This excerpt is from Unholy Alliance.
The scene includes the heroine's lawyer, Grady Fletcher, who had successfully appealed her case which was similar to the one he has now. Maeve is his private detective and nudges him to collaborate with his former client, Tori Morningstar, who now runs a food truck.
“A
rose on ice,” he said, referring to this morning’s headline on the front page
of the Los Angeles Globe. The body of
the victim, found on her white marble floor, lay at an odd angle, arms and legs
flung out like Raggedy Ann. Her shoulder length hair of dyed burgundy surrounded her head in a puddle of
her own blood and scattered long stem roses. “Rose Winter’s features were
smashed.”
“Beaten
to a pulp,” Maeve said.
“Her
husband, Dr. Joseph Winter, is missing.” Joseph Winter, Ph.D. taught a class in
urban planting at Cal State Long Beach, but more importantly conducted research
for the department of agriculture. “Dr. Winter and his laptop hold secrets
vital to national security.”
“Maybe
Rose Winter held back his location.” She removed the lid and sipped coffee from
the cup.
He
sank in his chair staring at the white board where she scrawled key events.
Maeve
said, “Maybe her assailant enjoys torture for the heck of it.”
He
squeezed his panic into iron fists. “Did Rose write our client a check?”
“Yes,
and then Sam Peterson left.” As if it were an everyday occurrence, Maeve adjusted
the purple scarf around her neck. “Mrs. Peterson phoned us. Assured me her
husband has no hidden talents. Sam isn’t a secret novelist or computer nerd. He’s
a struggling black handyman supporting a family of four.”
A
text message pinged again. This time he read it aloud. “Tori Morningstar. Says
her food truck is open for business.”
“Great,
team up. You’re both on Seamus McGinn’s tail.” Maeve gathered her purse and two
four-inch binders.
“You’ve
got Irene Brennan and Rose Winter in those murder books. Off getting a warrant?”
“I
am. When victims struggle for their lives, they put talons out. Scratch their
assailants. I want to compare tissue caught under their fingernails.”
He
nodded his approval. “Could be a match.” Medical examiners clipped a victim’s
nails to see if DNA from trapped tissue matched any sample in the DNA database.
Even without one, a new technique known as phenotyping revealed the assailant’s
eye, skin, and hair color. “All is good for Samuel Peterson.”
“At
Tori’s truck, go light on the fried stuff.” She winked and lugged notebooks to
the door.
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