Page 32 of Operation: Sharp Angel

“While I was in college, I interned several summers with the Chicago Police Department, helping them complete their affidavits to obtain search warrants, amongst other things. I was considering a career in the District Attorney’s office while I was in law school,” she answered.

“Really?” Tessman said.

“Yes. Do you think I dreamed of writing wills and setting up trusts when I decided to be a lawyer?”

Everyone at the table chuckled with her.

“I’ll let you know if assistance is needed,” Shepherd said. “What we will need is for you to go through everything you packed up at the residence with fresh eyes in search of whatever they may have been looking for. We’ll have it all moved to this building.” His gaze shifted to Tessman and Jackson. “You can set her up in the rec room.”

Both men nodded.

“Sure,” Becca said. “I honestly don’t think anything is there. I didn’t see anything work-related in what I packed up.”

“They were looking for something, something important enough to get killed over,” Jackson said.

“The man you shot lawyered up,” Shepherd said. “He’s not talking.”

Everyone at the table either cursed or muttered similar sentiments.

“Where are the boxes the police returned?” Jackson asked.

“My car, which is at the dealership for a recall. I almost forgot. They never got back to me yesterday regarding it being completed. I’ll have to call them and arrange to get my car back.”

“You’ll need to go through everything the police returned to you. Our Digital Team is already combing through the laptops and cell phones,” Shepherd said.

“Yeah, I didn’t have the chance to look at the boxes. I was leaving the house to go to my sister’s place when Detective Davis stopped at my house, so I just sat the boxes in the back of my car.”

“When you call the dealership, see if you can have someone else pick it up,” Shepherd said. He nodded at Tessman and Jackson.

“One last thing,” Brielle said. “I’ve still not found any trace of Nick DeSoto’s siblings. There’s no place else I can search.”

“I don’t think those men last night were sent by them, and neither was Nick’s brother. They were way out of his league,” Becca said.

“We’ll cross them off the list and focus on Well-Life for now,” Shepherd said. “Keep me informed of your progress, team.”

Becca watched Carter, Jackson, and Brielle all stand. Evidently, the meeting was over. She stood as well. “Thank you, Colonel Shepherd.”

He nodded and then also rose.

Juliette

Becca waited in the room she’s slept in at the Shepherd Security building while Carter and Jackson took a few other men to her sister’s house to retrieve all the bins she’d packed up. Sitting at the table, she opened her laptop to get some legal work done. Brielle shared the password for one of the secure internet connections within the building with her.

As she reviewed the will she was working on for one of her clients, her mind wandered to her youthful desire to work for the District Attorney’s office. She hadn’t thought about that in years. Her decision to forgo that route was sound at the time, but she wondered if it may be a better choice for her now. The thought of helping to put criminals away was appealing. And honestly, she found writing wills and creating trusts to be boring work.

She called the dealership, and her car wouldn’t be ready until later that afternoon. They’d call.

Her office used Teams and now that she was logged into the firm’s portal, a message popped up from Sue, who was the front desk receptionist and her friend.

Heads up, the partners are asking when you plan to be back in the office.

Becca groaned. They’d been very patient and accepted her need for time off. And it wasn’t like she wasn’t working at all. She was. She hadn’t missed any deadlines. She stayed in communication with them and clients. Most of what she did could be done from home. They were just old-school in that they wanted everyone at their desks in the office.

Thanks, I’ll get in touch with them. There is still so much to do at my sister’s house and with her estate. It’s overwhelming.

I honestly can’t even imagine.

Anything else I should know?

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