Bree said quietly. “Other than being a male, that’s all I have. It’s not the hitman I talked to. That guy wouldn’t be moving that fast and that smoothly with his injuries.

“And this guy is taller. He doesn’t move like a middle-aged guy. Too smooth. And the way he kicked the door? He’s young. Probably not a pro. Kicking the door is an amateur move.”

“What about the three guys in the lab? Anything look familiar to you?” Jameson said.

“Play it again,” Bree said, staring at the screen.

After two more rewinds, she sat back. “I don’t think it’s anyone from the lab,” she said. “Nothing’s familiar about the way he moves. The way he holds his body.”

“So another hired gun?” Jameson asked.

“It would seem so.” Bree tapped her finger on the table. “Hired guns don’t come cheap,” she said after a long moment. “You think it’s Dailey’s doing?”

“Possible,” Jameson said. “He’s retiring in a couple months. If he got caught, what’s he got to lose? Are they going to boot him out of the Army?”

“Take away his pension, maybe,” Bree said.

“As much as the guy’s a total asshole, I don’t think it’s Dailey. He’s much more ‘in your face’ than hiring a guy to do his dirty work.”

“What about the guys in your lab? Could they hire a hit man?”

Jameson leaned back. “The only one with money is Brewster McKay. But it’s family money, and I don’t know how much he controls.”

“I’m sure he could convince his parents that he needed a chunk of change,” Bree said. “At least we know he has potential access to money.”

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