Page 75 of Seven Deadly Sins

She jerked as her phone buzzed. She half-expected a text from Robert. Instead, it was a call to work. A neighbor had found the body of James in his home. Another sip of coffee, a big bite of the roll, and she stood. “We’ve got a body. James.”

“The man who tried to burn us to death?” He wolfed down the rest of his roll, then wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Want me to wrap these up to eat later? You barely got any.”

“Yes to both.” She rushed to her room and quickly dressed in the usual. Dark pants, light-colored blouse, dark jacket. All she switched up was the color of her blouse. A detective didn’t need a fancy wardrobe to get the job done.

She tied her hair into a ponytail, clipped her tools to her belt, grabbed her shoulder holster, and then joined Liam in the living room. “I’m guessing James wasn’t supposed to try and kill us.”

“I’m thinking the same thing. The man paid for that mistake with his life.”

James hadn’t lived far from her. Same subdivision, which made her nervous. His killer had been two blocks away. Harper shuddered and marched toward the open door where crime scene techs milled around.

Annie greeted them. “Next door neighbor found him when he left for work. Since the front door was open, he stopped and went inside to make sure Mr. Miller was alright. He found him in front of the television, a gun in his hand. Appears to be suicide.”

That came as a surprise. She shot Liam a surprised look. “Staged?”

“We’ll see.” He slipped the paper shoes over his, then gloves on his hands while Harper did the same.

She’d done the same thing so many times, she did it on autopilot. She followed him to the living room.

Blood splatter and brain matter on the back of a recliner and the wall behind James. His finger looped through the trigger kept the gun from falling to the floor.

“Definitely staged.” She hunkered down for a closer look. “Someone hung the gun like this. Otherwise, it would have fallen. James died instantly.” She straightened. The killer would have left a message. She liked them to know she’d killed again.

She studied the room. Sofa, recliner, end table, entertainment center. A few books lay on a shelf. She studied the titles. All but one had a layer of dust on them. James wasn’t much of a housecleaner. She picked up the clean book. “The benefits of Discipline. Liam, I think I found the clue.” She flipped through the pages, pulling out a letter written in a sweeping hand and read,

“Unfortunately, disobedience has a price. This man stepped out to do what he wanted rather than his master’s. The price of disobedience is death. Ciao.” Had to be from the assassin. Harper doubted Robert would end the note in such a flippant way. He took his mission more seriously.

Liam joined her. “It’s almost as if he’s trying to warn us against disobedience. We don’t owe him allegiance. Do you think he wants the note read on the news as a warning, not to us, but to his followers?”

“I think that’s exactly what he wants us to do.” She bagged the book and the note, undecided whether she would do what he wanted. “I don’t like being treated as someone’s puppet.”

“By not doing what he wants, you might make him angry. Angry people make mistakes. I say hold onto it for now.”

She nodded. “He’s working toward the sin of anger, anyway: let’s help him.” She stuck the bagged item inside her jacket pocket. She’d log it at the station, then check it out. If she didn’t follow protocol, the chief would have her head.

“Laptop is on a desk in the second bedroom. I’ll take it with us and see what we can find out about his beliefs. Maybe something that will lead us to Thompson. He has to have a way of communicating with his followers.”

“If you can’t get in, do you have a hacker you trust? We don’t want to use anyone in the department for anything this serious.”

“I have someone.” He grinned.

~

Liam didn’t need help. James Miller obviously didn’t expect anyone to dig through his computer files. In a Word document, he found the man’s website logins. One of them was to a social media account that required a person to log in every time.

He leaned back and drummed his fingers on his desk. Should he? If he did, whoever monitored the account would know it couldn’t be James. Dead men didn’t need social media.

“I’m in.” He glanced over at Harper. “Not sure how far in I should go, though.”

She got up and perched on the corner of his desk. “It’s no secret that we’re looking for Thompson. I say log in. We might see something useful before we’re kicked out and blocked. Print out that document. We can search everything of James’s.”

Liam sent the document to the printer, then logged into the social media account. “No recent meetings. Must be because we’re breathing down Thompson’s neck.”

“No, but he’s told his people that he hasn’t gone. To stand strong and wait for his word.” Her eyes widened. “I don’t like the sound of that.”

“Neither do I.” The man was planning something big. They needed to stop him before he could implement his plan. Easier said than done.

Liam had never felt so incompetent as an agent before. Robert Thompson stayed two steps ahead. He glanced around the bull pen. This small, police department was no way equipped to handle this case. Not even with three FBI agents. “Why hasn’t the chief called in help from Harrington or other neighboring towns?”