Tax Assassin by Claudia Hall Christian

was “O’Malley, tell . . . ,” but he
didn’t think they were right. He looked up at Bob and shook his
head.
    “ You’re the last person to
have had a real conversation with them,” Bob said. “The marshals
will be here early tomorrow to get you.”
    “ I have a murderer to
catch,” Seth said. “I can’t really spend a day hanging out with
them.”
    “ We’ll have to be on our
way then,” Ava said.
    Seth’s worried eyes flicked to look at
her.
    “ Chicken with no cheese for
you,” Fran took a small dish out of the oven and gave it to Nelson.
“Maresol knows how you feel about cheese.”
    “ Me?” Nelson smiled. “I
love cheese. It’s just not good for my figure.”
    Nelson patted his flat, bodybuilder’s
abs.
    “ Are you eating?” Fran
asked Ava. She shook her head. “Seth?”
    “ No thanks,” Seth
said.
    “ More for us,” Bob
said.
    Ava’s lab team fell silent while they ate.
When Ava ran the team, they’d eaten dinner here at least once a
week. When they were nearly done, Bob cleared his throat.
    “ We should talk and get out
of here,” Bob said.
    “ Right, we don’t want to
know more than we can testify too,” Fran said.
    “ Exactly,” Bob said. “Have
you heard from your mother? Sister?”
    “ So far, so good,” Ava
said.
    “ That’s a relief,” Leslie
said.
    Nelson, Fran and Bob nodded in
agreement.
    “ Are you still working on
the tickets?” Nelson asked.
    “ I’ve received information
from seventeen cities,” Ava said.
    “ What’s this?” Bob
asked.
    “ We’re testing Éowyn’s idea
that over the course of all these years, this guy might have
received a parking ticket or a speeding ticket or something,
somewhere,” Ava said. “You know, one in this city, another in that
one. It’s a real needle in a haystack.”
    “ Might not pan out,” Seth
said.
    “ I have all the paid and
unpaid tickets for the weeks before and the week after the
murders,” Ava said. “It’s a lot to get through.”
    “ Why don’t you send me what
you have?” Nelson asked.
    “ You’re sure?” Ava
asked.
    “ Of course,” Nelson said.
“It’ll only take a half hour or so to see if I can find the same
person. I can start it while we talk.”
    “ You should check license
plates, in case he had fake IDs,” Ava said.
    “ Make and model,” Seth
said. “Even if he rents, he’s likely to get the same vehicle every
time. Something he likes and trusts.”
    “ Sure,” Nelson
nodded.
    “ In all the places?” Seth
asked.
    “ Of course,” Nelson
smiled.
    “ Nelson was my data geek,”
Ava said.
    “ Is,” Nelson took his
laptop out of his backpack and turned it on. “But I won’t ruin the
surprise.”
    “ What?” Ava
asked.
    “ Send me the files,” Nelson
said. Ava jogged out of the room.
    “ Let’s talk murder first,
and lab second,” Bob said. “I want to get Seth’s take on the
recording.”
    “ I heard what you heard,”
Seth said. “And . . . I have a sense that what I
hear isn’t what he’s saying.”
    “ Exactly,” Bob said. “Any
ideas?”
    “ None,” Seth said. “What do
you know about Jasper and Kowalski?”
    “ They were killed with
bullets from each other’s Glock 23s,” Leslie said. “U.S. Marshal’s
Service-issued weapons. Ballistics matched their service
records.”
    “ Notice any beef between
them when you talked to them?” Bob asked.
    “ No,” Seth said. “They
seemed like they’d been partners a long time and knew each other
well. They moved, and even talked, in sync.”
    He looked up to make sure Ava was still
upstairs.
    “ They didn’t like Alvin
much,” Seth said. “But I doubt they killed him.”
    “ How did they seem when you
talked to them?” Fran asked.
    “ Angry,” Seth
said.
    “ At each other?” Bob
asked.
    “ The situation,” Seth said.
“They felt bad about Bella. We all do.”
    With his words, a cloud of sorrow came over
them. Leslie looked away. Nelson focused on his computer. Fran went
to the