When Aaron didn’t answer right away, he prompted, “There’s more.”
“Yes,” Aaron said. “It appears someone used Liz’s passkey. I’ve been unable to determine their identity, as the person was covered from head to toe. Whoever did this had a working knowledge of our security system. They must have hacked their way into it.”
“Unbelievable. Where is Liz?” Alex asked without thinking.
“I sent her home. She can’t be part of the investigation.”
Alex shook his head. “I can’t see Liz mixed up in this.”
Aaron certainly didn’t either. “No, but we can’t afford to dismiss the evidence in front of us. We need to do this by the book, Alex. Call in the crime scene unit. We need something else to go on other than Liz’s passkey. Without Sam’s help, we may never know where the missing weapons disappeared to or what the plan was for them. An attack could be imminent.”
When Reyna arrived she went straight in to examine the body. It didn’t take her long to come to the same conclusion as Aaron. “I have to agree with you, this was obviously something fast acting. The murderer would want to ensure Sam was dead before he left and he couldn’t stick around long. I’ll know more once I have the body at the lab, but I’m guessing he was killed before Michael.”
The killer had somehow gotten Liz’s passkey, then come here to murder Sam. From the video surveillance tape, it appeared Sam had been sleeping when the person entered his cell. When the needle was injected into his arm, he’d woken up, attempted to get up, but was too disoriented. It didn’t take long for the poison to do its job. Sam never had a chance.
There was no evidence that anyone had been there with the killer. It was obvious they’d wanted the team to witness the murder. But for what end? Aaron had studied the footage carefully hoping for clarity. The killer was tall and slim built. It certainly could be a woman. He leaned in closer—even though the tape was grainy, he was just able to make out the color of the perpetrator’s eyes. They appeared green...like Liz’s. He quickly shoved that thought aside.
“Thanks, Reyna,” Aaron said with appreciation. Reyna had been an amazing contribution to the team and she and her husband, Jase Bradford, were good friends to Aaron.
Once the crime scene unit arrived, Aaron knew what he had to do even though he dreaded it. Still, it would be best if it came from him. After the director found out about Sam’s murder it wouldn’t be long before he pulled the case from the team entirely. Aaron couldn’t let that happen. They needed answers and they needed them now.
He took Alex aside. “Let me know the minute you have anything. I need to go speak with Liz.” Just saying the words made him feel as if he’d betrayed her.
Alex patted his shoulder. “I know this is hard, but we’ll find out what’s really going on. It’s only a matter of time.”
Aaron forced a smile. He sure hoped Alex was right. They needed something, anything that would help clear Liz’s name, because he wasn’t about to let someone he cared about get framed for a crime she didn’t commit.
The moment she opened the door, Liz knew someone had been in her cabin.
Liz reached for her weapon and eased inside. At first glance, nothing appeared out of place. The quiet of the cabin settled around her. A quick search yielded nothing to back up the feeling.
She glanced down at the envelope in her hand.
For Your Eyes Only!
The sense of someone watching her permeated every molecule of her body. Was she simply being paranoid?
Liz blew out a shaky breath, killed the lights and parted the living room curtains. Nothing moved in the early morning world outside.
You’re being set up... The message from the unknown number had troubled her, though at the time, she hadn’t understood its meaning. And in the chaos that had ensued after discovering Michael was dead, Liz had forgotten to mention the text to Aaron.
She grabbed her burner phone again and typed a message to the mystery person.
Who are you? How did you know Michael was dead?
As she stared at the phone, willing an answer to come through, the blank screen in front of her seemed to confirm her suspicions. There was no way the texter could know about her partner’s death if he wasn’t somehow involved.
Liz struggled to make sense of what had happened in less than twenty-four hours. There had to be something more in the works here than what the team had originally believed. This went much deeper than Sam and his deadly schemes.
Through all the unanswered questions, one thing crystallized. She had now become the number one suspect in Michael’s murder. If she let herself be taken into custody, she had a feeling she wouldn’t walk out of the prison alive.
Yet if she stayed, with all the evidence mounting against her, Aaron wouldn’t have a choice but to bring her in. She couldn’t bear the thought of him thinking she was guilty. His friendship had come to mean so much to her.
Either way, time was running out on her freedom and possibly her life, so Liz hurried to her bedroom and stuffed as many things as she could into a backpack, then she went to her closet. The box that held her spare weapon was on the top shelf. Liz felt around until she’d found it. Right away she knew something was wrong. The box’s lid was open. Her Glock was gone.
She was almost positive Michael had been killed with the same caliber gun.
It was as if someone was carefully orchestrating her downfall.
Liz dropped her personal cell phone on the kitchen table. If she took it with her, they’d be able to trace her movements. Instead, she grabbed the burner phone and her regulation gun along with the envelope and backpack and headed out the back door.
Leaving headquarters presented another set of problems. She wouldn’t get far in Aaron’s vehicle. They’d be watching for it. She had one other option.
Don Warren, the ranch’s caretaker, kept a work truck close by in one of the old barns. He let every team member use it whenever they needed. If she could reach the barn, it would at least buy her some time, but after that she’d need to find another means of transportation. As soon as the team discovered she’d taken the truck, they’d be on the lookout for it.
She recalled Michael kept an old Jeep stored on the property he leased for hunting, which was adjacent to Aaron’s ranch. She’d been to the place once, but had no idea if the Jeep’s plates were even current or if it was in working order, but if she could make it there, she’d have a fighting chance of blending in with her surroundings. Jeeps were commonplace here in the mountains.
Liz cracked the back door and listened. Nothing but silence. It wouldn’t last. Aaron would be coming for her soon.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered for him and then slipped out into the cover of night.
The evening was filled with thousands of stars. It was one of the things she loved about the wide-open ranch. Not a city light could be seen for miles.
