Page 65 of Charmed Forces
“I could totally get into that role,” said Lily.
“I don’t think this is a good idea,” said Solomon. “Let’s see if there’s another one first.”
“Okay,” I agreed, “but I’m not taking it off the table until there’re no other options. What’s your next move?”
“I need to make a couple of calls. And it’s getting late. We need to eat.”
Lily checked her watch. “I should pick up Poppy. She’s been at your mom’s all day. I admit I asked your mom to take her so Poppy would keep her distracted.”
“Good thinking. Plus, you know how much Mom likes having the kids over. I’m sure looking after Poppy stopped her from freaking out.”
“I’ll call you in the morning,” said Lily. “Or before that if Jord tells me anything pertinent.”
“I’ll walk you to your car,” I said.
“Thanks.”
I saw Lily to her car, then returned to the office. Solomon was on the phone when I got back. On seeing me, he said, “Lexi’s back. I’ll put you on speaker,” then placed his phone on the table.
“Hey,” said Garrett. “Just me, a man of leisure here.”
“How’s leave?” I asked.
“It sucks, but it did give me a moment to grab something from my office, then answer a phone call that just happened to let me listen in on Brandt’s briefing.”
“My, what an amazing coincidence,” I said.
“Right,” said Garrett wryly.
“Please tell me you got something useful,” said Solomon.
“I’ll let you be the judge of that. Brandt’s pretty fired up about Detective Wayne’s death. He told the squad they’re potentially looking for a female accomplice, although Daniel is still the prime suspect for the other three murders.”
“At least they’re looking for the woman now,” I said.
“Hmm,” huffed Garrett. “The description they gave is a woman of average height, brown hair, somewhat athletic, and potentially connected to Daniel.”
“The description fits,” I said.
“It also sounds a lot like you,” said Garrett. “The hospital footage does seem to refute that since we can clearly see you but as Brandt pointed out, two women went into Detective Wayne’s hospital room. He suggested one ran for her life.”
“Through a window?” I interrupted.
“Yeah, he’s clutching at straws with that one but there’s just enough confusion to make it plausible. He even told the squad to look out for signs Daniel was having an affair. Lexi, I’m telling you this, he’s got his eye on you as a potential accessory too. Do you recall Detectives Crump and Hertford?”
“I ran into Detective Crump with Captain Brandt earlier while checking out a lead. I got the impression they were following me. Hertford searched Lily’s house on the night everything went down.”
“Brandt probably was. You should look out for his lackeys more than him.”
“Will do. Do you think they’re still mad about that time they arrested me and Lily?”
“I don’t think they enjoyed me reaming them out about it,” said Garrett. “Hertford seemed more thoughtful afterwards. Crump was pissed but carried on his usual Neanderthal way. Didn’t figure it’d come back to bite you.”
“Hmm,” I murmured, feeling it was about to do exactly that. The two detectives had been professionally embarrassed by a superior officer and were forced to turn me loose, which was good thing since I didn’t do anything wrong. That they harbored blame towards me was something Captain Brandt would surely welcome; I had no doubt my prior “offenses” must have made it to his ears by now. “Can you do something with this lead?” I asked before running through what I’d discovered missing from the evidence list, as well as our excursion to The Daily Roast.
“I won’t ask how you got that list but I’ll mention it to a contact.”
“I hope it amounts to something. I feel it might be exactly what we need to be sure of what happened.”