Page 36 of Dark Terror
What if the killer came in? Would she recognize him? Probably not, and that scared the ever-loving daylights out of her. As far as she was concerned, any tall man with blond hair was suspect.
* * *
Lunch consumed and a sofa bed bought—along with sheets, a pillow, and a down comforter Gabe had insisted on—he and Harry were now not so patiently sitting in the lobby of Sherman Enterprises, waiting for the owner to speak to them.
“I’m one minute away from shooting my way in,” Harry grumbled.
“Nah, too much paperwork involved with that.” He was getting annoyed, too. They’d been cooling their heels for more than thirty minutes. “He’s playing games with us, showing us who the top dog is here.”
“No doubt.”
The receptionist kept eyeing them, clearly wondering what two detectives were doing here. The murder had been in the news, but the victim’s name hadn’t been released yet, so that hadn’t clued her in. They were still attempting to notify Sheri’s only next of kin, a sister who lived in Colorado Springs.
Since his mother was a captain in the Colorado Springs police department, Gabe had called her, asking that she send an officer to the sister’s house to notify her. The sister hadn’t been home all weekend, so this morning they’d ascertained where she worked and had gone there, only to learn that she and her husband had gone away for a long weekend and would return tonight.
When the receptionist’s gaze slid to them again, Gabe winked, amused at how fast she glanced away.
Harry pinched his arm. “Stop flirting with the poor girl.”
“Ouch. I hate it when you do that.” She already knew that, which was why she was always pinching him.
“Stop giving me reasons to.”
“And then you’d be bored out of your gourd.”
“Like I am now. On another note, I was hoping that by the time I got back, all the tension in the department would have eased, but the higher-ups are still growly.”
“Not surprising. They’re walking on eggshells with the public and the mayor, and I don’t see that easing up anytime soon.”
Over the past months the Dark Falls Police Department’s dirty laundry had been aired for all to see, and public trust was sorely lacking at the moment. Between an ME on the take and falsifying records, a tech on the take who’d tried to frame Nate Ryder, and the worst, one of their very own Major Crimes’ detectives turning out to be the X-factor serial killer, reporters were having a field day. Gabe was still having trouble believing that a man he’d worked alongside since becoming a detective had been able to hide that kind of evil from them all for years.
He and his small band of detectives had closed ranks, isolating themselves from the shitstorm that had gone down when everything had come to light. They had a job to do, and that was to protect and serve. The politics of dealing with those events wasn’t in their paygrade, so they left that to the bosses while they went about their business, that of arresting those who needed arresting and dressing up stress balls.
“I for one am glad I’m not the boss or the chief right now.” She glared at the still closed door to the inner sanctum. “This mind game has gone on long enough.”
Gabe put his hand on her arm when she stood and pulled her back down before she barreled through the offensive door, guns blazing. “Patience is a virtue, partner.”
“I always hated that saying. Patience gets you nowhere.”
An older woman wearing a navy-blue pantsuit and a white blouse came out of the glass door leading into the inner sanctum. “Detectives, Mr. Sherman will see you now.”
“About damn time,” Harry said loud enough for the woman to hear.
“My apologies. Mr. Sherman had an unavoidable emergency that needed taken care of.”
Likely story, Gabe thought. No one liked detectives paying a visit without knowing why.
They were ushered into an office that was almost as large as Gabe’s town house. His gaze scanned the room, taking in the chrome and glass conference table, the section off to one side that had a leather sofa, two upholstered chairs, and a chrome and glass coffee table. Next to the mini-living room was a small kitchen with mahogany cabinets and granite countertops.
“Detectives, to what do I owe the pleasure?”
Gabe turned his attention to the man standing behind the largest desk he’d ever seen—the wood a perfect match to the kitchen cabinets—with a bored expression on his face. Silver hair that Gabe would bet a hundred bucks was the creation of an expensive hairdresser gave him a distinguished look, along with the several-thousand-dollar Armani suit.
The man and his office were meant to impress. What Mr. Sherman didn’t know was that it was hard to impress any detective who had seen the worst of what life had to offer. Being jaded tended to take the shine off blowhards and their trappings. They hadn’t been offered a chair, but he and Harry sat anyway.
“Mr. Sherman, do you know why we’re here?” Harry asked.
“I assume it has something to do with my missing bookkeeper. Other than that, I haven’t a clue why two Dark Falls detectives are disrupting my busy day.”
