Forever Hers by Walters, Ednah (top 50 books to read txt) 📕

“Yeah, but we’ll catch him. His mistake was following her here. He doesn’t have his friends watching his back anymore.”

“That’s the truth. Take good care of them, detective. This whole thing is already taking a toll on her. I can see it in her eyes.”

“She’s a lot tougher than you think.” She was also the most stubborn woman he’d ever dealt with, but he’d find a way around that. Amy was gone when he entered the house. Just as well, he wasn’t in the mood to talk or fight with her.

In his room, he fired up his laptop and got to work.

First, he started with Detective Nolan Reither. The one picture they had of the asshole showed him staring arrogantly at the camera. Tawny hair, thin moustache, average height. There wasn’t much written about him.

Eddie couldn’t check his records without hacking into the Charlottesville P.D. system. Using the normal channels was out of the question because their tech people would know and alert him. That left using Ken Lambert’s people.

Next, Eddie logged into his station and accessed the NCIC—National Crime Information Center files. He hesitated before typing in Amy Kincaid. Now that he knew about her ex, he didn’t really think she was a criminal. But if she’d gone missing months ago, someone must have filed a missing person’s report and filed it with NCIC.

Sure enough, the report popped up. The report was filed by Professors Martha and James Kincaid of Charlottesville, Virginia, three months ago. At least they cared enough to have filed one, but the more Eddie read the more pissed he became.

They had her listed as EMD, which implied Amy was mentally unstable and Raelynn as EME, an endangered minor. That was crap. Raelynn was in no more physical danger than Eddie would be in a room full of babies. What the hell was wrong with her parents? Reither had to be behind this. Why would he want Amy declared unstable? To take Raelynn away? Since he wasn’t Raelynn’s father, he had no legal rights to the child. Amy’s parents, on the other hand, did.

Logging off, Eddie started a search for robberies in Charlottesville area. Raelynn was four, almost five, so her father, Amy’s fiancé, must have been killed about five and a half to six years ago. Several false leads later, Eddie hit pay dirt.

What started out as a burglary ended in the death of a 27-year-old graduate student Charles Dunbar. He left behind his severely wounded fiancée, Amy Kincaid, who’s fighting for her life and that of their unborn child.

According to the Charlottesville Police Department, Dunbar, a neurosurgeon graduate student at University of Virginia School of Medicine, made a frantic call at 10:30 p.m. on Friday the 17th that two men were in their apartment. According to the police records, he and his fiancée were already inside the apartment and under attack when he made the call. The conversation was interrupted and the police dispatcher reported hearing screams.

A neighbor, who also overheard the commotion and went to investigate, saw two men fleeing from Dunbar’s apartment. One of the intruders was armed with a handgun, the other with a knife; and both wore nylon stockings over their heads. He found Ms. Kincaid with a bleeding Dunbar, who was later pronounced dead at the scene.

Persons fitting the description of the intruders were spotting several blocks from the area before they disappeared. According to Detective Nolan Reither, the perpetrators were part of a ring of burglars terrorizing students living in this part of town. This was the first time the burglars killed someone. So far no arrests have been made. The case was still open at the time this article was printed.

Eddie checked on previous burglaries in the area. Charlottesville Police Department had Crime View, an app similar to L.A.P.D.’s Crime Mapping. Both allowed anyone to check on crime stats within their community. After scouring pages, Eddie noticed a trend. All the victims of the burglaries five and half years ago had reported stolen computers, TVs and bikes, but no injuries, except the night Dunbar and Amy were attacked. It didn’t make sense. Most criminals had the same M.O.

He continued digging, but there were no more burglaries after the death of Dunbar. Frowning, Eddie checked to see if the burglars were ever caught, but there were no articles on suspects or arrests. He tried online newspapers and got nowhere. Sitting back, he rubbed his eyes. Staring at the screen for so long always gave him a headache.

He debated his next move. He could ask a tech guy at his station to contact Charlottesville P.D. and request the case file, but Nolan’s people could alert him of the search. Eddie needed someone to discreetly access their archives, someone fast, efficient and untraceable.

He picked up his cell phone and dialed a number. “Hey, it’s me.”

“Does ‘me’ have a name?” a voice answered then chuckled.

“Stop being a smart-ass, Lambert.” Ken Lambert was about the best private investigator Eddie had ever worked with. He was the owner of a security consultant firm, LASEC, and his ragtag crew of employees could breach any police department firewall without leaving a trace. “I need Sly to check something for me.”

“Oh.” Ken’s tone said he understood exactly what Eddie wanted. “Since you made his parking tickets go away, you’ve become his favorite detective.”

“Just as long as he knows I will bust him if I ever catch him hacking into a system.”

“Now, why would we do that? I told you, we are 99.9% legit.”

“It’s the 0.1% I’m worried about, Lambert.”

Ken chuckled. “He’s not foolish enough to leave a trail for anyone to find. Do you have his phone number?”

“Yeah.”

“Then why are you interrupting my R and R with my lovely bride?”

His lovely bride just happened to be Eddie’s cousin Faith. “Just thought I’d check with you first before calling him. Don’t want to tread on any toes or anything.”

Ken gave a derisive snort. “Like that ever concerned