Page 53 of Special Agent Murphy

Chapter Thirty-three

Kayti had watched Murphy with the Senator. She’d seen his compassion for the man before the cloak of indifference appeared. The one that all FBI personnel were trained to perfect.

And no matter how hard she tried, that was the second failure she suffered in the job. Somehow, she just couldn’t maintain the distance they were all expected to uphold.

She’d always known she could take extra driver’s training to correct her worst hang-up but had no idea how to fix her soft-hearted deepest instincts.

By the time they’d returned to the SUV, she had some controls in place and could talk without embarrassing herself. She waited until Murphy had read his incoming text.

“We need to get to Misti before they make contact and deliver the ultimatum. We both know the Senator will do whatever they ask. What we don’t know is if they’ll kill her when he does.”

Murphy looked her way, his mouth hard, his eyes cold. “They might have already killed her. I just got a text that they’ve located a young female body in the same car we’ve been searching for. They found it in an underground parking lot in the north end of the city. Let’s go.”

While they drove, snowflakes drifted past, which reminded her that in a few days it was Christmas. The lights on the houses that flew by were pretty and helped to alleviate her abnormal depression. Thank goodness she’d already ordered Edna’s gift. But now she had Murphy and Talin to add to the shopping list.

To move the slow traffic along, Murphy flipped on the switch in the SUV. Sirens screaming and lights flashing, she tried to concentrate on anything but what might be waiting for them. The thought of finding that beautiful young girl’s body made her sick inside. “It could be Gina.”

“Between us, that’s who I’m expecting to find.”

Not wanting to feel relief, knowing the death of any innocent girl was a tragedy, she let her mind wander. If rich Russians were responsible for the kidnapping, they’d be pulling strings behind the scenes with a good chance of getting away scott free. How disgusting to think they could come to her country, wreak such havoc and not rot in jail.

“You okay?” Murphy’s voice broke into her painful thoughts and pulled her from the labyrinth of disgust she kept having to push past. “I’m thinking the men in charge of this fiasco will be the ones to get away with it because they’ll just leave the country.”

“You mean Viktor Baranov? Not unless we get to him first and lay charges. But we need evidence. In the meantime, he’s under surveillance, and we know every move he makes.”

“And shit happens.”

“True, people have been known to slip through the cracks. We can only do our best.”

“I know. But him and the rest of the slime who have too much money and no honor should be indicted, charged and jailed to show the other ex-pat money-baggers we have laws.”

“Calm down, tiger. We’ll get him.”

“Yeah.” She let out an unladylike snort. “Maybe this time.”

Once they arrived at the underground parking lot, they both put on gloves and approached the vehicle where the body still rested in the trunk.

From the first glance, seeing the neck abrasions, death had been by strangulation. The coroner’s assistant had arrived only moments before they did and could add very little other than an approximate time of death.

“There isn’t a lot of deterioration to the body because this parking lot isn’t heated. Plus, the outside temperature the last few days has been just above freezing and the nights even colder.”

While Murphy talked with the crime scene investigators, Kayti wandered around the scene. What struck her instantly was the mud-like substance pooled around the driver’s side. She opened the door and checked on the floormat to see more of the claylike muck.

Calling over one of the technicians, she requested them to send a sample to the lab and let her know as soon as possible if they could identify a specific area where the substance would most likely be found.

Before she could mention her notion to Murphy, he started walking to their vehicle, while listening to his cellphone. He turned back to see if she was paying attention and following.

She hurried after him, waiting to find out what was up. When she saw his expression, she moved closer. If she’d of had the right, she’d have rushed into his arms.

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