Page 67 of Girl, Sought

‘Yup. Coroner has confirmed manual strangulation killed Eleanor and Alfred, and prelims say the same for Reverend Joe. Time of death was about midday today, which means…’

‘That Gabriel Thorne isn’t our guy.’

‘Not unless he can teleport.’

Ella nodded, but her mind was already racing ahead. Tomorrow they'd tear the Curated Value Group apart, dig through every file and record until they found the connection between their victims. Maybe then she could start making sense of the senseless.

'Might want to cut Thorne loose, then,' Reeves continued. 'Poor bastard's been in interrogation for hours.'

‘You want to charge him with anything?’

Reeves sighed dejectedly. ‘Like what? Resisting arrest? Intent to destroy property? We can’t arrest him for his little tax avoidance scheme because it’s not illegal.’

Fair point. By the same token, Thorne also hadn’t laid a hand on Ella or Luca, so she couldn’t get him on assaulting a federal agent. Given his co-operation, maybe it was easier to let him go.

‘You want to do the honors or me?’

‘He’s all yours.’ Reeves pushed off her desk and turned for the door, only to pause on the threshold. Half-in, half-out. ‘And by the way, Hawkins looked like a kicked puppy after you stormed off.’

Ella felt her heart seize up. ‘Did he?’

‘Yeah. I don’t think you know how lucky you are to work this job with someone you love.’

The observation landed like a knife between her ribs. ‘I know.’

‘Try not to stay here all night. Serial killers will still be there in the morning.’

‘That's what I'm afraid of.’

Then Reeves was gone. Ella waited until his footsteps faded before letting out the breath she'd been holding. The man was right, damn him. Luca deserved better than her jealousy and control issues. At the next opportunity, she was going to apologize like she’d never apologized before.

But for now, she had work to do.

Starting with the white collar criminal sitting in Interrogation.

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE

‘Mr. Thorne, I’ve got some good news.’

Gabriel Thorne’s head lolled back, as though Ella’s intrusion was an unwelcome violation of the nap he’d been taking until she walked in.

‘I should hope you do. I’ve been here all day.’

The table between them was littered with foam cups and sandwich wrappers. At least the boys had been taking care of him while she was gone.

‘The collector you pointed us to? Joseph Carpenter? We just found him dead, and the time of death was around midday today according to preliminary tests.’

Thorne rubbed the grit from his eyes and snapped awake. ‘Father Joe? Dead?’

‘Yes. You knew him?’

‘Sort of. I knewofhim. Everyone did.’

‘Were you the one who appraised his collection?’

Thorne shook his head. ‘No.’

‘Who did?’