Leann Harris - The Detective And The D.A.

Ash followed her into the room, noticing what a nice butt she had. He tried to ignore his awareness and set his box on the long table.

“Are you going to need me for anything else, Kelly?” Teresa asked from the doorway. She smiled at Ash again.

Kelly looked from Ash to Teresa. “No, you go on home, Teresa. We’re fine.”

Once they were alone, a warning flashed in Kelly’s eyes. Ash shrugged and opened the box in front of him. Inside was Catherine Reed’s blouse, covered with blood, different items from the room that had blood on them, a carpet sample from the bedroom and pictures from the crime scene. But the murder weapon, a Civil War saber that had hung on the hall wall outside the upstairs bedroom, wasn’t in the box.

Kelly unloaded her box. Evidence from Steve Carlson’s apartment, envelopes containing DNA results and samples of blood evidence. Kelly leaned back in her chair, glancing over the items on the conference table. They compared the items on the table with the inventory sheet. Kelly shook her head.

“Where’s the saber?” Ash asked.

Kelly looked through her file. “We gave it back to Andrew Reed, since it was a family heirloom and was valued around fifty thousand dollars.”

Kelly studied the evidence. “There’s nothing here that could be thought of as a smoking gun.”

“Let’s go over the inventory items.”

Kelly read them off the sheet.

Ash surveyed the items. “Nothing different from the file I reviewed yesterday.” He shook his head.

“What?”

He forgot that Kelly could read him in ways that other folks couldn’t. But that was before she had miscarried and turned inward and they had drifted apart. “The blood evidence still bothers me. I need to investigate it further.”

“It bothers me, too.” She shook her head. “I should’ve seen this problem the first time.”

He leaned forward, resting his arms on the table. “Kelly, you just went on what Ralph gave you.”

“What I did was accept his word and didn’t look closely at the case. It was a slam dunk, and I didn’t want to see anything else. I was worrying about my conviction rate. Wanted another promotion.”

No, what had really been going on at the time was Kelly had just miscarried their first baby. It had been a devastating experience for both of them. This case was the first one she’d handled after she went back to work. He saw that truth in her eyes.

“Let’s not panic. There’s no magic key here. It looks like I’ll just have to start from scratch and reinterview everyone listed here, see if I can develop any new leads.”

Kelly picked up a picture of Catherine Reed. “She was a beautiful woman.”

Ash looked over her shoulder at the picture of the victim. As much as they tried to divorce their feelings from these crimes and violence, once in a while a case got to you. “She reminds me of my vision of Snow White.” He shook his head. “Who’d ever think I’d say that?”

She smiled at him. After a quiet moment, she asked, “Why do I have a bad feeling about this, Ash?”

He shook his head and stood. “That’s because there’s something wrong here.”

A moan escaped her. “Oh, no. Don’t tell me that. But I knew…” She took a deep breath. “Okay, Ash. You’re the detective. I’ll go with your interpretation.”

“That’s a first.” The comment slipped out of his mouth before he could think.

Kelly laughed. The sweet sound made Ash want to kiss that lovely mouth.

Whoa, boy. Don’t go there.

Her eyes darkened and the air between them vibrated with their awareness. He stood and took several steps away from her to keep from touching her.

Ash didn’t mention that he had doubts about Andrew Reed. He wanted a closer look at the man. Since Catherine’s death had been so violent, it spoke of rage. Did Andrew Reed have a problem with anger? What was his relationship with his wife? That hadn’t been explored in the previous investigation. And why not?

Terrific, just what he needed, a nasty murder case among the rich and famous.

They quietly put the evidence back into the boxes. “Do you want me to put these boxes in another location?” When his gaze met hers, the electricity in the room exploded between them.

“Uh—” She swallowed. “Just leave them there.”

He wanted to reach out and draw her into his arms and kiss her senseless. The thought scared him.

“I’ll be in touch.” He strode out of the room before he did something stupid.

Ash glanced around the elegant den of Andrew Reed’s mansion. The maid informed Ash that Mr. Reed would be with him momentarily. An original oil painting of the Texas Hill county by J. Williams hung over the fireplace. A photo of the artist, famous in Houston and San Antonio, and Andrew Reed, smiling and shaking hands graced the other wall.

“Do you like my Williams?” Andrew asked as he walked into the room.

Ash looked at the handsome man. Pictures of Andrew Reed with other local celebrities hung on the wall. A president, governor, a couple of senators. But there were no pictures of Catherine Reed. “I’m not much into art. My ex-wife said I had taste in my feet,” Ash commented.

Andrew’s brow arched. “What can I do for you, Detective?”

“The D.A. wants more evidence for the upcoming retrial. I’ve been assigned to the case. I want to review with you what happened the night your wife was murdered.”

Andrew didn’t look pleased. “How long will this take? I’m scheduled to pick up my fiancée and take her to the opening of J. Williams’s new art show.”

“Probably a half hour.”

He glanced at his watch. “Could we do this tomorrow, a.m.?”

Alarm bells went off in Ash’s head. “Yes. But if you have five minutes now, I’d like a walk-through of the house so I can visually put it together.”

Andrew nodded. “Of course. Follow me.” Andrew walked to the library and showed Ash where the wall safe was located.

“After the party, I wanted a cappuccino. Catherine didn’t feel well and wanted to go home. So I left her off at the back door.”

“Did you drive into the garage?”

“No. There’s a door in the back that leads out to the deck and pool. She went in that way.”

If what he said was true, then Andrew Reed was, in Ash’s book, a selfish bastard who didn’t bother with anyone but himself. Ash would never let his wife walk into a dark house by herself. But then again, Ash had seen too many evil things.

“Where did you find her?”

“Upstairs.” He nodded for Ash to follow. Once on the second-floor landing, Andrew walked to the first doorway. “She was lying just inside the door on the floor, dead.”

“It was noted that the murder weapon was given back to you after the trial.”

“Yes, since it was an antique treasure.”

“Where is it now?” Ash asked.

“I gave it to the Civil War museum at Rice University.”

Ash observed the bedroom where Catherine’s body had been found. Obviously, it had been repainted and new carpeting put down. There were no pictures of the dead woman.

Andrew glanced at his watch. “I have to leave now, Detective.”

As they walked to the front door, Andrew’s expression seemed too pleasant. “I’ll be sure to block out the time for you tomorrow.”

“Thanks.”

As Ash climbed into his car, he glanced back at Andrew Reed. He hadn’t moved from the front door. For a man who needed to get going, he wasn’t moving very fast.

Ash smiled and nodded at him. Andrew Reed turned and walked into his house. Glancing around the exclusive neighborhood, Ash decided to start interviewing Reed’s neighbors now. He might learn about the Reeds’ marriage. There wasn’t any mention of their relationship in the file and he wanted to know how things stood on that score.