Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99132 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99132 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Laurel nodded, her gaze fixed on the table as if the teal hue held answers. “So I need to think of who else might want to kill me.”
“That’s right,” Norrs said. “Keep thinking through past cases.”
“I definitely am,” Laurel replied, though her focus had already splintered, her mind following two tracks at once. She forced herself to focus on the sniper and not her other investigations. “Nester?” she asked, her voice cutting through the silence.
Nester slid his laptop across the table, his eyes bright with the eagerness of someone who loved his work. “Yeah, here you go, boss.” He tapped a few keys and a simulation bloomed to life on the screen. “If you look here”—Nester gestured at the display—“from where the sniper was positioned the day of the courthouse shooting, the bullet did go right by you and hit Abigail. Huck said he heard the bullet. So that actually makes some sense.”
“So you think he was aiming for me?” Laurel asked.
“I don’t know.” Nester shrugged one shoulder. “I can just show you the trajectory.”
On the screen, the simulation played out with meticulous precision. It showed the shooter’s position, the bullet slicing through the air, whizzing past Laurel’s shoulder and colliding with Abigail’s chest. Abigail crumpled backward, the image pausing just before she hit the ground.
It was an impressive simulation. Clean. Methodical. Exactly how Laurel liked things to be.
“So this guy isn’t as good as we thought he was?” Walter asked.
Huck nodded, his eyes still on the screen. “Yeah. He thinks he’s better than he is. He missed you both times. Unfortunately, someone else was hit.”
“Unfortunately.” Laurel echoed the word under her breath, her gaze fixed on the frozen image of Abigail collapsing. The simulation made the event feel sterile, mechanical, but that didn’t change the reality of it. While Abigail survived, Dr. Sandoval had not.
Agent Norrs’s gaze shifted to Huck, his expression expectant. “I know you interviewed witnesses out at the church about who’d want to shoot Abigail, but Laurel may have enemies there as well. She wanted to put their father in prison.”
“I seriously doubt anybody at the church wants me dead because of Zeke Caine,” Laurel replied. “In that case, Abigail would’ve been the target. She’s the one who killed him.” The memory of that day was clean and crisp in her mind, the image of Abigail holding that knife dripping with blood unassailable. “I believe the most effective way to figure out who tried to kill me is to continue the focus on my past cases. Whoever’s targeting me likely has some connection to one of them.”
“What about current cases?” Agent Norrs asked, his brows drawn tight.
Laurel considered the question, her mind cataloging her recent work with her usual efficiency. “I’ve only consulted on two cases recently, both of them just through email exchanges. I can send those files to you, but it’d be surprising if a sniper tried to murder me just because of something so impersonal. There wasn’t much detail exchanged. Nothing sensitive.”
“Agreed,” Agent Norrs said, his fingers tapping lightly against the file he held. “But I don’t want to leave any stone unturned.”
Nester cocked his head with a curiosity that seemed genuine rather than idle. “Where does that expression come from, anyway?” His fingers danced over his keyboard, already searching for the answer.
“Well,” Laurel said, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly, “it comes from a Greek legend. A general named Polycrates hid his treasure before being defeated in battle. To find it, his enemies were told to ‘leave no stone unturned.’ It’s just a metaphor for thoroughness.”
Nester nodded, his eyes flicking from his laptop to her. “Fitting. We’re definitely not leaving anything unexamined.”
“In the meantime,” Laurel said, “keep all the blinds shut in the office. No one comes or goes unless absolutely necessary. When I leave, I leave alone.”
“Bullshit,” Huck snapped.
Laurel turned to him, her mind already running through potential arguments. Huck’s determination wasn’t something she could easily counter, and if she were being honest, she didn’t particularly want to.
“I’m with Huck,” Agent Norrs said, his tone firm. “Nobody’s letting you go anywhere alone. Not until we have a better idea of who’s behind this. I’ve already heard from DC, and I have no doubt our boss will be calling you soon.”
Laurel already had a note to return the call of the deputy director.
Huck’s gaze stayed locked on her, unflinching. “I’ll know if a sniper has a gun trained on us. I’ll feel it.”
She didn’t understand how that was possible. The idea of sensing something so precise without evidence seemed improbable, but Huck’s instincts were far sharper than most. And considering his background, she couldn’t dismiss his confidence as arrogance. Huck had been a sniper himself. If instincts like the ones he claimed to have were real, he would be the one to recognize them. He didn’t overstate his abilities. If anything, he underestimated them.