Christmas K-9 Protectors, page 8
He pulled back the curtain again and waited, seconds passing by like minutes, until he saw the Golden Bandit holster his weapon so he could reach for his loot. Steeling himself, Ian stepped through the curtain with Aurora by his side, raised his badge with one hand and pointed his service weapon at the criminal with the other.
“Ian McCaffrey, Alaska State Trooper,” he shouted. “Hands up, drop your weapon and get down on the floor. Now!”
The Golden Bandit sent his blinding tactical strobe light spinning into the group like a grenade. Was he trying to give someone a seizure? Ian shielded his eyes, leaped for it and switched it off. But it was too late. Already his eyesight was jeopardized. Blurs of light and darkness filled his gaze. Footsteps sounded to his right. The Golden Bandit was getting away! Ian leaped to his feet and ran after him, barely able to see the contours of his own hallway. Chilly air wafted down the hallway in front of him. A window was open. He reached the end of the hall and looked out. A figure was trying to run through the snow. The Golden Bandit was not getting away this time. Ian signaled Aurora to jump.
Majestically his partner leaped through the window in a single bound, knocking the figure off his feet and into the snow as her paws struck his back. Ian was through the window before the perp could shake her off. He pinned the man down.
“Ian,” the man said, his voice both familiar and muffled. “Wait!”
“You are under arrest for robbery, murder, attempted kidnapping and uttering threats,” Ian said. He pulled the man’s hands back firmly and handcuffed him. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you may say could be used against you in a court of law.”
“Listen!” the man said. “Son!”
Ian leaped off and flipped him over. Light sprung on from the house and behind him, cascading down from the window behind him and encircling the trees around him.
“Dad?” He looked down at his startled father. Blood trickled down his dad’s face and splattered on his dress shirt and tie. Ian quickly took off the handcuffs. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” his father said. “It’s just a nosebleed.”
“What happened? What are you doing outside?”
“I don’t know,” the older man said. “I was in the hallway and then someone rushed me. He elbowed me in the face and pushed out the window.”
“And where is he now?”
“I d-don’t know,” his dad stammered again. “He ran into the trees.”
A car engine sounded. Headlights disappeared through the trees. Aurora whimpered. Ian looked down and saw she was holding something in her mouth. It was the bag of stolen jewelry.
EIGHT
Ian and his father started around to the front of the house. Another car engine sounded, then a second and a third. Seemed like people were streaming from the party, hopping into their vehicles and getting out of there. And while he couldn’t blame them for escaping danger, especially as they had no idea if the armed criminal was still in the house, he wished he’d managed to secure the premises and keep witnesses from leaving.
“Don’t take your shirt off or clean yourself up until the crime scene investigators have seen you and given you the okay,” Ian said. “It’s possible the Golden Bandit got some of your blood on him when he gave you a bloody nose or you might’ve gotten some of his DNA on you. Either way, we might be able use that to identify him. I’m just sorry Aurora and I weren’t able to stop him.”
The snow was up to their knees and although his dad insisted he was fine and not injured, he was still walking slowly. As they reached the front of the house, Ian could already hear the sirens of law enforcement vehicles approaching and see the red and blue lights swirling through the trees. Then he saw Poppy leap out of her vehicle with Stormy by her side and Lorenza step out of her car. He made sure his dad was all right on his own, then ran to brief them and turn over the bag of stolen jewelry that Aurora had retrieved.
His heart pounded to get back into the house and find Tala. But the colonel assured him that she’d spoken to Tala on the phone and that it was best that law enforcement took their statements before they spoke. Reluctantly he agreed, despite everything inside him wanting to push through the crowd, run into the house and see for himself that she was safe.
By the time he’d debriefed Lorenza on everything that had happened, including how he’d found his father with a nosebleed outside in the snow, both local law enforcement and state troopers had secured the house and begun taking statements. It seemed the Golden Bandit hadn’t even broken in. He’d just walked inside and thrown the power breaker. Ian’s mother had switched the power back on as soon as the bandit had fled and at least twenty different people had called the police. Ian’s mind swam.
Going into a party, issuing threats, stealing jewelry and then either intentionally or accidentally ditching it made sense how?
He entered the house the moment he was cleared and found Tala talking with a tall, brown-haired man in a white jumpsuit. She introduced him as Bob Flocks, head of the CSI team.
“Bob and I need to go over some details,” she said, almost apologetically. “I’ll come find you when I’m done. Okay?”
“Sure,” he said. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
Something softened in her eyes. “You, too.”
Ian and Aurora went to find his parents and double-checked they were fine. Then, to his frustration, all he could do was stand back and watch as his K-9 unit colleagues did their job wrapping up the scene. Less than an hour later, investigators, his colleagues and the remaining party guests left, and he was given permission to drive Tala home. But first he made sure his parents would be okay without him. Even then he left Aurora with them as added protection.
He hadn’t even realized he and Tala were driving in silence until they pulled onto the main road and the sound of Tala’s voice shook him out of his haze.
“Your folks will be okay,” she promised, “and once the jewelry has been processed it’ll be returned to its rightful owners. The whole thing was terrifying, but there were no injuries except for your father’s nosebleed, the house wasn’t broken into, and none of the entrances or exits were compromised. He didn’t even break a window.”
Her voice was soft and comforting. But he wasn’t sure he wanted comfort right now.
“The Golden Bandit walked right into my house,” he said. “My house! Where I live with my parents, and he threatened them and their guests. And I did nothing to stop him.”
“You did everything you could do,” she reassured him. “Ian, none of this was your fault.”
Tala bit her lower lip. Then she reached for his hand across the front of the car and linked her fingers with his. But he jerked away.
“Wasn’t it?” he asked. He pulled his vehicle into her driveway and cut the engine. “I wasn’t even in the house when he broke in. I was out on the balcony, distracted, with you.”
“Distracted,” she repeated the word back. A deep chill moved through her tone. “By me.”
“Yes!” he said. Wasn’t that obvious? “I was paying attention to personal stuff when I should’ve had my eye on the ball. I shouldn’t have even been out there with you.”
“Right,” Tala said slowly. Her voice was so cold now it was almost frozen. “I was wondering how long it was going to take before you did this.”
“Did what?”
“Second-guessed what happened between us,” she choked out, “and make me listen to you talk yourself out of it.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked. “Obviously, I made a mistake.”
Emotions he couldn’t begin to decipher glistened in her eyes. “Do you regret kissing me?”
What? Where was she getting that from? He hadn’t even mentioned the kiss!
“This isn’t about that—”
“Please, Ian,” she whispered. “Just give it to me straight. Don’t make me listen to you talk yourself around in circles. Do you regret kissing me?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe. It’s complicated. I’m a trooper. I should’ve been paying more attention.”
“You were off duty and at a party,” she reminded him. “You’re a trooper, I’m a forensic scientist, and our lives are always going to be complicated because we literally fight crime for a living.” Then he watched as her shoulders fell. “And you’ve always been the kind of guy who had doubts about every single relationship you’ve been in. But I like who I am, and I don’t want you second-guessing me. I think we can both agree what happened between us was a mistake. Good night, Ian. I’ll see you in the next team meeting.”
He watched as she opened the car door, stepped out and shut it so hard it slammed. Ian wanted to tell her to stop and that kissing her hadn’t been a mistake but instead something he’d been wanting to do for as long as he could remember. He wanted to convince her he had no regrets and would never second-guess her again. But the words faltered on his lips.
Did he regret kissing her?
He didn’t actually know. It was like his feelings were drowned out by so many doubts he could barely come up for air.
Help me, Lord. I care about Tala so much and yet I’m terrified to commit myself to her.
He watched as she pulled out her cellphone and glanced at the screen. Her face paled. She opened the door and leaned back inside the car. “Ian, you’ve got to go home now.”
Sudden fear ran down his spine.
“What happened?” he asked. “Who was that texting you? Are my parents okay?”
“That was Bob,” she said. “He wanted to give me a heads-up that your dad gave both a blood and saliva sample. They matched the unknown sample found at the pawnshop last night.”
“What?” He understood the words she was saying, but they made no sense. “My dad wasn’t at the pawnshop last night. He was hiking alone. He does that sometimes.”
“Does he have an alibi to prove that?” she asked quietly. He shook his head. She sat back down on the edge of the seat but left her legs and feet out in the snow. “You found him outside in the snow tonight with the stolen jewelry and a weird story. And now his DNA matches the unknown sample at the pawnshop.”
“Well, your lab must’ve made a mistake,” he bit out, “or the Golden Bandit got his DNA on my father to frame him—”
But when she grabbed his hand and squeezed it, he faltered.
“Ian,” she said urgently. “Listen, I tested the pawnshop sample myself and was there when Bob took his DNA tonight. He tested the blood on your dad’s shirt against samples of both your dad’s own fresh blood and saliva samples. There’s no way the crime lab would be fooled into thinking some trace DNA sample on your dad was his without checking it thoroughly. I can’t explain why his DNA matches, because I don’t understand it, either. But what I’m telling you is that you need to hurry up and go home. Because law enforcement will be on their way to arrest your father as the Golden Bandit.”
* * *
Tala paced the living room after Ian left. Her own heartbeat was so loud she could barely hear herself think. She’d kissed Ian McCaffrey and couldn’t begin to process the number of feelings that it stirred up inside her. Did she regret it? No. She cared about this man, she was attracted to him in so many ways, and she’d been brave enough to step up and let him know it—twice. And both times he’d let her down and shown her that he wasn’t ready for a relationship with her. So that was that and she’d never kiss him again.
And yet, Lord, everything inside me still feels driven to help Ian, but I don’t know how. Help me. Guide me. Give me wisdom.
Ian’s father had been arrested on charges of being the Golden Bandit, based on evidence her lab had turned up. If law enforcement had nabbed the right man, then the case was solved, but her childhood best friend would be emotionally devastated.
But what if Ian’s father wasn’t the Golden Bandit after all?
Then what? Then the crime scene investigators made a major mistake? But how would that even happen? Bob might be a bit of an arrogant jerk, but he was a professional. The idea that her colleague had somehow altered the evidence was almost unthinkable. As was the idea that someone else on the team could do so without him noticing.
And without Tala noticing.
But if that had happened, she was going to find out.
She called a taxi and changed out of her party clothes and into a sweater and jeans while she waited for it to arrive. The Alaska State Crime Lab was empty when she arrived, except for the security guard on duty. She signed herself in with her key card and had to stop herself from actually jogging to her lab. An odd longing filled her heart as she glanced at the empty couch where she’d found Ian and Aurora dozing just a few hours before. The feelings she’d had for Ian back when they were in high school were nothing compared to the deep respect and admiration she had for him now. She might not know if Ian’s father was the Golden Bandit or if Bob had altered evidence. But the one thing she did know was how to do her job. She opened the fridge.
Tala started by rechecking every piece of evidence from the crime scenes. The third and unknown blood sample found at the pawnshop was so plentiful there was no way it could be dismissed as trace. It was also fresher than the other two samples, and so was less likely to be cross-contaminated. It matched both the blood and saliva she’d watched Bob take from Ian’s father. Had her colleague switched the samples somehow with the Golden Bandit’s? But when? And how? And what would his motive be?
She sighed and ran her hands through her hair. That kind of speculation was the job of investigators. Her job was to focus on the facts. She went back to the evidence fridge in the hopes of finding anything she’d missed. Anything at all. Then her fingers touched a small plastic baggie containing the single spruce needle she’d found at the pawnshop. She pulled it out and dropped it on a slide and looked at it under the microscope. Huh, something was off about the shape. She picked it up and tried to roll it between her fingers. It was flat.
She grabbed her cell and called Lorenza, even before she’d finalized her thoughts. The head of the K-9 unit answered on the first ring. “Lorenza Gallo.”
“Lorenza, hi, it’s Tala.” She spoke so fast her words almost tripped over each other in their speed to get out. “I found a coniferous tree needle at the pawnshop crime scene in a footprint that matched the tread of the man who’d attacked me in the parking lot. So I assumed he’d tracked it in on his foot. But when I tested it in the lab, it turned out to be a fir tree needle, not a spruce needle. See, fir tree needles are flat, but spruce tree needles are round. The easiest way to tell them apart is to just roll them between your fingers.”
“Okay...” Lorenza said. Tala could tell she didn’t get it.
“There might be over a hundred and twenty million acres of forested land in Alaska,” she went on to explain. “But there are only about half a dozen native species of trees—and none of them are fir. Balsam fir trees aren’t native to Alaska, but they are the most popular type of Christmas tree in United States because of how full, thick and beautiful they are. Which means that tree probably didn’t come from the forest. It came from someone’s home!”
Lorenza let out a long breath.
“That narrows our search radius dramatically,” Lorenza said. Tala could hear palpable relief coursing through the colonel’s voice. The sound of a keyboard clicking came down the line. “By the look of things they’re not cheap and not available from that many places. I’ll get our investigators to contact local garden centers, check their staff and delivery people, and get a list of their fir tree customers. Well done, Tala. This is a solid lead. Did you happen to notice Ian’s family Christmas tree?”
“It was spruce, not fir,” Tala said.
“Which isn’t conclusive,” Lorenza said. “But a lead. Thank you. I’ll keep you posted.”
“Thank you,” Tala said.
She ended the call with Lorenza and reached for it. Hope filled her heart for the first time since the investigation into the Golden Bandit had begun. Tala went back to analyzing the evidence, going over every little thing that had been collected and praying for a breakthrough.
Over an hour had passed before she next looked up to check the clock. She heard the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway and turned, wondering who else would be visiting the lab this late and hoping it was Ian.
She blinked. It was Coach Charlie.
“Hey, Tala.” A grin crossed her former teacher’s face. He’d changed out of the suit he’d worn at the party into blue jeans and a football jacket. “I hope you don’t mind my popping in this late. Your colleague Bob told me it was okay if I brought evidence by.”
“And security just buzzed you in?” she asked.
Charlie laughed self-consciously. “Oh, Bob told him to let me in. Bob’s an old friend. I used to coach his kid.”
Really? She thought Charlie had only coached the boy’s team and Bob had daughters. Either way, it still didn’t mean he should bend the rules. She called the front desk and didn’t get a response, which might just mean he was on rounds. Then she sent Bob a quick question asking if he had indeed told Charlie he could drop evidence by. Bob responded immediately that he had and told security to expect him.
All right, then.
Charlie reached into his pocket and pulled out a small nugget of gold. “Can you verify what karat gold this is for me?”
“Sure. But can I ask why?”
“Maybe I’m just being an overprotective parent,” he told her. “But like I told you at the party, I suspect my daughter’s late husband was up to something that might possibly be connected to the Golden Bandit. But before I go to the police I’d like to see if I’m right. I trust you to be discreet.”
“Okay,” she said. Not that he needed a forensic scientist to check the quality of a gold nugget. Any jewelry store or pawnshop could do that much for him. Then again, they might also gossip about what they found. Not to mention she was curious. She rolled the nugget around in her fingers. By weight she’d have guessed it was about eighteen karats but when she pressed lightly with her fingertips it was as soft as twenty-four. Odd. She got a piece of dark black jasper stone and rubbed the gold nugget against it. Then she set the jasper inside a sample dish, got out several bottles of nitric acid of different concentrations and, starting with the weakest dilutions, tested it on the jasper. The gold remnant didn’t fade.
“Ian McCaffrey, Alaska State Trooper,” he shouted. “Hands up, drop your weapon and get down on the floor. Now!”
The Golden Bandit sent his blinding tactical strobe light spinning into the group like a grenade. Was he trying to give someone a seizure? Ian shielded his eyes, leaped for it and switched it off. But it was too late. Already his eyesight was jeopardized. Blurs of light and darkness filled his gaze. Footsteps sounded to his right. The Golden Bandit was getting away! Ian leaped to his feet and ran after him, barely able to see the contours of his own hallway. Chilly air wafted down the hallway in front of him. A window was open. He reached the end of the hall and looked out. A figure was trying to run through the snow. The Golden Bandit was not getting away this time. Ian signaled Aurora to jump.
Majestically his partner leaped through the window in a single bound, knocking the figure off his feet and into the snow as her paws struck his back. Ian was through the window before the perp could shake her off. He pinned the man down.
“Ian,” the man said, his voice both familiar and muffled. “Wait!”
“You are under arrest for robbery, murder, attempted kidnapping and uttering threats,” Ian said. He pulled the man’s hands back firmly and handcuffed him. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you may say could be used against you in a court of law.”
“Listen!” the man said. “Son!”
Ian leaped off and flipped him over. Light sprung on from the house and behind him, cascading down from the window behind him and encircling the trees around him.
“Dad?” He looked down at his startled father. Blood trickled down his dad’s face and splattered on his dress shirt and tie. Ian quickly took off the handcuffs. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” his father said. “It’s just a nosebleed.”
“What happened? What are you doing outside?”
“I don’t know,” the older man said. “I was in the hallway and then someone rushed me. He elbowed me in the face and pushed out the window.”
“And where is he now?”
“I d-don’t know,” his dad stammered again. “He ran into the trees.”
A car engine sounded. Headlights disappeared through the trees. Aurora whimpered. Ian looked down and saw she was holding something in her mouth. It was the bag of stolen jewelry.
EIGHT
Ian and his father started around to the front of the house. Another car engine sounded, then a second and a third. Seemed like people were streaming from the party, hopping into their vehicles and getting out of there. And while he couldn’t blame them for escaping danger, especially as they had no idea if the armed criminal was still in the house, he wished he’d managed to secure the premises and keep witnesses from leaving.
“Don’t take your shirt off or clean yourself up until the crime scene investigators have seen you and given you the okay,” Ian said. “It’s possible the Golden Bandit got some of your blood on him when he gave you a bloody nose or you might’ve gotten some of his DNA on you. Either way, we might be able use that to identify him. I’m just sorry Aurora and I weren’t able to stop him.”
The snow was up to their knees and although his dad insisted he was fine and not injured, he was still walking slowly. As they reached the front of the house, Ian could already hear the sirens of law enforcement vehicles approaching and see the red and blue lights swirling through the trees. Then he saw Poppy leap out of her vehicle with Stormy by her side and Lorenza step out of her car. He made sure his dad was all right on his own, then ran to brief them and turn over the bag of stolen jewelry that Aurora had retrieved.
His heart pounded to get back into the house and find Tala. But the colonel assured him that she’d spoken to Tala on the phone and that it was best that law enforcement took their statements before they spoke. Reluctantly he agreed, despite everything inside him wanting to push through the crowd, run into the house and see for himself that she was safe.
By the time he’d debriefed Lorenza on everything that had happened, including how he’d found his father with a nosebleed outside in the snow, both local law enforcement and state troopers had secured the house and begun taking statements. It seemed the Golden Bandit hadn’t even broken in. He’d just walked inside and thrown the power breaker. Ian’s mother had switched the power back on as soon as the bandit had fled and at least twenty different people had called the police. Ian’s mind swam.
Going into a party, issuing threats, stealing jewelry and then either intentionally or accidentally ditching it made sense how?
He entered the house the moment he was cleared and found Tala talking with a tall, brown-haired man in a white jumpsuit. She introduced him as Bob Flocks, head of the CSI team.
“Bob and I need to go over some details,” she said, almost apologetically. “I’ll come find you when I’m done. Okay?”
“Sure,” he said. “I’m just glad you’re okay.”
Something softened in her eyes. “You, too.”
Ian and Aurora went to find his parents and double-checked they were fine. Then, to his frustration, all he could do was stand back and watch as his K-9 unit colleagues did their job wrapping up the scene. Less than an hour later, investigators, his colleagues and the remaining party guests left, and he was given permission to drive Tala home. But first he made sure his parents would be okay without him. Even then he left Aurora with them as added protection.
He hadn’t even realized he and Tala were driving in silence until they pulled onto the main road and the sound of Tala’s voice shook him out of his haze.
“Your folks will be okay,” she promised, “and once the jewelry has been processed it’ll be returned to its rightful owners. The whole thing was terrifying, but there were no injuries except for your father’s nosebleed, the house wasn’t broken into, and none of the entrances or exits were compromised. He didn’t even break a window.”
Her voice was soft and comforting. But he wasn’t sure he wanted comfort right now.
“The Golden Bandit walked right into my house,” he said. “My house! Where I live with my parents, and he threatened them and their guests. And I did nothing to stop him.”
“You did everything you could do,” she reassured him. “Ian, none of this was your fault.”
Tala bit her lower lip. Then she reached for his hand across the front of the car and linked her fingers with his. But he jerked away.
“Wasn’t it?” he asked. He pulled his vehicle into her driveway and cut the engine. “I wasn’t even in the house when he broke in. I was out on the balcony, distracted, with you.”
“Distracted,” she repeated the word back. A deep chill moved through her tone. “By me.”
“Yes!” he said. Wasn’t that obvious? “I was paying attention to personal stuff when I should’ve had my eye on the ball. I shouldn’t have even been out there with you.”
“Right,” Tala said slowly. Her voice was so cold now it was almost frozen. “I was wondering how long it was going to take before you did this.”
“Did what?”
“Second-guessed what happened between us,” she choked out, “and make me listen to you talk yourself out of it.”
“What are you talking about?” he asked. “Obviously, I made a mistake.”
Emotions he couldn’t begin to decipher glistened in her eyes. “Do you regret kissing me?”
What? Where was she getting that from? He hadn’t even mentioned the kiss!
“This isn’t about that—”
“Please, Ian,” she whispered. “Just give it to me straight. Don’t make me listen to you talk yourself around in circles. Do you regret kissing me?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe. It’s complicated. I’m a trooper. I should’ve been paying more attention.”
“You were off duty and at a party,” she reminded him. “You’re a trooper, I’m a forensic scientist, and our lives are always going to be complicated because we literally fight crime for a living.” Then he watched as her shoulders fell. “And you’ve always been the kind of guy who had doubts about every single relationship you’ve been in. But I like who I am, and I don’t want you second-guessing me. I think we can both agree what happened between us was a mistake. Good night, Ian. I’ll see you in the next team meeting.”
He watched as she opened the car door, stepped out and shut it so hard it slammed. Ian wanted to tell her to stop and that kissing her hadn’t been a mistake but instead something he’d been wanting to do for as long as he could remember. He wanted to convince her he had no regrets and would never second-guess her again. But the words faltered on his lips.
Did he regret kissing her?
He didn’t actually know. It was like his feelings were drowned out by so many doubts he could barely come up for air.
Help me, Lord. I care about Tala so much and yet I’m terrified to commit myself to her.
He watched as she pulled out her cellphone and glanced at the screen. Her face paled. She opened the door and leaned back inside the car. “Ian, you’ve got to go home now.”
Sudden fear ran down his spine.
“What happened?” he asked. “Who was that texting you? Are my parents okay?”
“That was Bob,” she said. “He wanted to give me a heads-up that your dad gave both a blood and saliva sample. They matched the unknown sample found at the pawnshop last night.”
“What?” He understood the words she was saying, but they made no sense. “My dad wasn’t at the pawnshop last night. He was hiking alone. He does that sometimes.”
“Does he have an alibi to prove that?” she asked quietly. He shook his head. She sat back down on the edge of the seat but left her legs and feet out in the snow. “You found him outside in the snow tonight with the stolen jewelry and a weird story. And now his DNA matches the unknown sample at the pawnshop.”
“Well, your lab must’ve made a mistake,” he bit out, “or the Golden Bandit got his DNA on my father to frame him—”
But when she grabbed his hand and squeezed it, he faltered.
“Ian,” she said urgently. “Listen, I tested the pawnshop sample myself and was there when Bob took his DNA tonight. He tested the blood on your dad’s shirt against samples of both your dad’s own fresh blood and saliva samples. There’s no way the crime lab would be fooled into thinking some trace DNA sample on your dad was his without checking it thoroughly. I can’t explain why his DNA matches, because I don’t understand it, either. But what I’m telling you is that you need to hurry up and go home. Because law enforcement will be on their way to arrest your father as the Golden Bandit.”
* * *
Tala paced the living room after Ian left. Her own heartbeat was so loud she could barely hear herself think. She’d kissed Ian McCaffrey and couldn’t begin to process the number of feelings that it stirred up inside her. Did she regret it? No. She cared about this man, she was attracted to him in so many ways, and she’d been brave enough to step up and let him know it—twice. And both times he’d let her down and shown her that he wasn’t ready for a relationship with her. So that was that and she’d never kiss him again.
And yet, Lord, everything inside me still feels driven to help Ian, but I don’t know how. Help me. Guide me. Give me wisdom.
Ian’s father had been arrested on charges of being the Golden Bandit, based on evidence her lab had turned up. If law enforcement had nabbed the right man, then the case was solved, but her childhood best friend would be emotionally devastated.
But what if Ian’s father wasn’t the Golden Bandit after all?
Then what? Then the crime scene investigators made a major mistake? But how would that even happen? Bob might be a bit of an arrogant jerk, but he was a professional. The idea that her colleague had somehow altered the evidence was almost unthinkable. As was the idea that someone else on the team could do so without him noticing.
And without Tala noticing.
But if that had happened, she was going to find out.
She called a taxi and changed out of her party clothes and into a sweater and jeans while she waited for it to arrive. The Alaska State Crime Lab was empty when she arrived, except for the security guard on duty. She signed herself in with her key card and had to stop herself from actually jogging to her lab. An odd longing filled her heart as she glanced at the empty couch where she’d found Ian and Aurora dozing just a few hours before. The feelings she’d had for Ian back when they were in high school were nothing compared to the deep respect and admiration she had for him now. She might not know if Ian’s father was the Golden Bandit or if Bob had altered evidence. But the one thing she did know was how to do her job. She opened the fridge.
Tala started by rechecking every piece of evidence from the crime scenes. The third and unknown blood sample found at the pawnshop was so plentiful there was no way it could be dismissed as trace. It was also fresher than the other two samples, and so was less likely to be cross-contaminated. It matched both the blood and saliva she’d watched Bob take from Ian’s father. Had her colleague switched the samples somehow with the Golden Bandit’s? But when? And how? And what would his motive be?
She sighed and ran her hands through her hair. That kind of speculation was the job of investigators. Her job was to focus on the facts. She went back to the evidence fridge in the hopes of finding anything she’d missed. Anything at all. Then her fingers touched a small plastic baggie containing the single spruce needle she’d found at the pawnshop. She pulled it out and dropped it on a slide and looked at it under the microscope. Huh, something was off about the shape. She picked it up and tried to roll it between her fingers. It was flat.
She grabbed her cell and called Lorenza, even before she’d finalized her thoughts. The head of the K-9 unit answered on the first ring. “Lorenza Gallo.”
“Lorenza, hi, it’s Tala.” She spoke so fast her words almost tripped over each other in their speed to get out. “I found a coniferous tree needle at the pawnshop crime scene in a footprint that matched the tread of the man who’d attacked me in the parking lot. So I assumed he’d tracked it in on his foot. But when I tested it in the lab, it turned out to be a fir tree needle, not a spruce needle. See, fir tree needles are flat, but spruce tree needles are round. The easiest way to tell them apart is to just roll them between your fingers.”
“Okay...” Lorenza said. Tala could tell she didn’t get it.
“There might be over a hundred and twenty million acres of forested land in Alaska,” she went on to explain. “But there are only about half a dozen native species of trees—and none of them are fir. Balsam fir trees aren’t native to Alaska, but they are the most popular type of Christmas tree in United States because of how full, thick and beautiful they are. Which means that tree probably didn’t come from the forest. It came from someone’s home!”
Lorenza let out a long breath.
“That narrows our search radius dramatically,” Lorenza said. Tala could hear palpable relief coursing through the colonel’s voice. The sound of a keyboard clicking came down the line. “By the look of things they’re not cheap and not available from that many places. I’ll get our investigators to contact local garden centers, check their staff and delivery people, and get a list of their fir tree customers. Well done, Tala. This is a solid lead. Did you happen to notice Ian’s family Christmas tree?”
“It was spruce, not fir,” Tala said.
“Which isn’t conclusive,” Lorenza said. “But a lead. Thank you. I’ll keep you posted.”
“Thank you,” Tala said.
She ended the call with Lorenza and reached for it. Hope filled her heart for the first time since the investigation into the Golden Bandit had begun. Tala went back to analyzing the evidence, going over every little thing that had been collected and praying for a breakthrough.
Over an hour had passed before she next looked up to check the clock. She heard the sound of footsteps coming down the hallway and turned, wondering who else would be visiting the lab this late and hoping it was Ian.
She blinked. It was Coach Charlie.
“Hey, Tala.” A grin crossed her former teacher’s face. He’d changed out of the suit he’d worn at the party into blue jeans and a football jacket. “I hope you don’t mind my popping in this late. Your colleague Bob told me it was okay if I brought evidence by.”
“And security just buzzed you in?” she asked.
Charlie laughed self-consciously. “Oh, Bob told him to let me in. Bob’s an old friend. I used to coach his kid.”
Really? She thought Charlie had only coached the boy’s team and Bob had daughters. Either way, it still didn’t mean he should bend the rules. She called the front desk and didn’t get a response, which might just mean he was on rounds. Then she sent Bob a quick question asking if he had indeed told Charlie he could drop evidence by. Bob responded immediately that he had and told security to expect him.
All right, then.
Charlie reached into his pocket and pulled out a small nugget of gold. “Can you verify what karat gold this is for me?”
“Sure. But can I ask why?”
“Maybe I’m just being an overprotective parent,” he told her. “But like I told you at the party, I suspect my daughter’s late husband was up to something that might possibly be connected to the Golden Bandit. But before I go to the police I’d like to see if I’m right. I trust you to be discreet.”
“Okay,” she said. Not that he needed a forensic scientist to check the quality of a gold nugget. Any jewelry store or pawnshop could do that much for him. Then again, they might also gossip about what they found. Not to mention she was curious. She rolled the nugget around in her fingers. By weight she’d have guessed it was about eighteen karats but when she pressed lightly with her fingertips it was as soft as twenty-four. Odd. She got a piece of dark black jasper stone and rubbed the gold nugget against it. Then she set the jasper inside a sample dish, got out several bottles of nitric acid of different concentrations and, starting with the weakest dilutions, tested it on the jasper. The gold remnant didn’t fade.
