Cut and Run (Lucy Kincaid #16) - Allison Brennan Page 0,112

he was going out again and wouldn’t be home until late. He didn’t tell her what he was doing, and right now Lucy almost didn’t want to know, especially if it was going to tread into SAPD territory. Jesse was staying at St. Catherine’s and Lucy was tired. She could already picture herself in bed.

She was nearly home when an unfamiliar number rang her cell phone.

“Kincaid,” she answered.

“Agent Kincaid, this is Detective Jennifer Reed with SAPD.”

It’s about time, Lucy thought, but instead said, “Thank you for returning my call.”

“Three messages, I thought it might be important. You said it’s about the Victoria Mills homicide.”

“Yes. Do you have time to meet?”

“Tomorrow?”

“Unless you’re off duty and want to meet now. My treat, Duncan’s?”

Duncan’s was a blue bar near SAPD headquarters. Beer, appetizers, music on the weekends, darts, and shuffleboard. Mostly, a place for cops to hang out with other cops.

“You want to ruin my reputation, hanging out with a fed?” She laughed. “Sure, Duncan’s. Fifteen minutes.”

Lucy ended the call and got off at the next exit, then headed back downtown.

She’d been to the cop bar a few times, usually with Tia Mancini, the sex crimes detective she’d befriended when they worked a case together. SAPD and the FBI had had some ups and downs over the years, especially after the FBI exposed a corrupt cop who had been working for one of the drug cartels. Fortunately, most people in SAPD didn’t know Lucy and those who did mostly liked her.

The place was full but not overcrowded. Because it was a cop bar, there were lots of tables around the edges of the establishment and the bar was in the middle, providing good vantage points from nearly everywhere. Lucy found a table to the side. She didn’t know what Reed looked like, but it didn’t matter—Reed walked in and after saying hello to people she knew walked right over to Lucy. She was in her early forties, black, tall, and skinny, and wore her badge with confidence. By the reception from her fellow cops, she was well liked.

“You’re younger than I thought,” Reed said. “What are you drinking?”

“Wine. Red.”

Reed waved over to the bartender. “Drake, light draft and a red. On the fed here.”

“Thanks,” Lucy muttered.

“You’re clearly FBI. But the cops I asked said you’re not a dick, so that’s a plus.”

“Good to know,” she said, because what did you say to something like that?

“You worked that hostage deal over the summer, at the coffeehouse downtown.”

“I did.”

The bartender brought over the drinks and a basket of pretzels. “Tab?” he asked.

“Yes,” Reed said.

Lucy gave him her credit card and he walked away.

Reed drank a third of the beer in one gulp. “Mills, go.”

To the point. “First thing you should know is that I’m only looking into this case because it may be connected to one of my cases and I’m hoping we can share information.”

“My suspect is dead. You think Grant killed someone else?”

“Are you up-to-date on the bones that were found out in Kendall County?”

“Yeah, the woman embezzled three million dollars. She and her whole family, dead and buried.”

“Denise Albright. She was Victoria Mills’s college roommate.”

“Small world. Think Grant killed her?”

Lucy didn’t but didn’t say so. “Victoria was killed the night after the bones were discovered—the same day that the news reported the discovery.”

“But they were only recently identified. No one knew who they were, didn’t even speculate.” She drank, watched Lucy over the rim of her mug.

She had Reed interested. The best way to get information was to give information first.

“Correct. But the original news report indicated that four bodies were found. When I learned that Denise and Victoria knew each other, I started looking into anything that they may have worked on together, anything that might put them in danger. According to Victoria’s family, Albright did a lot of work for Mills and didn’t charge her.”

“She was an accountant, right?”

“Yes. Re-creating her records has been a chore—our White Collar Crimes unit is working on it. She had multiple clients, big and small. But we had a few names, so I started looking into Mills’s client list. So far, one name is the same.” Lucy was stretching this because she had no evidence that Albright had worked for Monroe, but Max was so certain that he was involved in Victoria’s death—even with no proof—that Lucy was willing to go out on the limb. “Harrison Monroe.”

Silence.

“He was one of Victoria’s clients and may have been one of Denise’s. We’re still investigating. But they