Gone Too Far (Devlin & Falco #2) - Debra Webb Page 0,107

opened her eyes until seven this morning. She never slept past five. Never. Tori was generally up by six, seven at the latest. Kerri glanced toward the living room. Still no sign of the popcorn queen. Her daughter had won the popcorn-eating contest. Kerri made a face. Personally, she might never eat popcorn again.

Kerri finished off her coffee and set her mug aside. The urge to call Sykes writhed inside her. He was supposed to call her if there was any word on the missing Walker Academy student, Violet Redmond. He had promised to look more closely at the situation.

Falco had called late last night with an update. Tara McGill was dead. They’d found her body in her bathtub. An autopsy would be coming, but for now it looked as if she’d swallowed a fistful of pills, then proceeded to drown her sorrows in a bottle of vodka and her tub. She’d left a note confessing to the murders of her boss and Walsh. The proper caliber of weapon was even right there next to the tub. How convenient was that?

Except her computer was missing.

Cross had confirmed the computer had been there on Wednesday afternoon, which was likely how she’d obtained the info on McGill’s financials. Kerri wasn’t judging. Cross wasn’t a cop anymore. She wasn’t bound by the same rules. All she had to do was not get caught.

The suicide note, along with the news that McGill was possibly stealing money from the tobacco shop and, according to Lucky Vandiver, using the shop as a way to distribute drugs, might seem like a break in the ongoing case. It was in reality a distraction. McGill’s death, in fact, elevated the case from a double homicide to a triple.

Not exactly an ideal break. She and Falco were meeting this morning to strategize how to prove their scenario to the LT. The wrap-up with McGill was obviously what the task force wanted, since a “speedy closure” had been underscored on numerous occasions. Especially by the mayor. In every single press briefing she’d tossed out that promise.

McGill’s confession also ensured there was no further need to talk to José Cortez. The mayor’s desire to protect the family simply because Alice was in her mentoring program didn’t sit right with Kerri. Sure, having the father involved in a murder case would reflect badly on the mayor’s choices, but wasn’t she supposed to be the big antidrug advocate? Was stopping crime less important than her program?

Kerri’s research last night had uncovered a couple of potential kernels that merited further digging. She had been under the impression the mayor had been born and raised in the Birmingham area. Not so. She’d moved to Birmingham from Galveston, Texas, when she was fifteen. Like Alice Cortez, she’d been raised by a family that wasn’t her own. Her parents, too, had died, and she had no other family. Possibly neither of those similarities was anything more than coincidence, but they could explain why the mayor felt especially protective of Alice.

Still, the part of Warren’s early history that nudged at Kerri was the other similarity to Alice’s. The Odell family, who had taken in the future mayor, had suddenly come into a great deal of money about that same time. Or at least their lifestyle had changed dramatically. They’d moved from a modest home in Gardendale to a mansion in Mountain Brook. More research would be required to determine the details of the transition, but the cost of the new home didn’t fit with Mr. Odell’s employment at Alabama Power.

Interviewing the Odells wasn’t possible since the couple had died in a car crash shortly after Emma entered college, and there were no other children. Emma—the mayor—had no other family and no children of her own. There was only her husband.

Basically, the mayor’s history could be whatever she chose since there was no one to say otherwise.

Kerri shook off the thought. Maybe she was reading too much into the connection. Either way, she needed to talk to Falco about this. They should do more digging into not only the mayor but the Walshes. Considering the secret trips to Birmingham the mother had been making, it was possible she had hired someone to take out her son. The scenario didn’t fit with how she’d urged Kerri to find his killer. Then again, she’d looked almost furious about the reward being offered. There were just too many conflicting vibes coming from the woman. The mayor, too, for that matter. Until Kerri found