Killer Deadline Read online

  Ryan lifted a shoulder. “A good professional hitman makes the job look like it was done by an amateur.”

  He picked up a picture of the desktop and the items on it, including a desk caddy which contained items like pens, a post-it notepad, and an empty scissors holder. There was a very dark mark in the wooden varnish next to the caddy. “What’s that mark?” He leaned over the picture and lifted it to get a better view.

  “Burn mark,” Daniel said. “Debra told us that Sam Hill had dropped his pipe on Ross’s desk the week before. He was known for smoking a pipe day in and day out when he wasn’t on the air. I think she said it was his last day when he dropped it. You’ll see in the forensics report that they also found ash and tobacco in the carpeting next to the desk. Cherry flavored. That’s what Hill always smoked and that’s what we found.”

  “And the tobacco and ash were still in the carpeting a week later?” Ryan tapped on a picture of a bloody pair of scissors marked and in an evidence bag. “Where did the murder weapon come from?”

  “They had belonged to the victim.” Daniel pointed at the empty slot on the desk.

  “Weapon of opportunity,” Ryan said. “Either the perpetrator didn’t plan on killing anyone, thus he had to improvise. Or he brought his own weapon, but when he saw the scissors, he decided to use something that couldn’t be traced back to him.” He lifted a page on the forensics report to check an item. “No usable prints on the scissors.”

  “Nope.” Daniel squinted across the table at him.

  Through the open doorway into Ryan’s bedroom, he saw Elmo with the corner of the bed’s comforter clutched in his teeth. The dog’s face was filled with determination as he pulled the comforter up to the head of the bed. Is that dog making the bed?

  “Do you want to know what I think?” Ryan asked.

  Daniel blinked out of his thoughts. “Huh?”

  “You do want to know what I think, don’t you? I mean, why else are you here?”

  Tearing his attention away from the dog fluffing bed pillows with his front paws, Daniel said, “Yes, I want to know what you think.”

  “I’m thinking the murderer waited for Debra to leave her desk so that he could meet with our victim without being seen. Ross sent Debra to the mailroom so that she would not see who he was meeting. He let his killer into the office. Things got out of hand very quickly and the killer left—all within a ten-minute window without anyone seeing anything or being suspicious.”

  “But no one saw anything.”

  “They think they didn’t see anything,” Ryan said. “That’s the problem with murder cases. You don’t ask potential witnesses if they saw anything. Since it’s a murder, they’re searching their minds for menacing-looking bad guys covered in blood. Of course, they’ll say no, they didn’t see anything.” He skimmed the police report. “In the case of the station, they’ll assume a stranger had to have done it.”

  “That’s what Wyatt said last night. Everyone is convinced that the killer is someone they didn’t know because they can’t imagine anyone they knew doing such an awful thing.”

  “Each potential witness dismissed everyone they knew as suspects. The question to ask is, ‘Did you see anything unusual around the time of the murder?’” Ryan picked up the picture of the scissors. “We’re looking for someone who is either very lucky or very smart.”

  Ryan jumped in his seat when Elmo placed a paw on his knee. A tennis ball in his mouth, the dog begged him to toss it.

  “Speaking of smart.” Daniel jerked his head in the direction of the great room behind him.

  Ryan turned in his seat. The laundry basket overflowing, the apartment had been cleaned. Through the open doorway, they could see that even the bed had been made. “How did he make my bed?”

  “I saw him looking for the vacuum cleaner, but he couldn’t seem to find it.”

  It’s time to put on your big girl pants and demand that Ashleigh let you in on her lead, Nikki told herself while driving across Pine Grove to the upscale gated community where the journalist lived.

  If Ashleigh had uncovered evidence to lead them to her father’s killer, that was a good thing. Solving his murder was not a competition.

  Ashleigh would consider it a competition. The rivalry between the two girls ran deep. Nikki blamed their mothers. Camille and Kathleen had grown up together in Pine Grove. Only days apart in age, Ashleigh and Nikki were thrown together for playdates since they were babies. Despite the time they had spent together, they could not have been more different. Ashleigh wanted to be Jennifer Lopez. Nikki wanted to be Nancy Drew.

  A false pregnancy led to a quickie marriage to her on-again-off-again boyfriend Conner Redfield. While Conner was able to pursue his dream of being a professional football player, Ashleigh had never made it to Hollywood. She had to settle for an on-scene reporter with WKPG-TV, thanks to her mother’s friendship with the station owner. While it was not exactly movie stardom, Ashleigh did enjoy the benefits of being a local celebrity.

  Nikki had no doubt that Ashleigh had been possessed by the little green-eyed monster of jealousy. Since leaving Pine Grove, she had covered and investigated many stories that made national news. Each major story meant more exposure and national recognition that Ashleigh craved for herself.

  Nikki had no doubt but that was why Ashleigh sat on the evidence—if it was indeed evidence. To break the story herself would get her the recognition she craved while sticking it to her arch-rival.

  You’re no different, Nikki chastised herself while sitting at the traffic light in Pine Grove’s historic town square. Why else are you hesitant to ask Ashleigh about her lead? Of course, she’ll rub your nose in it. She may even demand that you publicly declare her a top-notch journalist. What’s wrong with that? It’ll be worth it if you finally solve Dad’s murder.

  The light turned green. Nikki turned left to take the two-lane road through the countryside dotted with clusters of suburban style homes between small farms. After a few miles, she rolled down a hill and turned right to drive between two tall brick pillars marking the entrance of a gated community nestled along a stream.

  Unfamiliar with the subdivision, Nikki was dependent on the GPS lady to direct her through the twists and turns of the tree-lined streets. Each home boasted colorful gardens in the front and side yards.

  “Your destination is on your left,” the GPS lady said.

  The house on the left was a two-story blue colonial with black trim. A five-foot-tall hedge with round leaves and blue berries grew along the front and sides of the house.

  You’re the boss. Nikki parked in the driveway next to Ashleigh’s candy apple red Lexus. You have every right to demand that she give you everything she has before she can break it on the news at your television station. She marched along the walkway and climbed the three steps to the front porch. She pounded on the door with the knocker.

  There was silence.

  Nikki hesitated. “Ashleigh! It’s me. Nikki! Are you home?”

  She looked around the front yard and up and down the street to see if anyone was around. Most of the driveways were empty. Nikki assumed the homeowners who were home had parked in their garages. A few vehicles were scattered along the street. The nearest vehicle was a black pickup truck in front of the next house over.

  Nikki leaned sideways and peered through the bay window into the living room. “Ashleigh, are you home?” She could see Ashleigh’s bare legs on the floor. Broken glass sparkled in the sunbeam shining through the window. “Oh, no! Ashleigh!”

  She pressed down on the door handle. The door clicked and gave way to a two-story foyer. A grand entryway on the right was open to the living room furnished in stylish contemporary furniture and décor, including an entertainment center with a shattered glass-front.

  Sprawled across a blood-soaked area rug, Ashleigh stared up at her with dead eyes.

  “Ashlei
gh?” Careful not to get cut on the broken glass, Nikki knelt next to her and pulled her phone from her bag. She searched for any sign that she was still alive. There were wide gashes on the side of her head and neck. Nikki could see a shard of glass sticking out of her neck.

  As she thumbed the button for emergency, she noticed a laptop cord on the floor. One end lay loose. The other end was plugged into the wall.

  “9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” the operator asked.

  Nikki couldn’t find a pulse or any sign of breathing. “We need emergency crews right away. I’m at Ashleigh Addison’s home. I can’t pick up any pulse or signs of breathing. I think she’s dead.”

  Swoosh!

  Nikki turned toward the back of the house where she heard what sounded like a deck door slide open. “Conner! Is that you?”

  “Hello? Ma’am? Are you still there?” the emergency operator asked.

  “There’s someone in the house.” Phone in hand, Nikki ran down the hallway to the back of the house. The gate to the fenced in back yard was shut. She stepped outside and saw that the fence wrapped around the house. She heard the creak of a gate open and shut in the side yard.

  “Ma’am, are you okay?”

  Nikki ran back into the house, raced down the hallway, and yanked open the front door.

  She heard the roar of a truck engine. She raced across the porch and jumped from the top step to the walkway in time to see the black truck turn the corner and drive out of sight.

  Chapter Five

  Nikki met the sheriff deputies on Ashleigh’s front porch when they arrived minutes after her call.

  “We got a call about a dead body,” the lead officer said by way of a greeting.

  She pointed with her phone toward the front door. “She’s in the living room. I found no pulse or signs of breathing.”

  “EMTs are on their way.” The deputy ordered his partner to remain with Nikki and rushed inside.

  The other deputy extracted a notepad from his pocket. “What’s your relationship to the victim?”

  “She was my …” She corrected herself. “I was her boss. I’m Nikki Bryant, station owner of WKPG-TV. Ashleigh was the anchor for the six o’clock news.”

  His response that he knew Ashleigh from the news was drowned out by the emergency medical team. In a vain hope of saving Ashleigh, they arrived with the sirens blaring.

  As the team charged into the house, Becca Cambridge appeared from behind the EMT vehicle. Her cell phone extended, she was ready to grab any statement she could record. “Ms. Bryant, I’d just walked in from my morning run when I heard the call come across the scanner. Do you believe Ashleigh Addison’s murder could be connected to your father’s cold case?”

  “It’s too early to tell.”

  Nikki noted Becca’s less than professional on-camera attire. She was clad in a soft green running jacket and pants with matching athletic shoes. While clean and becoming, it was too casual for on-camera interviews. Obviously, Becca was such a go-getter that as soon as she’d heard the call on the police scanner, she wasn’t going to let anything stop her from being first at the scene.

  “Do you know for certain if Ashleigh was investigating your father’s murder?”

  Nikki looked around for any sign of Becca’s camera operator. Clad in shorts and flip-flops, she was not dressed for an on-camera interview. “Where’s your camera operator?”

  “He’s on his way.” Becca scratched her upper arm. “Billy lives in his mother’s basement. I called him to get his butt over here as soon as I’d heard the call come through. I didn’t want to miss a chance to interview you before everyone else arrived. Ashleigh’s murder is going to be big news.”

  As if to prove her point, two vans belonging to WKPG-TVs competitors pulled up in empty parking spaces on the street. The news journalists, their microphones ready, spilled out and charged up to the yellow crime scene tape that one of the deputies had set up across the edge of the manicured lawn.

  Camera in hand, a chubby man elbowed his way through them to take his place directly behind Becca.

  “Ms. Bryant, does WKPG-TV have a statement about Ashleigh Addison’s death?” the journalist from WPEN-TV asked.

  “We have no comment at this time,” Nikki said before trotting over to where she saw Ryan pulling into a slim space between the sheriff deputy’s cruiser and one of the media vans. She met him when he climbed out of his SUV. “Ashleigh’s laptop is missing.”

  To her surprise, Elmo jumped over the console to take Ryan’s spot in the driver’s seat to watch the action. Ryan had left the window down. “You brought Elmo?”

  “Dad ordered me to bring him,” Ryan said. “He’s trying to plant mums and Elmo has been trying to help.”

  “Elmo loves to dig holes.”

  Ryan chuckled. “We found that out.”

  She leaned through the open window to peer into the backseat, but couldn’t see anything because of Elmo’s tongue in her face. “You better not have been driving him around without a seatbelt.”

  “I have a dog restraint belt in the back seat,” Ryan said. “I picked one up as soon as I’d heard you were moving back here.”

  “So you were planning to steal my dog.”

  “Swooping in to save your life is not stealing.”

  Nikki gasped. “Save my life? When have you ever saved my life?”

  “At least a dozen times in school when you’d signed up to babysit only to get a better offer, upon which you would beg me to do you a favor.” He held up his fingers in quotes. “You’ll save my life.”

  “I don’t think covering for me in babysitting reaches the magnitude of life-saving,” she said with a scoff.

  “Every time I said yes, you’d tell me that I’ve saved your life.” Ryan jabbed a thumb at Elmo, who dropped open his mouth in a grin. “So when I heard you were coming home, I knew without a doubt that at some point I was going to end up being your personal savior. I’m ready to jump into action when the call comes. I’ve got a pet restraint for Elmo to be our back-up. Medical kits both in the vehicle and at home. Of course, I’ve always had that. Plus, I have two go-to bags complete with cash and phony IDs for when we need to go off the grid to hide out from either the police or bad guys or maybe both.” He checked the time on his cell phone. “How long have you been home? Eighteen hours.” He gestured at the collection of emergency vehicles. “And here we are.” He pointed at the back of his SUV. “Should I break out our burner phones yet?”

  The prospect of an adventure made Elmo stomp his feet and grunt.

  Nikki clenched her teeth. “Okay! I see your point. Ashleigh is dead and her laptop is missing.”

  “How do you know it’s missing?”

  “The cord was plugged into the wall in the living room where she was killed, but there’s no laptop,” Nikki said. “I checked around the house in all the common places where you’d put your laptop and there’s no laptop or desktop in the house.”

  “Maybe she left it at the office,” Ryan said. “I’ve done that.”

  “But the cord is in the house.”

  “She forgot it. How many times have you left the cord at the office on the weekend? Then you have to conserve your battery power. That’s a royal pain. If she’s smart, she has two—like me. I have one charger at home and another at the office. That way I don’t have to remember to unplug it and put it in the case.”

  “It’s the laptop I’m worried about.” Nikki’s hands landed on her hips. “Are you telling me that Ashleigh left her laptop at the office for the entire weekend?”

  Elmo barked as if to agree with Nikki’s assessment.

  “Just because you cleaned my apartment doesn’t give you a license to take sides,” Ryan told Elmo before turning back to her. “Not everyone is a workaholic. Some people unplug on the weekends. Health experts consider that to be a healthy practice
. We should try it sometime.”

  “Come look at the crime scene.” Nikki grabbed his arm and tried to lead him under the crime scene tape to go inside the house.

  Recognizing Ryan as the head of the crime scene unit, the deputies parted to allow him access. To their surprise, Ryan pulled Nikki back onto the sidewalk.

  “I can’t go in there.”

  “I know Ashleigh was our frenemy,” Nikki said, “but we have to push by that. This is important. I think Dad’s killer got nervous when he heard her talking about having a big news story last night and decided not to take any chances.”

  “Did you touch anything while searching through her house for her laptop?”

  “I’m not an amateur!” Nikki took his hand. “Get your kit.”

  “I can’t,” Ryan said.

  “Suck it up, buttercup. We’re closing in on finding Dad’s murderer.”

  “It’s not about Ashleigh. It’s you.” Ryan lowered his voice. “Ashleigh worked for you. You found her body. Now you tell me that you’ve searched her home before the police arrived. For now, you’re a suspect and I’m your brother.” He pointed at the house. “I can’t go anywhere near that crime scene or the evidence.”

  Nikki stared at him. She dropped his hand. Fire sparked in her eyes before she said, “Step-brother.”

  “Stepbrother.” Ryan let out a deep breath. He jerked his chin the direction of an SUV parked across the street. “I’ve already called in my deputy chief to take control of the scene and the evidence.”

  An attractive woman with long red curly locks opened the back of the vehicle and took out her evidence kit. Seeing Ryan, she flashed him a broad toothy grin.

  Nikki’s eyes narrowed as she trotted toward them. “She looks very smart.”

  “Oh, Helga’s the best.”

  Displeased by the gleam that came to Ryan’s eye as Helga approached, Nikki stomped on his foot.

  He yelped and grabbed his leg. “What’d you do that for?”