Page 56 of Dead Fall (The Quantico Files 2)

28

When Alex woke up, she realized she’d slept straight through the night. She turned over to look at the clock on the nightstand. It was after eight. She rarely slept this late. Even though this was only a twin bed, it was pretty comfortable. She suddenly had the strangest feeling, though—as if someone were trying to tell her something. She flipped over on her back and tried to still her mind. What was it? She couldn’t shake the impression that something was wrong.

Logan had told them to take the morning off while he met with Gorman about the profile. After lunch, Gorman would let them all know what his team was doing and what kind of progress they were making. That wasn’t the usual procedure. In most cases, once the profile was delivered, the analysts moved on to the next case. She wondered if they would be called in on something else while they were here. It was certainly possible. The plan was to keep them here until the UNSUB was captured, but how long would that take? They couldn’t stay here forever.

She turned back over and looked out the window. It was still snowing. Beautiful. She tried to enjoy it, but once again, that odd feeling came. She couldn’t ignore it. She turned over again and sat up. Kaely wasn’t in her bed. She must have already gone down for breakfast. Alex looked around. She would have felt better if Kaely had at least left a note to tell her where she was.

Alex got out of bed and took a shower. Then she dressed in jeans and a light-blue shirt, which she tucked in. Yesterday she’d dressed more formally, but when she saw almost everyone else was wearing casual clothes, she’d decided to join them today. She reached into a pocket of her bag and pulled out a pair of earrings she loved to wear. Jordan Stewart, Shirley’s eight-year-old son, had given the silver pistols to her at Christmas. He’d purchased them with his own money saved from his allowance. Shirley told her she certainly didn’t have to wear them if they were in bad taste, but Jordan thought they were “cool,” and Alex did too. She wore them whenever she could.

Monty and Logan had teased her about them more than once, but she didn’t care. She treasured them because Jordan had given them with love. She quickly put them on, then pulled on her boots and brushed her hair. She started to put it into a ponytail, but at the last minute she changed her mind and left it down. She wasn’t working this morning, so why not? She hurried out of her room. Maybe she could catch Kaely before she finished breakfast.

She closed the door behind her and was on her way to the elevator when she noticed the door to one of the unused rooms was open. She started to close it, but then she noticed a man lying on the floor inside. She ran over and recognized him. It was one of the FBI police officers. What was his name? Dennis. Dennis something. She couldn’t remember. He was on his side with his eyes closed. She felt for a pulse, but she knew he was dead as soon as she touched him. He was cold.

A quick look around didn’t turn up any signs of violence. He was just ... dead. What in the world had happened? She reached for her phone and called Logan. When he answered, she told him what she’d found. He sounded as stunned as she felt. She tried to keep her attitude professional, but this man had died while trying to protect her and the other BAU agents.

She went back out into the hallway and waited. A minute or two later, the elevator began its ascent to their floor. When the doors opened, Logan and an officer stepped out.

“Show me,” Logan said.

Alex led them to the room. “The door was partially open. That’s the only reason I looked inside.”

“Dennis?” the officer said.

“I’m sorry,” she said to him. “He’s dead.” The officer, whose badge read Shawn Driscoll, started to approach, but then he stopped. Even though the death looked like natural causes, at this point they couldn’t assume anything. They had to keep the area as clean as possible for the crime-scene investigators.

“Do you have any idea what happened?” Logan asked her.

“No. I checked to see if he was alive, but I quickly realized he was gone. No visible signs of trauma. It looks like he simply died.”

“When did Dennis come on?” Logan asked the obviously distraught officer standing next to him.

“Two a.m.,” Driscoll said, his voice breaking.

“Why would he enter this room?” Alex asked. “It’s being updated. No one was staying here.”

“Maybe he heard something and was checking it out.”

“Or he was just curious,” Logan said.

“The way he’s positioned, he could have simply fallen against the door after suffering a heart attack,” Alex said. “Maybe it was slightly ajar.”

Driscoll was fighting to maintain his composure, and Alex felt bad for him.

“Let’s call the ME,” Logan said. “Until he gets here, we need to leave Dennis where he is.” He looked at Alex. “Was he lying on his side when you found him?”

“Yes. I just checked for a pulse and then called you.”

“Okay, let’s go downstairs. Will you stay here with him?” he asked Driscoll.

The officer nodded.

Logan turned to look at Alex. “Where’s Kaely?”

“She’s not here. She left before I got up.”

“Okay.” He addressed the officer again. “Shawn, no one is allowed on this floor without my permission. And no one leaves. I believe all my people are already downstairs, so none of them should be up here. It looks like Dennis’s death was natural, but I want to make certain. Do you understand?”

He nodded. “Yes, sir.”

---