Hunt and Prey (Kelsey's Burden Series Book 8) by Kaylie Hunter (novels to read for beginners txt) 📕

The desk officer buzzed us through the next set of doors. “Quille wanted me to tell you to check in with him.”

“He’s here already?” I hadn’t expected him to be in the office until at least noon after the late night we’d had.

“He’s here. But you might wish he wasn’t. He’s cranky.”

I sighed as Beast and I made our way through the main room to the stairs. Beast paused at the bottom, swinging his head over to look at me. “I’m too tired to race up the stairs today.”

“I will,” Gibson said, walking over and looking down at Beast. “One,” Gibson said, leaning over and positioning himself in a running stance. “Two.”

Beast barked.

“Three!”

And they were off. Beast was ahead by three steps before they even reached the corner landing. I felt exhausted just watching them. I walked over and pushed the button for the elevator.

Detective Ford laughed behind me. “This was for Quille,” he said, handing me a cup of coffee. “But I think you need it more.”

“Have you been upstairs yet?” I asked as we stepped inside the elevator.

“Yeah. Quille gave me the two-minute run down on your tobacco bust last night. Nice job, by the way. Then Quille started barking orders to everyone about getting their paperwork done. He’s on a rampage. Everyone’s hiding from him.”

I grinned as I drank my coffee.

“What? Did you piss him off again?”

I shook my head. “No. But Quille pretends sometimes to be mad so everyone avoids him. Without interruptions he can catch up on his own paperwork. He’s going away with Miranda this weekend.”

“He’s leaving while your double-homicide is still open?” Ford asked as we stepped off the elevator.

Gibson and Beast were waiting for me in the hallway. I patted Beast’s head. “I sort-of promised Quille I’d try to solve the case before this weekend. You got time to help?”

“I’ll make time. I owe you for helping me with that drive by shooting.”

“Splendid. Let’s set up in the conference room.” I turned to Gibson. “After Gibson unloads the boxes from my car.”

Gibson placed fisted hands on his hips. “You could’ve told me that before I ran up the stairs.”

I looked at him, tilting my head to the side and narrowing my eyes.

“Uh, never mind.” Gibson grabbed the keys out of my hand. “I’d be happy to get the boxes.”

Ford laughed as we walked into the main room. “Another week, and you just might have him trained.”

“Hardly. He’s moved up from lost cause status to barely acceptable.”

I stopped at Quille’s door, sticking my head inside. “You wanted to see me?”

“At any point in your career do you think I’ll manage to get your timesheets without asking for them?”

“Doubt it. Anything else?”

“Whether you need the money or not, HR still requires me to play the payroll game. You’ve got five minutes to send me your hours.”

“Whatever.” I turned to walk away.

“Hey!” Quille barked. “Are you drinking my coffee?”

I turned back to grin and take a sip before answering. “Ford thought I needed it more than you.”

“One of these days…” he grumbled as I walked away.

At my desk, I leaned over my keyboard long enough to enter my electronic timesheet before I started sorting the stacks of files that had accumulated. Anything related to the double homicide went in boxes to be moved to the conference room. Everything else was either left sitting on top of my desk or doled out to someone else to work. I wasn’t ranked any higher than the other detectives, but we functioned on a I helped you, so now you help me program. And almost everyone owed me at least one favor.

Two hours into our research, Chambers walked through the conference room doors. I introduced him to Ford as well as two of the homicide researchers, Natalie and Abe.

“Weren’t you driving to the prison to interview Terrance Haines?” I asked Chambers as I looked up at the clock.

“Mission complete,” Chambers said as he pulled out a chair. “The blond woman at the mansion heard me whining about being too tired to drive that many hours.” Chambers smiled a full set of teeth. “She rented me a chopper! Can you believe that?”

“I’ve never been in a helicopter,” Gibson said, sounding jealous.

Ford looked at me and shook his head. Only a handful of the cops knew I was loaded. Katie would’ve paid for the chopper out of either my account or Kelsey’s.

I refrained from asking about the helicopter and inquired about the interview instead. “Did Terrance Haines have anything enlightening to say?”

“Other than confirming that he didn’t take a flashlight when he jogged the park that night, nothing new. Said he didn’t think of it because the park is so well lit, which was the reason Terri felt safe jogging there at night. And for what it’s worth, I believe him. I think he’s innocent. Which means if that post light near the bench was really out of order—”

“Already confirmed,” Gibson said, holding up a piece of paper. “Recreation department serviced the light two days after the murder.”

I looked back at Chambers. “Then Terrance couldn’t have seen Terri lying in the grass until the next morning.” I wondered if Terrance could’ve saved her if he’d taken a flashlight with him to search. Probably not, based on the autopsy report. “Did you record the conversation with Terrance?” I asked Chambers.

“Yeah. I logged it as evidence already.”

I looked down the table. “Where are we at on the death certificates?” I asked Natalie and Abe.

Natalie glanced up from her computer. “We found four possible matches to the DOA the nurse described. I sent the names to the ME’s office, requesting they pull the records.”

“Good. Gibson, what about other cases involving morphine?”