Remi sent a startled glance toward her mother. Had the older woman heard about the murder? It was possible that one of her father’s old friends had contacted her. “Careful about what?” she demanded.
Liza looked uncomfortable, as if she was regretting her impulsive words. “Just be careful,” she muttered.
“I will.”
Stepping forward, Remi brushed her lips over her mother’s cheek and turned to leave the house.
She would never understand Liza Harding-Walsh, she decided.
* * *
As expected, Ash found his brother in his small cubicle. Jax was like all Marcel men: an incurable workaholic.
He quickly shared what he’d learned in Bailey, watching his brother take notes as he spoke. Once he was done, he expected a few questions about his impressions of Angel’s friends.
Instead, Jax leaned back in his chair and folded his arms over his chest. “Do you remember O’Reilly?” Jax asked.
“O’Reilly?” Ash leaned against the edge of his brother’s desk and dredged through his memories. At last, he recalled the weasel of an officer who was always lurking around trying to cause trouble. “Yeah, I remember him. He was an asshole. And a terrible detective. Gage had to turn him in to the Internal Affairs unit.”
“For what?”
“Gage claimed he took drugs off a perp and they never showed up in the evidence room.”
A disgusted expression settled on Jax’s face. There was nothing worse than a dirty cop. “Did he get in trouble?”
“No. Gage didn’t know if the crime was too petty to warrant an investigation or if someone up the food chain squelched his complaint. I know he was pissed as hell when nothing happened.”
Jax studied him with a steady gaze. “Do you think he was trying to interfere in your investigation of the Butcher?”
Ash jerked in surprise at the unexpected question. “Why do you ask?”
Jax revealed his encounter with the detective, as well as his vague warning not to stir up the past.
Ash scowled, mentally reviewing his handful of encounters with O’Reilly. The man was a year or two older than Ash and had clearly been bitter about Gage dumping him for another partner. And once Ash had suspected that O’Reilly had been snooping through the evidence they’d collected on the Butcher. That was when Gage had suggested they start keeping their own notes that weren’t included in the official files.
After Gage’s death, he’d forgotten about his partner’s suspicions. Now he realized he needed to do more than skim through the files he’d just taken out of storage.
“Do you think he’s just jealous, or is he somehow involved in the murders?” he bluntly demanded.
Jax grimaced. “Hard to say. It’s possible he’s just being a dick, but I’m going to keep my eye on him,” he said, his voice hard.
Ash nodded. He knew without a doubt that O’Reilly wouldn’t be able to so much as fart without Jax knowing about it. “Have you started searching for the plastic surgeon?”
Jax shook his head. “I’ll do that on Monday. Most of the clinics are closed on the weekends.”
Ash squashed his flare of frustration. He better than anyone knew that detective work wasn’t like on the TV shows. It was slow, and methodical, and, a lot of the time, boring as hell.
Still, he couldn’t resist hoping for some break in the case.
“Anything new?” he demanded.
“Not really.” Jax reached up to rub his nape. “I have the patrols scouring the park for anyone who might have been there on the morning Angel was killed. They’re also pulling any surveillance footage in the area. We might get lucky.”
“Did she have a phone with her?”
“Still looking for it,” Jax admitted.
Ash tried to imagine a young woman without her phone in her hand. It was impossible. Still, if it was missing, it didn’t necessarily mean the killer had it. People could be stone cold and it wasn’t unusual for a passerby to steal the phone or wallet off a corpse.
“Have you checked out her social media?” he asked, holding up his hands in apology when he caught sight of the irritation flaring through his brother’s eyes. “Okay, I’m not trying to tell you how to do your job.”
Jax released a short laugh. “That would be a first.”
Ash grimaced. In hindsight, it was easy to see that he’d come into the department with an arrogance that must have pissed off a lot of people. Including his brother.
He’d been a young hotshot who assumed he knew it all. Age had, thankfully, tempered his ego. “Only because I’m always right, bro.”
Jax flipped him off and they both laughed. There’d been occasions when it’d been a pain to work in the same unit, but most of the time they’d cherished the opportunity to share what they both loved.
Ash’s smile slowly faded. “While you’re in such a good mood, I need a favor.”
Jax unfolded his arms and leaned forward in his chair. “What now?”
“I want you to run a background check on a Doug Gates.”
Jax grabbed a pen and jotted down the name. “Is he connected to my vic?”
“No, he’s Remi’s next-door neighbor.”
Jax jerked up his head, his expression hard with disapproval. “Ash . . .”
“I genuinely think he’s sketchy,” Ash insisted. “He moved in six months ago, he lives alone, and this morning, I caught him peering into her window.”
Jax stared at him for another minute, no doubt trying to decide whether Ash was being a crazed ex-boyfriend or a vigilant detective. “Fine,” he at last conceded. “I’ll check him out.”
A portion of Ash’s tension eased. He’d already decided he was going to discover everything possible about Doug Gates. Having Jax use the resources of the Chicago Police Department was going to make it a lot easier.
“Is there anything I can do?” he asked his brother.
“Yeah.” Jax sent him a grim smile. “Go see Mom.”
Ash swallowed a sigh. He’d bet good money his mother had already discovered he was in town and had called Jax to complain he hadn’t come by yet. Of all the Marcels, his mother was the best detective.
When Ash was still in high school, the older woman could not only find his pack of cigarettes no matter where he’d hidden them in his room, she had a sixth sense that warned her when he was lying. Plus, she could walk out the door of her house and track down any one of her children, no matter where they were.
It was uncanny.
“Are you coming with me?” he asked.
Jax waved his hand toward his desk, which was hidden beneath piles of folders. “I have a dozen case files I need to look through,” he told Ash.
“Unsolved murders?”
“Yep. These are going to take me all weekend.”
Ash felt a stab of guilt. Jax already had circles beneath his eyes from working late into the night. Now, he was going to be stuck in the tiny cubicle for the entire weekend.
“Thanks,” he said, his voice gruff with emotion.
Jax shrugged. “For doing my job?”
“We both know you’re going above and beyond the call of duty on this one.”
Jax held Ash’s gaze. “You’re not the only one who cares about Remi.”