Page 93 of Seven Deadly Sins

He sat at a concrete picnic table and pulled something from his pocket. Two other boys, clearly not the country club type dressed in baggy jeans and hoodies, emerged from the tree line and sat across from Reynold. One slapped money on the table, pocketed the small bag of white powder Reynold and placed on the table, then got up and left without a word.

A smile spread across Reynold’s face. So, the mayor’s clean-cut, All-American boy dealt drugs.

An entertaining idea took root in his mind. He pulled a syringe from his pocket and slumped over, calling for help.

Reynold glanced over his shoulder, then lunged to his feet. “Ma’am.” He rushed to Robert’s side only to receive a needle in his neck for his kindness.

“The escape room would be child play compared to what I have planned for you.” Robert laughed and slung the boy’s arm around his shoulders. Now to meet Lucy at their new hiding place.

~

“Door-to-door?” Harper glanced up and down the street, dreading the task. Already, folks stepped onto porches, curious to know what had happened at their neighbor’s house. There’d been no time for law enforcement to keep things under wraps and folks in their homes until questioned.

Time enough for Robert and his lady killer to run.

“That seems our best course of action.” Liam put a hand on the small of her back. “We can move faster if we split up. I’ll have the other two agents take the other side of the street, and we’ll canvas this one.”

She nodded. It didn’t matter to her. Robert was no longer here. All they could hope for was that someone would’ve seen him leave. Saw the woman. Noted the type of vehicle. Taking a deep breath, more out of frustration rather than needing oxygen, she headed down the sidewalk with Liam at her side.

The first door they knocked on no one answered. Harper tried peering through the blinds to see whether anyone was home and ignoring them or if, strange as it seemed with the excitement on the street, the residents had actually left to go on about their daily routine.

“Let’s check the back before moving on.” Liam pushed open a wood and iron gate that led to a yard high with weeds. “Guess they don’t care about the back as much as the front.”

“Or the neighbors complain if the front yard gets like this.” Harper climbed three steps to a deck stained barn red. “Back door is open a bit.”

“Like the residents left in a hurry?”

She nodded. “That’s what it looks like.”

“Excuse me.” A pair of dark eyes peered over the fence. “Can you tell me what’s going on over there?” Her gaze jerked to the crime scene.

“A murder, ma’am. You should stay in your house.” Harper reached for the door.

“Those folks aren’t home. Left with packed suitcases a couple of hours ago.”

“They?” Liam approached the fence. “A man and a woman? Can you give us a description?”

“Well, I didn’t know her much, even though she’s owned this home for a bit. The man is new. Quite a few years older than her, too, but that’s none of my business. They came and went at odd hours, rarely together. I thought he might be her father.”

“A description?” While gossip often provided needed details, what they really needed was confirmation that Robert and his assassin had been here and what they left in. “Did you see what kind of car they drove?”

“That’s easy. Lucy always drives a silver Mercedes.”

Lucy? Harper arched a brow at Liam. Did they finally have part of a name? “Do you know her last name?”

“No, I’m afraid we rarely spoke. She was a bit…stuck up, if you know what I mean. Lucy has dark hair, dark eyes. Sometimes she looks quite fancy, other times as if she’s wearing my grandmother’s clothes. The man is bald and starting to get a spare tire around his waist.” She lowered her voice. “I think something wrong was going on over there. Drugs maybe. All kinds of people came and went.”

Robert and Lucy in disguise would be Harper’s guess. She took down the woman’s name, thanked her for her help, and entered the house. They didn’t have more information per se, but they did have confirmation about this house. Enough confirmation to suit Harper anyway.

She withdrew her weapon and held it at the ready even though she didn’t expect to see anyone inside. The scuff of his shoe signaled Liam right behind her.

Wow. She glanced around the state-of-the-art kitchen. A fridge big enough to hold two people inside, a black granite countertop that sparkled in the morning sun streaming through custom blinds. She moved to a stylish living room with a television that took up one wall.

A sideboard took up another with an array of crystal decanters, glasses, and very expensive Scotch. The assassin business obviously paid very well.

On a glass side table sat a half empty glass of amber liquid. A wine glass rested on the matching coffee table.

Harper turned and headed down the hallway, pausing in front of the first bedroom. A man’s room from the style of clothing left behind. Articles on the floor and across the bed. Robert’s room.