Loving Again: Book 2 in the Second Chance series (Crimson Romance) by Peggy Bird Page B

Portland.’ The fact that two people are dead apparently didn’t enter into their conversation.” He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head, his disgusted look indicating exactly what he thought about the interchange. “What’ve you got for me?”
    Sam ran down the list of the evidence they’d collected: The handgun they’d found next to the bodies. Shreds of latex gloves spotted with blood discovered in the parking area. The contents of Kane’s pockets and Jordan’s purse. The list of phone calls to and from both victims’ cell phones.
    “And there’s this.” Sam handed a lab report to Angel. “They lifted prints from the gun before it was sent for testing. There were partials on the barrel, nothing on the rest of it, a different set on the remaining cartridges. The partials were identified as Amanda St. Claire’s. No match yet for the other set.”
    “Amanda St. Claire? I know that name.” Angel paused for a moment. “Oh, shit, the goddamn Webster case. I hoped I’d never hear any name from that case again,” he said, almost growling.
    Sam shook his head, wishing like hell he didn’t have to say what he was about to say. “If you’ll look on that list of phone calls you’ll see Kane made a call to St. Claire’s number early in the evening. And there was an incoming call from her phone later, after he was dead.”
    “I hate to ask — does she have a connection with Kane?”
    “Other than the fact both are glass artists, yeah. He caused a scene in Bullseye recently, accusing her of stealing his designs. Threatened her with a lawsuit.” He shifted uneasily in the chair. “She also heard that Kane was trolling the DA’s office to see who’d bite on his story about intellectual property theft.”
    “When you talked to her about this did you find out where she was last night?”
    “Haven’t talked to her yet.”
    “Then how do you know the details of her dispute with Kane?”
    “That’s why I came to see you as soon as I found out about the fingerprints and phone calls. I think I need to get off this case. We’re involved. Amanda and I, that is. She told me about her Kane problem when it happened.”
    “ Think you need to get off? Jesus Christ, Sam, of course you’re off. How much of the evidence has your name on it?”
    “None. Danny and one of the uniforms took care of that. I did interviews.”
    Angel fiddled with a pen for a moment, then stood up. “Does Danny have the addresses of St. Claire’s home and studio or wherever she works?”
    “Not sure.” He broke eye contact with the lieutenant.
    “The way you answered that tells me there’s something else I’m not going to like. Is it where she lives or where she works that’s making you nervous?”
    “She lives in Alameda. Her studio is in southeast Portland, about half a mile from Bullseye.”
    “Shit. Shit. Shit.” Angel bounced the pen off the top of his desk. “We have a possible motive for St. Claire, she may have been nearby, and her fingerprints are on the murder weapon.”
    “I’m sure there’s an explanation.”
    “You won’t be the one finding it.” He paused, forcing Sam to look at him by the power of the silence. “You’re not on leave like last year. You’re working for me. And you’re off this case.” There was another long, hard silence. “Am I clear here?”
    “Got it, L.T.,” Sam said.
    • • •
    It had been a terrible morning for Amanda. She’d started out sleep deprived after a restless night. Then the news this morning. Then when she got to her studio she found they’d been broken into, for the second time in a week. The first time the desk in the office had been rifled. This time it was more like last year when Tom Webster had trashed a year’s worth of her work because he’d discovered she’d found evidence of the drug-dealing going on in his club.
    Whoever broke in the night before, however, had made no distinction between her work and that of her studio mates. Thousands of