When A Heart Stops Part 8

Then heard the roar of a motorcycle.

Serena dropped her hand from Howard's neck, unable to keep herself from checking his pulse one more time. But the man was dead and there wasn't anything she could do to change that. Shoving back the tears that kept wanting to fall, she forced herself to focus.

Shock and bone-deep sadness mingled with the fear as she crept back toward the car just as the first police vehicle pulled up. She kept her hands visible to the approaching law enforcement.

The officer exited and drew his gun. "Show me some ID."

"It's in my purse in the car."

Keeping the gun trained on her, he pulled her purse from the front seat and dumped the contents onto the floorboard. He handed her the wallet and she flipped it open. "I'm a doctor, I was trying to help him."

The officer didn't lower his weapon. He wouldn't until he'd proven her story. He nodded at her hospital ID but said, "Stay down, ma'am, and keep your hands where I can see them." She had no intention of lifting her head too high, although the precaution seemed silly in light of the fact that she'd just exposed herself by trying to help Howard. The officer's badge read J. Tullis.

"Dominic Allen, an FBI agent, went after the person who shot this man," she said. Her gut churned. Had Dominic caught up with him? Was he okay?

He seemed satisfied but didn't relax his stance.

She kept her eyes peeled in the direction Dominic had disappeared.

Officer Tullis spoke into his radio. Serena couldn't understand him, but got the response that more help was on the way. Officers had started going door to door checking on the residents, warning them to stay inside.

Then Dominic appeared in her line of sight, his gun held at his side.

"Freeze!" Officer Tullis yelled, raising his weapon to train it on Dominic. "Put the gun down now!"

Dominic froze, held his arms out to the side, and knelt to place the weapon on the ground.

Serena said, "He's an FBI agent. He's the one who went after the shooter."

Her gaze locked on Dominic's and she could see the frustration there. The shooter had gotten away.

Officer Tullis hollered, "Show me some ID."

Slowly, Dominic reached into his back pocket and pulled out his ID, flipping it open with the smoothness of someone who's made the move often.

Tullis relaxed a fraction and lowered his weapon. Dominic picked his up and slid it into the holster under his arm.

Serena breathed a little easier. "Howard's dead," she told Dominic.

He nodded once, his tight jaw and granite features telling her this. .h.i.t him hard. And she thought she knew what he might be thinking.

Had their presence today gotten Howard killed?

"He whispered something before he died," she said. "I think he said, 'File. Look.'"

Dominic frowned. "'File. Look'? Wonder what he meant by that?"

"That we're supposed to look in a file for whatever it was he decided at the last minute that he wanted us to know?"

"Sounds logical to me."

The killer blew out a harsh breath. Killing Howard had been easy. And it had been a long time coming. But HE might not be pleased with this new development. Howard's murder wasn't in the plan. At least not HIS plan.

Learning that Serena and Dominic were going to visit the man who held explosive secrets had necessitated quick action. But they'd spent nearly an hour with the man before the shot. What had he told them? Watching the man chase after the FBI agent and Serena, it had been obvious he was going to say something more.

No doubt about it. He'd had to die.

Now, to make sure all of his secrets died with him.

It was time to visit HIM again, to fill HIM in on the latest developments.

Crime scene tape now fluttered in the slight breeze that almost offered a respite from the glaring heat of the sun. An Attempt To Locate had gone out and officers logged each and every person who entered the area. Mickey Black, the crime scene photographer, snapped a constant stream of pictures. Hunter Graham and Katie Isaacs arrived on the scene twenty minutes later.

Dominic saw the car pull up as Serena crouched over Howard, collecting whatever she could from the deceased man. Although he and Serena had seen what happened, they still needed to collect trace evidence from Howard. If the killer had ever been in the house, there was a possibility the lab could match the evidence up with . . . something.

a.s.suming they caught the person and the lab had something to work with. Nevertheless, they'd cover all their bases.

Officers still canva.s.sed the neighborhood and Dominic was ready to begin searching Howard's house. He'd already spoken to the lead crime scene team member. Part of the team was already working, determining the exact place Howard had been standing and the position of his body, the direction he'd been facing, when he'd been shot. This would allow them to figure out the angle and path of the bullet, which would lead them to the exact spot the killer had chosen to wait for his target.

Hunter waved Dominic over while Katie engaged the nearest CSU member who'd just arrived.

"Fill me in," Hunter said.

Dominic did, then said, "Backup didn't get here until the shooter had ridden off on his motorcycle. There was no way I could catch up with him."

"I've got the description from the ATL you put out. You got anything else to add?"

Dominic pursed his lips in disgust. "Not much to add to 'Slender person in a white T-s.h.i.+rt with a baseball cap.'"

"Right." Hunter smirked.

"Like I said, slender build, probably around five feet nine or ten. Fast as a jackrabbit. Only saw the back of him." Dominic shook his head. "You going to help me go through the house?"

"Sure." A pause. "Katie's with me."

"I saw her."

"Are you going to be okay working with her?"

Dominic lifted a brow. "Sure. I'll be fine, why?"

"She's still got a thing for you, you know?"

"Katie?" He didn't have to fake the surprise. "That was years ago." Although she had been his hometown contact when he'd needed information about his family. Had she read more into that than he thought?

"Maybe so," Hunter said, "but she hasn't let it go."

Uncomfortable with the thought, Dominic glanced at the woman he'd known from high school. The woman he considered a good friend but didn't have any romantic interest in. At least not since he'd left home. They'd dated once, but now . . . his gaze steered itself to Serena. He cleared his throat. "Okay. Thanks for the heads-up."

Hunter nodded.

"Are you any closer to finding my father?"

Frustration stamped Hunter's features. "No. You don't have any more ideas, do you?"

"Nope. I even had Terry try and track him down, but when someone doesn't have a job, uses cash, and travels from shelter to shelter, it's like looking for a needle in a haystack. Last time I saw the man, he was behind bars. He told me what happened with Alexia and his intention to kill Mom, Karen, and Alexia the day of the fire." He swallowed hard, annoyed that thinking about his father's words still left a bitter taste on his tongue. "I went back undercover for a long time after that and wasn't even aware when he was released from prison until just recently."

"When you came home into the middle of Alexia's troubles."

"Yes."

"Alexia's becoming obsessed with this." Worry coated Hunter's voice. "She still thinks it's possible he had something to do with that week of terror we lived through."

It was hard to believe it had only been four weeks ago that Alexia had been kidnapped. "The man who questioned her and escaped-" Dominic rubbed his jaw-"I know she was blindfolded most of the time, but is she sure it wasn't our father?"

Hunter went silent for a moment. "She says it wasn't, but sometimes she second-guesses herself. It's been a long time since she's seen the man, Dominic." He lifted a shoulder in a helpless shrug.

"Wow, that's helpful."

"Exactly."

Serena came up to them, pulling her gloves off and stas.h.i.+ng them in the hazardous materials bag on the curb. "What now?"

"Now, we search the house and see if we can find a file . . . or whatever we're supposed to look at."

In the living room of Howard's house, Serena looked at the area where she'd sat less than an hour before. Her heart twisted at the sudden demise of a man she hadn't known, but might have liked to had she been given the chance.

Dominic and Hunter began searching, sifting through Howard's life. Dominic took the den area while Hunter headed down the hall. Serena watched from a distance, listening, absorbing the details. Soon, she would need to leave and get back to the morgue. But she didn't want to miss a word of the discussion about this case.

The Doll Maker Killer's accomplice or his copycat had killed Leslie, a woman who'd graduated with Serena and one she'd called friend ten years ago. Serena was going to be an active partic.i.p.ant in figuring out why Leslie was targeted. And someone had killed Howard because of what the man knew about the Doll Maker Killer and didn't want him talking to law enforcement.

Possibly. Probably.

She pictured Howard trying to get their attention as they were leaving the house. He'd had something else to say.

But what?

Dominic walked over to her. "He was going to tell us something."

"I know, I was just thinking about that."

"Hey, Dominic." Hunter stuck his head out of a room off the hall. "Come here. I think I found your file-or one of them."

Serena followed Dominic as he stepped into the room to find Hunter in front of an open closet, staring at a stack of files as tall as Serena.

"Wow," she said.

Dominic walked over and picked up the top file. His gloved hand flipped through it. He looked up and said, "It's a case from twelve years ago."

Hunter shook his head. "I've been going through these for the past twenty minutes trying to see if he's got them organized a certain way. But as far as I can tell, they're random. No sense of order that I can find."

Dominic pulled another one, then another. "I want these in the office. I think we need to go through these one by one."

With a m.u.f.fled groan, Hunter said, "That's a lot of reading."

"Yeah."

"I'll help," Serena offered. "Poor Howard didn't deserve to be cut down like that."

"I agree. And I want justice for him. One way to get that is to find the person who shot him." Dominic raised a hand to his head and looked back at the files. "So," he said, "my place, six o'clock? I'll provide the pizza."

Serena barely managed to suppress a shudder. "Takeout pizza? I'll bring my own dinner, thanks."

Dominic looked at her. "You don't like pizza?"

"Only when I make it."

He lifted a brow. "You're a food sn.o.b."

"Of the worst kind," she drawled. She shrugged, unapologetic.

Hunter looked at Dominic and asked, "You want to bring Katie in on this?"

"Sure. Another set of eyes is great."

Serena wasn't sure how she felt about that idea but kept her mouth shut. She refused to be jealous.

Hunter went to find Katie and let her in on the plan while Dominic still stared at the stack of files. "There was something he was going to tell us." He spoke low, almost as though talking to himself.

"And you think the file he was talking about is in that stack?"

"I think there's a good chance. I think we're looking for anything that has to do with the Doll Maker Killer's case. If we find that file-"

"You mean the needle in a haystack?" Hunter asked from the door.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean every closet in the house has files and folders in it. This is going to take forever to dig through."

Dominic blew out a sigh. "Then I guess we need to get started."

10.