Page 43 of Tough as Steele

Bristol stood just inside the door, but Londyn was walking the room, her head down and searching the floor. He had no idea what she was looking for, but if she needed him to know, she would tell him.

He wet a swab and took a sample of the dried blood on the door, careful to take it from the edge where he hoped it wouldn’t interfere in fingerprinting. He labeled the bag and shoved it into another pocket.

His phone chimed, and he glanced at the text. “Message is from the deputy in charge of scouting out the vehicles parked near Mimi’s house. They didn’t find any vehicles that didn’t belong in the neighborhood or any video feed that helped.”

“Not surprising,” Londyn said. “Means they either moved their transport or the kidnapper was dropped off nearby and managed to avoid security cameras.”

“Sounds logical.” Squatting by the victim, Nate recovered a sample of his pooled blood from near his body, so it wasn’t likely contaminated by any blood from his killer. He pocketed everything and looked up. “Everyone good with me taking this guy’s wallet out to check his ID?”

“What’s one more procedure violation?” Bristol said, sarcasm rife in her tone.

“I think what my little sister wants to say is that we need to know the guy’s identity to move forward in finding Mimi, and the detective who takes charge of this scene might not give it to us. So it’s fine to bend the rules and touch the body before the ME gets here if you don’t move him or alter evidence.”

Bristol cocked her head. “So that’s what I meant to say. Who knew?”

Londyn rolled her eyes. “Go ahead, Nate.”

He fished the wallet out of the guy’s back pocket and withdrew his driver’s license. “Donald Gaskin. Lives in Troutdale.”

Londyn joined him and snapped a picture of the license. “Troutdale’s on the way back to Mimi’s place. We can stop there.”

Bristol cleared her throat. “I’m going on record as saying my county detective won’t like that.”

“He’ll never know we were there. And if he finds out, I’ll be sure to bring up the mutual assistance agreement between our agencies.” Nate knew he was reaching with that comment, as the agreement was more for disasters, but he had to do everything he could to find Mimi, and he didn’t have time to reach out to the detective before acting. He put the license away and looked through the other compartments. “Ten dollars, insurance card, and debit card. No credit card.”

“Hold them out, and I’ll take pictures.” Londyn lifted her phone again.

He displayed the items, and she tapped her screen. He put them back in the same order and returned the wallet. “We still have a few minutes to look around this place before the deputy arrives.”

Londyn spun and marched off, but Bristol stayed put. “I’ll keep watch at the door. That way I can say I didn’t go any further than the body.”

Nate took off toward the bedrooms, where he found Londyn looking through dresser drawers. “The other bedroom is completely empty, and there’s nothing in here. Didn’t find a computer or tablet.”

“Killer could’ve taken them along with the phone, if it’s even missing. Phone could be in the guy’s front pockets.”

She looked up at him. “Question I want answered is what is his relationship to Wigg? Was Gaskin the other male in the Lexus, and Wigg decided to eliminate him?”

“Sounds possible. We might find something at Gaskin’s place to connect them.”

Car tires sounded on the gravel drive, the crunch telling him the car was arriving at high speed.

“Gotta get out of here.” Nate gestured at the door.

She closed the drawer, and they headed back to the family room.

Bristol remained by the door, eyeing them. “I’ll go meet the deputy.”

“Try to find out if the deputies in pursuit of the truck detained the occupants,” Nate said.

“Will do.” She exited the house, and her boots tapped on the stairs as she jogged down them.

“We’re going to have a lot of explaining to do,” Londyn said.

“But not as much as your sister is.” Nate looked out the door, seeing the sun just starting to light up the horizon.

“I really want to get to Gaskin’s house before they do,” she said. “Think we can talk the deputy into taking our contact details and letting us go.”

“All depends on who it is, I suppose, but I doubt it. Not with you exchanging bullets with the guy in the truck. If it were me, I wouldn’t let us go. I’d separate the three of us and talk to us one on one.”

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