“Whatcha got?”
Looking over his shoulder, he smiled at his sometimes partner, Rachel Seas, stepping into the kitchen, jerking her head to avoid a water drop falling from the ceiling. At over eight months pregnant, he knew she would soon be out on maternity leave.
Before he had a chance to answer her question, she added, “I never thought an empty room could be a mess, but hell, this is nasty.”
He chuckled as she walked closer, peering around him to see what he was bagging. “There was nothing in the room other than the deceased. The ME just left with the body but showed me a bag of pills that were tucked in his coat pocket. This is the only thing I’ve found in here, so far.”
“Any ID?”
He shook his head. “I was just getting ready to go through the other rooms to see if I could find any other evidence that might tell us who he was or what he was doing here.”
“Could’ve just been looking for a place to sleep.”
Nodding, he silently agreed. Leaving Rachel to continue looking around the small first floor, he walked upstairs, finding it much like the downstairs. Shining his light around, he saw the space was completely empty. The bathroom cabinets and fixtures were ripped from the walls. The upstairs windows were broken and water on the floor kept him from seeing if the dust had been disturbed before the fire next door. He continued around each room but found no evidence that anyone had been there recently
After a thorough search, he walked back downstairs, where he found Rachel as empty-handed as he. “Nothing?”
“Anything on the floor would have been washed away with the fire hoses. Upstairs?”
“Same. I found no evidence that he or anyone had been upstairs.” Carter stretched his back, feeling, as well as hearing, his neck crack. “I’ll take what I found in the pantry to the lab. I’ll get the rest from Natalie, and hopefully we’ll be able to get an ID along with cause of death.”
She lifted an eyebrow and grinned. “Are we going to hit the homeless shelters again?”
“Yeah, even if we haven’t had much luck with the last two.”
Patting her stomach, she said, “Since I’ll be on maternity leave soon, I hate to leave it all to you. Hopefully, we’ll get a break soon.”
“Are you sure that little one doesn’t want to wait longer to arrive?” He pretended to grumble and watched her fight a grin.
The two stepped out of the back door and walked past the charred walls of the first unit. Its interior was well lit from the portable lamps, and he spied Sean and Jonas kneeling, scraping bits of evidence into jars. While they might have much more evidence to collect, he did not envy them. The serial arsonist plaguing Hope City was not going to be easily caught.
Walking to the perimeter, he offered a chin lift to the police officer standing watch. Ducking under the yellow tape, he bypassed the few reporters who had gathered for information about the arsonist.
Placing his evidence in the back of his SUV, the young face of the deceased stayed vividly in his mind. If he truly was homeless, Carter wondered who would mourn his passing. Certainly not the media, clambering for headlines. With the recent, high profile murder of one of Hope City’s richest men, Carter knew his unidentified body would receive little interest or fanfare. Slamming the door of his SUV, he also slammed the door on those thoughts. As far as he was concerned, the young man who died alone, possibly after doing nothing more than finding a warm place to sleep, deserved Carter’s full attention. And that’s what he’ll get… My full fuckin’ attention.
The end…or rather the beginning of more Hope City!
Do not miss the next exciting Hope City
Stories coming soon!
Click here for :
Carter (book 3)
Brody (book 4)
Kyle (book 5 coming Fall 2020)
Ryker (book 6 coming Fall 2020)
Click here for a bonus deleted chapter from Brock!
AND
Click here for a bonus deleted chapter from Sean!
Don’t miss other Kris Michaels books! Visit her website for all the latest and buy links!
Don’t miss other Maryann Jordan books! Visit her website for all the latest and buy links!
Also by Kris Micheals
Don’t miss other Kris Michaels books! Visit her website for all the latest and buy links!
Kings of the Guardian Series
Jacob: Kings of the Guardian Book 1
Joseph: Kings of the Guardian Book 2
Jason: Kings of the Guardian Book 4
Jared: Kings of the Guardian Book 5
Jasmine: Kings of the Guardian Book 6
Chief: Kings of the Guardian Book 7
Jewell: Kings of the Guardian Book 8
Jade: Kings of the Guardian Book 9
Justin: Kings of the Guardian Book 10
Christmas with the Kings The Kings of Guardian
Drake: Kings of the Guardian Book 11
Dixon: Kings of the Guardian Book 12
Passages: Kings of Guardian Book 13
A Backwater Blessing: A Kings of Guardian and Heart's Desire Crossover Novella
Montana Guardian: A Kings of Guardian Novella
Guardian Security Shadow World
Anubis (Guardian Security Shadow World Book 1)
Asp (Guardian Shadow World Book 2)
Lycos (Guardian Shadow World, Book 3)
Thanatos (Guardian Shadow World, Book 4)
Tempest (coming soon)
Everlight Series
An Evidence of Magic (Everlight Book 1)
An Incident of Magic (Everlight Book 2)
Standalones
A Heart's Desire
Hot SEAL, Single Malt (SEALs in Paradise Book 9)
SEAL Forever
Hot Seal, Savannah Nights
Guardian Security - The Defenders Series
Gabriel - Origins
Maliki (coming soon)
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Also by Maryann Jordan
Don’t miss other Maryann Jordan books! Visit her website for all the latest and buy links!
Baytown Boys (small town, military romantic suspense)
Just One More Chance
Clues of the Heart
Finding Peace
Picking Up the Pieces
Sunset Flames
Waiting for Sunrise
Hear My Heart
Guarding Your Heart
Sweet Rose
Our Time
Count On Me (2020)
Heroes at Heart (Military Romance)
Zander
Rafe
Cael
Jaxon
Jayden
Asher
Zeke
Cas (2020)
Lighthouse Security Investigations (Military Romantic Suspense)
Mace
Rank
Walker
Drew
Blake
Tate (2020)
Saints Protection & Investigations
(an elite group, assigned to the cases no one else wants…or can solve)
Serial Love
Healing Love
Revealing Love
Seeing Love
Honor Love
Sacrifice Love
Remember Love
Discover Love
Surviving Love
Celebrating Love
Alvarez Security (military romantic suspense)
Gabe
Tony
Vinny
Jobe
SEALs
Thin Ice (Sleeper SEAL)
SEAL Together (Silver SEAL)
Letters From Home (military romance)
Class of Love
Freedom of Love
Bond of Love
The Love’s Series (detectives)
Love’s Taming
Love’s Tempting
Love�
�s Trusting
The Fairfield Series (small town detectives)
Emma’s Home
Laurie’s Time
Carol’s Image
Fireworks Over Fairfield
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