Page 79 of Deadly Attraction
“I’ll need you to come to the station and make a formal statement,” Korrin said, sidling over to the back door, “but there’s no one there today that has time to take it due to the holiday and the wildfires. Maybe not tomorrow either.”
“How about I call you on Monday and set up an appointment,” Emma said, opening the door to usher him out.
He handed her a card. “That’ll work. You take care, ma’am.”
Mitch motioned for her to stay put as he followed the man out to his squad car. The rain had slowed to a drizzle.
At the car, he took a good look around. Will was jogging across the yard, a scowl on his face. Lady loped along behind him. When he saw Mitch with the police officer, he gave the man the once over and shook his head at Mitch. He went to the back door to go inside with Emma.
So he hadn’t found anybody or at least nothing he wanted to talk to the sheriff about.
“I’d appreciate it if you keep this off the police scanners,” Mitch said to Korrin. “Some of Goodsman’s fans may be listening to see if they can find out more info about the doctor.”
The sheriff got in his squad car and rolled down the window. “Dr. Collins probably has plenty of former cons angry at her. You might look into other possibilities besides Chris Goodsman.”
Mitch’s blood pressure went straight into the red zone. “Just keep it off the scanners, alright?”
Korrin didn’t respond other than to put the car in reverse. “Don’t touch the van. The CS techs will be out as soon as they can to gather evidence.”
Mitch had the feeling thatas soon as they cantranslated to tomorrow or even later. The sheriff didn’t care about a juvenile delinquent or Emma. He didn’t even seem to care much about Carla’s murder. “The body’s going to get ripe fast in this heat.”
Korrin waved off Mitch’s concern. “The techs will probably be here before you and Dr. Collins get back from your meeting.”
As Korrin drove off, Mitch pulled out his phone and dialed Cooper. “I need FBI crime scene investigators, ASAP.”
“Figured you would. They’re already on their way, and the forensic photographer is my fiancée, so I guarantee you’ll be in good hands.”
Shit. “You told Celina what was going down?”
“It’s fucking Christmas, Holden, and it’s not like I could ignore your calls. She wouldn’t stop bugging me until I told her why.”
Mitch ambled back to the house, seeing Emma’s face framed in the kitchen window. “Jesus, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to ruin your day.”
“Yeah, well, traffic’s a bitch, but we’ll be there within the hour.”
Mitch froze. “You’re coming too?”
“Owen is with his mom and I wasn’t about to send Celina by herself as bad as things are in your area. There was a shooting on the highway not fifteen minutes ago. Road rage. Four are dead.”
Closing his eyes, Mitch let out a controlled sigh before he opened them again. “I’ll make it up to you.” He didn’t know how, but there would be hell to pay and rightfully so.
“Shut up and go guard that therapist. We’ll be there as soon as we can.”
Inside, Mitch accepted a towel from Emma to dry his hair. “Ready?” he asked her.
She had her suitcase by the front door.
“Did you see anything?” he asked Will as Emma gathered up the dog bowls and tucked them into a bag.
“Nothing,” the man muttered. “These fuckers are pissing me off. Whoever our killer is, he’s got more than survivalist training. If I had a guess, he’s former military.”
“Maybe when we leave, he’ll realize it’s a lost cause and leave too,” Emma said. “You’re welcome to come with us, Will.”
“Oh, hell no,” he said. “He comes after me or the horses, I’ll nail his ass to the wall.”
He and Mitch exchanged a fist bump. “Some of my people will be here in an hour or so to go over the van. Agent Cooper Harris is the man in charge and he’s bringing some FBI crime scene techs. Once Harris and the FBI are done with the scene, they’ll handle the cleanup as well.”
Will nodded. “Got it.”
