Aria’s lips stretched into a smile. The relaxed camaraderie of the team tightened those knots in her belly even more. Would she ever be able to engage in this friendly back-and-forth?
She’d never been one of the boys on the PD; had always felt like she had her nose pressed against the glass. As the only girl in a family of five siblings, she was accustomed to that feeling. Her brothers loved her, of course, but were overly protective and, like Rudolph, she’d never joined in their reindeer games.
Axel bobbled the ball of paper Carly had fired at him between his palms, his blue eyes alight. “I’m Supervisory Special Agent Axel Morrow. You can call me Axel or Axe. I would say that I’m Alana’s right hand, but we all know that honor belongs to Amanda over there, furiously taking notes on her laptop.”
The cute redhead seated next to Alana peered over the top of her computer and grinned. “You got that right.”
Aria studied Axel as he reeled off his background—his work background. His gift of gab must be one of the reasons for his top skills as a hostage negotiator. He could probably get anyone to do anything. At the FBI Academy, they’d studied some of Axel’s criminal profiles for their insight and accuracy.
Now, Aria narrowed her eyes at the good-looking blond and practiced a little profiling of her own. Did he use his charming manner to mask the tragedy of his young life?
“That’s me in a nutshell, but feel free to ask any of us anything anytime. We’re here to help you.” He flattened a hand over his heart. “Great to have you on board, Aria.”
“Now, for my true right-hand, last but certainly not least, Amanda Orton.” Alana tapped the redhead on the shoulder.
Amanda stopped typing. “I’m Amanda Orton. I’m Alana’s assistant. If you want to reach Alana or schedule a meeting with her, you come through me.”
“And if you want to get to Amanda, you have to go through that massive security guard downstairs, who happens to be her husband.” Axel raised his eyebrows. “You see him? He looks like a linebacker for the Lions.”
“You do not need to go through him to see me.” Amanda’s lips and eyes turned up at the corners. “You can reach me anytime, Aria, and I’m the keeper of the birthday club so I need to get that from you at some point.”
Carly rolled her eyes. “As if we need to be reminded of our birthdays every year.”
“Let me know when you want it, and I’ll give it to you.” Aria tucked her hair behind one ear. “Thanks for introducing yourselves. I’m so impressed with your work, and I can’t wait to be a contributing member of this team.”
Silence. Ugh, had she laid it on too thick?
“The only one missing is Rihanna Clark. She’s our PR person. She interacts with the media, the local PDs and crime victims. She had a meeting today,” Alana said, rapping on the table and pushing to her feet. “Now that the niceties are out of the way, we have work to do. Opaline?”
Opaline clicked her keyboard and the oversize TV screens on either side of the room came to life—only to show death. Two young women, both on their backs, sprawled on the ground, a gaping gunshot wound in their chests.
Alana aimed a pointer at the split-screen, the red laser hovering over the bodies. “Two victims in Port Huron. Both near the lake, different roads. Single gunshot to the chest, point-blank. The Port Huron police don’t have any leads yet but…”
The next slide jumped onto to the screen and Amanda gasped. “I-is that a baby?”
“It is.” Alana clenched her jaw. “A baby in a car seat was next to the most recent victim. Child Protective Services has the baby now, and the PD ordered DNA tests to determine if the baby belongs with the dead woman.”
Max growled. “Was the baby hurt?”
“The baby is fine, which is how the second body was discovered. Someone called in an abandoned baby. Didn’t mention the dead body next to the baby, but reported the baby.”
“Was it the killer?” Axel hunched forward, the veins popping out of his forearms, hands clenched.
Alana shook her head. “We don’t know. He didn’t leave a name or contact info, but could just be a scared bystander.”
Selena asked, “Did they trace the call?”
“Cell phone. No info on that phone yet.”
Opaline looked up, shoving her glasses higher on her nose. “I’m looking into the phone now.”
“Has the PD identified the victims? Do they have any similarities?” Carly scribbled on a notepad in front of her.
“The first victim had opioids in her system, too soon for toxicology on the second victim, and both had a small amount of fentanyl on them—packaged to sell.”
Alana tipped her head at Aria, and Aria squared her shoulders. Fentanyl she knew, along with all its street names: China Girl, Dance Fever, Apache, Goodfella, and on and on.
Alana continued. “Both women were about the same age, brown hair, brown eyes, not sex workers—at least, not known to the PD—and they were dressed conservatively. They did both have ID on them.”
Selena slumped in her seat. “That makes things a little easier.”
“Not quite.” Alana took a big breath. “The IDs they had were identical.”
Aria blurted out, “Identical?”
“That’s right. These women not only look alike, they were carrying IDs that have the same name, same address, same height, same weight. For all intents and purposes? The same girl died twice.”
Don’t miss
ROOKIE INSTINCTS by Carol Ericson,
available November 2020 wherever
Harlequin® Intrigue books and ebooks are sold.
www.Harlequin.com
Copyright © 2020 by Harlequin Books S.A.
ISBN-13: 9780369704450
Conceal
First published as Untraceable in 2015. This edition published in 2020.
Copyright © 2020 by Janie Crouch
All rights reserved. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse
