saw Hernandez shake his head.
“It’s okay, Sergeant,” he said.
“What’s going on, Ryan?” she asked quietly when she reached him at the top of the stairs.
“I need to talk to you privately outside,” he whispered.
“No. What’s going on? Where’s Garland?” she asked, sidestepping him and looking into the bedroom.
She blinked slowly, hoping that what she saw on the bedroom floor was an illusion. But when she opened her eyes again, he was still there. In between the coroner and a crime scene tech, Garland Moses was lying on the floor. He was dead.
CHAPTER NINE
Jessie felt her chest tighten and found that she couldn’t breathe.
She tried to speak but only a wheezy exhalation came out. She swallowed hard, trying to lubricate her suddenly dry throat. She reached out for the railing as she squinted at Ryan, wondering if that might somehow change things.
“I’m sorry,” he said as he reached out to her.
She shook her head violently and he stopped.
“What?” she asked absently though she’d heard him quite clearly.
“Come with me,” he said, taking her arm and leading her to a balcony at the end of the hall.
He turned to face her and opened his mouth but nothing happened. He closed his mouth as he seemed to struggle with how to begin. Then he tried again.
“It looks like he came back here last night to check out a lead. From what we’ve found so far, it appears he was attacked in the master bedroom. There was clearly a struggle. He was murdered, strangled to death.”
Jessie felt her mind racing out of control and tried to rein it in. Part of her brain was already asking questions about the crime scene. But, furious with herself, she forcibly shut it down, actually squeezing her eyes closed tight as if that was some sort of internal off switch.
Garland was dead; the criminal profiler so legendary she’d been afraid to approach him at first. The man who’d eventually become a mentor to her, and later a friend she trusted with her darkest secrets, would never again tease her or test her or support her. He was gone.
Jessie felt a wave of grief wash over her even as she heard real waves in the distance. It was as if the ocean knew her pain and decided to give it a soundtrack. She bent over at the waist and instructed herself to take multiple deep breaths before trying to speak again.
When she finally felt like she had regained some measure of control over her body, she stood back up. Ryan was studying her with a concerned expression.
“I’m okay,” she said, though she wasn’t certain that was true. “Walk me through the scene.”
Ryan stared at her like she was crazy.
“I can’t do that,” he said in disbelief. “You’re in no condition to be reviewing a crime scene right now.”
“But you are?’ she demanded, feeling a sudden, inappropriate level of anger rising in her belly. “You knew him too.”
“Yes,” Ryan conceded. “I knew him and I liked him. But I was nowhere near as close to him as you were. And it was still brutal for me. I actually called in Trembley to help out because I was struggling with it.”
“Is he in there now?” Jessie asked. Alan Trembley was the junior detective in the HSS unit at Central Station. Despite his youth, he’d proven to be an energetic and capable member of the team.
“Yes, and he’s doing a great job. I’m going to tell him to take over so I can get you home.”
“No,” she argued. “I don’t want to you to miss something important because you weren’t here.”
“Jessie. We’ve got it locked tight up there. We’re not using MBPD for this investigation. The officers in there with Trembley are from our station. The deputy coroner and crime scene techs are ours. Captain Decker insisted on using all our own people and the Manhattan Beach chief didn’t say boo. We’ve got photos being taken, video being shot. Everything that can be done is being done. Let me take you home. I’ll have someone drive your car back. Trust me. You don’t want to be in there.”
Jessie glanced over his shoulder at the beach in the distance. The fog was starting to dissipate. She still couldn’t see the water but could make out the silhouettes of several people walking on the sand.
Who would be out walking on the beach at this hour?
She shook her head in frustration with herself.
What difference does that make right now? Get your head on straight!
“Okay,” she