Page 51 of What We May Be

“Tracy Hirsch is a surgical nurse at HU Med,” Abel told him.

“Wasn’t she on shift at the hospital when Julian was killed?”

Charlie pointed at Jaylen. “Call the hospital and double-check that. Now.”

“On it.”

He ducked out of the conference room as Sean tossed out another question. “Does Tracy have any connection to Jeff?”

“None that I know of. But Trevor does.”

“Revenge?” Abel speculated. “A frame-up?”

“I wouldn’t put it past her,” Maggie said. “Especially if she’d found out what her ass of a husband was up to.”

Diego rolled his eyes toward the ceiling as if asking God for patience. When he righted his gaze, Charlie laughed. “What else you got?”

“Another possible lead.” He withdrew his phone and tapped the screen, glancing down at his notes then back up. “We caught up with Sarah Barnett yesterday outside her French class. The lecturer, Beth Martin, let us use her classroom to talk.”

“Go on.”

“Sarah called us about an hour ago. She had a class in the same building this morning, and Professor Martin was waiting for her afterward.”

Sean rested against the edge of the conference table. “That’s odd.”

“Not necessarily,” Diego replied. “Beth, by Sarah’s own account, seems to genuinely care about her students. Sarah didn’t think much of it at first.”

“I’m sensing a but,” Abel said.

“But today, Beth asked more pointed questions. Not the how-are-you sort but more the what-did-the-officers-ask-you-about sort.”

“Female. Connected to HU.” Sean raised two fingers, then a third halfway. “She look like someone who could maneuver Jeff and Julian?”

“About Charlie’s height and build.”

Sean finished raising the third finger.

Charlie went for four. “Any connection to Jeff or Julian?”

“We’re looking into it now.”

“Did Beth know about Sarah and Julian?”

“We asked Sarah,” Diego said. “She didn’t tell Beth about Julian, but the professor did confiscate her phone for texting in class a couple weeks ago.”

“Let me guess,” Abel said. “Pictures?”

Diego nodded. “Seems to be a trend with kids these days.”

Jaylen reappeared at the door to the conference room. “Tracy was on shift according to the scheduling nurse, but I think we should go down there and talk with others who were on that night. See if there are any irregularities.”

“I’ll go with you,” Abel said. “Throw around some weight.”

“And let’s dig into Beth Martin,” Charlie added. “Seems a more likely connection than any political one.”

“I’ll get started on that,” Diego said.

Her team activated, she thought how best to use Sean and his resources. “Can you get your hacker on Martin’s phone records?”

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