Buch lesen: «Murder Mix-Up»

ONE

NCIS Special Agent Portia Finch watched as the medical examiner zipped the body bag closed. Crouched as she was, her boots sinking into the soft earth of the state park, the sound eclipsed all thought for a second. Why it should hit her now—with this case, rather than all the others she’d investigated in her years as a navy cop—she didn’t know.

An approaching car snapped her out of her thoughts. A silver four-door, American brand. A rental? Whoever was in the driver’s seat pulled between her car, the duty SUV her teammates had driven and the medical examiner’s van. Determined to be seen, whoever they were. Determined to get here.

A dark-haired man in a gray suit climbed out. Portia watched the local sheriff make his way to the man.

The medical examiner cleared his throat. He had deep lines around his wise eyes that crinkled as he stared at her with that knowing look. But he didn’t ask what was in her head—not here. When he stood, his knees popped. “I’ll know more about the deceased after I get him back to the office.”

“Thanks, Alejandro.” Portia stood while the medical examiner and his assistant lifted the body onto a stretcher. She eyed the silver car again, then made her way over to where two of her team members were busy taking pictures of the bullet that had embedded itself in the tree.

Two gunshots, center mass. The victim, Nicholas Stringer, hadn’t had time to realize what was about to happen. The fact he was a marine—the Corps being a branch of the navy—meant it was Portia’s team who got to investigate.

As an agent for the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, it was her job to find the person who’d shot this young man in cold blood and left him in the middle of nowhere.

Special Agent Lenny Chen saw her approach. He gave her that chin lift guys give other guys—or their boss—instead of saying Hi. Older than her by a couple of years, he was a solid member of her team. Portia was honestly surprised he didn’t have a team of his own yet.

She said, “About done?”

Another chin lift from Lenny.

Anna Sparrow, the other woman on the team, raised an evidence bag. The bullet was mangled, but their lab was top-notch.

“Casings?” Portia asked.

One bullet had gone straight through the victim and embedded in a tree. Alejandro had told her the second bullet was likely still lodged in the victim’s chest. The more evidence they collected, the better picture they could gather of what happened. If they could find shell casings as well as the bullet...

“Got both of them,” Anna said, rolling her shoulders.

“Good job.” Portia glanced between them. “Both of you.”

“One body, two bullets and no witnesses. The only hard part was the two-hour drive to get all the way out here in the boonies.” Anna’s green eyes glinted and she shook her head, her bright red hair swaying from her ponytail. “I call the backseat on the way home.”

Portia heard a raised voice and glanced over her shoulder. The conversation between the suited man and the sheriff had become heated. Was the guy a reporter? He was dressed more like a fed—from one of those agencies that thought only having three letters made them better.

Portia lifted her watch. They’d been here six hours, but this wasn’t a job to be rushed. Still, it was almost time to head back to the office. “Where’s the kid?”

Chris Armstrong was the youngest member of their team.

“Walking the perimeter,” Anna said. “Making sure we didn’t miss anything.” Her Boston Irish lilt was gentler now. Adrenaline brought out the fighter in her—all the fire that red hair promised. Good thing it took a lot to get her riled.

“I’ll go get him.” Lenny turned and wandered off.

“He’s actually been kinda chatty today,” Anna said.

“And his mom?”

“She had a good morning, I guess.”

Lenny didn’t tend to volunteer information, but he took care of his ailing mother. If she’d had a good morning that was a positive, right? Portia said, “Ready to—”

A man yelled “I want to see him!”

She whipped around. Her hand moved to her weapon as she did so, in time to see the local sheriff quickly overpowered. Just a shove, and the suited guy was past the lawman. That was when she saw it.

Silver badge.

Short dark hair, strong jaw—not that she was noticing. What was the Secret Service... Ah, the brother. Of course. Nicholas Stringer, their victim, had a brother on the president’s protective detail. Evidently Declan Stringer had heard what happened and come all the way out here.

He could have identified the body at their office. And that would have been what she’d suggested when she made the call to him. Something that hadn’t happened yet. So who called him?

Portia strode across the grass while he made his way to the stretcher Alejandro was about to load into his van. Declan Stringer tried to sidestep Alejandro, who shifted and held up one hand, matching the Secret Service agent inch-for-inch in height.

Alejandro said, “And who are you?”

The sheriff sauntered over. “This would be the deceased’s brother. Declan Stringer, Secret Service.”

Declan still didn’t acknowledge her, or even the conversation going on around him. All his attention was on the body bag, giving her the chance to study him some more. His jaw was actually squarer up close, his hair that close-cropped, military style. Functional enough without needing gel, until it got a little longer and required taming.

He was handsome, probably a little older than her, maybe late thirties. He stood with a bearing that said he knew exactly who he was—and what he was capable of. A professional. One of those Don’t worry, ma’am. I’ve got this type of guys. She’d seen a hundred of them in her line of work. And she’d had to prove to each of them that despite the colossal horror of her being female, she was in fact perfectly capable of doing her job.

“Agent Stringer, if you’ll step aside with me. I’d like to speak with you.”

“I want to see my brother.” He was still facing down Alejandro.

The medical examiner glanced at her.

Portia would rather talk to Stringer first, get him to do this back at the office, but Stringer wasn’t going to back down. She nodded once, then turned to the sheriff and waved him two steps away. Might as well ask the sheriff a question or two while Declan Stringer identified his brother.

She moved half a dozen steps assuming the sheriff would follow, then turned and squared her shoulders. His attention was half on her, half on the Secret Service guy. “Want to tell me why the next of kin is here?”

No remorse showed on the older man’s face as he glanced at her, despite the fact he had zero jurisdiction in this case. And he certainly shouldn’t have been calling the family. But this guy had been the duly elected sheriff of this county for forty-two years. By now there was no other way to do things. Just his.

Reminded Portia of her father.

The sheriff said, “When I saw the ID, I ran his name. Marine, brother in high places. Figured I’d help y’all out, get the word across the wires. Called you. Called the Secret Service.”

And Declan Stringer had hopped the first plane from DC as early as when the call had gone out to her and the rest of her team at the Northwest Field Office. Portia sighed. It was time for them to get the body to the morgue.

“I don’t hear a thanks.”

She sent the sheriff a look that was probably overkill, but he seemed not to understand subtle. Then she wandered over to where the Secret Service agent stood. Back straight, his face completely impassive. She didn’t want to think about how hard this was for him. If she did that—if she empathized—she would end up personalizing this case. She’d start to feel everything, which would kill her objectivity. Not a good plan. Especially when they saw the worst people could do to each other as frequently as they did.

Alejandro had pulled back the zipper, revealing the face of their dead marine. Nicholas Stringer’s file said he worked out of the same navy base where their office was. So what was he doing all the way out here in the wild? Alejandro’s liver temp calculation had put the approximate time of death at between ten last night, and midnight. Nicholas had lain on the grass all night before an early-morning hiker had found him.

The guy wasn’t dressed for exercise. Boots, jeans, sweater and jacket. It was cold enough that Portia was wearing gloves. What had Nicholas been doing out here? Surely not hiking.

Alejandro said, “If you could—”

“Thank you, I’ve seen enough.”

The voice halted her steps. Deep. Full of authority, and a sadness that made her want to hug him. Was he the brooding type? Portia needed to get the guy through this, and then get herself back to closing the case. She didn’t need her resolve tested, no matter how tempting the idea of a handsome man might be. Relationships didn’t work, not when you dug below the attractive exterior and actually tried to build something real. Love never lasted. What was the point of proving—again—that she was right?

“This isn’t my brother.”

* * *

“Excuse me?” The medical examiner had a soft tone. Kind. Or at least he had the presence of mind enough to understand the circumstances. But it wasn’t necessary for them to treat Declan like he was the relative of this deceased man.

He wanted to hang his head in relief. Just bend forward, stick his hands on his knees and take a few deep breaths. It wasn’t Nicholas. This was all just a day wasted. A mistake. But instead of broadcasting his relief to these people he didn’t know, Declan glanced at each of them.

The sheriff. The NCIS agent. The medical examiner. “This isn’t my brother.” And he’d flown all the way from DC to be the one to tell them this.

But if he had to be honest with himself, he’d needed it.

Plane flights—the emotional stress notwithstanding. The waiting. Sitting. Walking. He’d been rapidly approaching burnout when he got that call. Coming off a long night of little activity on the White House grounds. The break had been good, even if it had been about trying to sleep while traveling across the country to identify his brother’s body.

Declan turned to face down the sheriff. “You said Nicholas Stringer. Right? That is what you said.” The sheriff gave him nothing. “Want to explain why you gave my brother’s name, when this is not my brother?”

“Driver’s license,” the sheriff stated. No inflection, no sign of an apology. “Credit cards. All there in his wallet.”

So someone had stolen Nicholas’s identity? Surely they could spot a fake ID. The NCIS woman who seemed to be in charge continued her study of him. He’d been aware of her stare for a couple of minutes now. Assessing him? Maybe. Did she consider him a suspect?

If she wasn’t going to apologize for this mistake, that was fine. Declan could deal. “Someone want to tell me how it’s possible you falsely ID’d this man?” He hadn’t seen Nicholas in a few years...was it four already? How could that be? Still, he hadn’t forgotten what his brother looked like.

“Driver’s license,” the sheriff said. “Credit cards.”

Like Declan was dense, or something.

The NCIS agent-in-charge turned to the sheriff then. “Want to tell me again how you were being helpful?”

Three other agents had drawn up around them. Ball caps, with NCIS on the front. Office attire and rain jackets, badges and guns. All of them had protective stances. They’d go to battle for this woman, their boss. And the local sheriff ranked about as high in their estimation as a stinkbug.

Declan looked at the dead body again. Relief swept through him once more, quickly followed by that grief. Someone had died. It just hadn’t been his brother. The sorrow he’d nursed since that phone call early this morning was still there.

I’m sorry for your loss had to be said. But to who? The next of kin wasn’t here. It was supposed to be him.

He caught her dark-brown gaze. Her hair hung past her shoulders, layered curls in different shades of brown. Her clothes were professional, but not so stuffy-looking that she didn’t seem completely at home out here in the mountains. The woman was an enigma for sure—and he hadn’t been that curious about a woman for a long time. Not that he allowed himself to dwell on it long enough to do more than register the feeling. She was not a mystery he planned on solving.

Declan’s head was too full of work. Being a Secret Service agent on the president’s detail was taxing to the extreme. A killer schedule. Long days. He didn’t know how the man kept going for that long, and it pushed them all to keep up with him. Considering they were the best of the best of federal agents, that only made him respect the president all the more.

She said, “I apologize for the fact you had to come all the way out here.”

Declan nodded. “Thank you.” And he was sincere. He really did appreciate her apology.

The medical examiner and his assistant pushed the stretcher to their van, and the sheriff followed along behind. Which left Declan with the four NCIS agents.

The woman in charge glanced at her team. “You guys head back. I’ll follow shortly.”

The redhead and the younger man started walking in the direction of the vehicles. The third NCIS agent teammate said, “Boss?”

“I’m good, Lenny.”

Declan could appreciate the guy not wanting to leave a woman alone with an unknown man. She was also this Lenny’s boss, so he respected her answer. But the look he shot Declan spoke clearly that he didn’t like the idea.

“Like I said—” She shot him a professional smile. “—I’m sorry you got dragged all the way across the country.”

Declan shrugged. “We might not be super close, but he’s family.”

“And now we’ve wasted your time.”

Maybe not. “I have a few days off. I’d like to know who this man was, carrying my brother’s ID.”

“He probably had it made recently, considering the photo is of our victim but the name is your brother’s.” She pulled her phone out. “You have a contact number for him?”

“I...usually just email him.” He gave her the address, and she typed it into her phone.

“We’ll figure it out.”

He stuck his hand out. “I’m Declan Stringer.”

“Secret Service, I know. Again, I’m sorry the sheriff wasted your time.” She put her hand in his and they shook, his cold hand to her wool glove. “I’m Portia Finch.”

“NCIS Special Agent, I know.” He couldn’t help the smile. “And thank you for apologizing, I really do appreciate it.”

She nodded, and a smile curled one corner of her lips. “It’s nice to meet you, Declan. Despite the circumstances.”

“I don’t know whether to be relieved or not. I mean, I am, but someone is still dead.”

“I’ll keep you apprised of what I find out.” Portia pulled a card from the inside pocket of her coat and handed it to him. Office number. Email address. Cell phone.

He’d rather stick around and see what they learned than be filled in later. “Thanks.” He managed to get the word out, even while he decided it was just professional courtesy.

She wasn’t giving him her number for any other reason, either. Despite the first flicker of what he recognized as attraction on his part.

Just a little zing. Could be more. Was he going to find out? No. Declan didn’t need the added complication of a relationship when he was facing some unsettling feelings about the toll his job was taking on him. He had four days off, and a decision to make. One that had to be all about him and what he wanted for the future. It didn’t need to be about a cute brunette with serious eyes, who was just doing her job.

The medical examiner’s van pulled away, followed by the sheriff’s Jeep. Her teammates took a little longer, idling for a minute in their car before they trailed after the others. That left his rental and her car.

“Time to head out?”

Portia Finch nodded. “Two-hour drive back to the office, then a whole lot of work to do to sort out this mess.” Her gaze snagged on something over his shoulder. “I—”

Before he could ask her what it was, shots rang out.