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Back The Silenced Women Save as PDF
Chapters (50)
  1. Front Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Contents
  5. Part I
  6. Chapter One
  7. Chapter Two
  8. Chapter Three
  9. Chapter Four
  10. Chapter Five
  11. Chapter Six
  12. Chapter Seven
  13. Chapter Eight
  14. Chapter Nine
  15. Chapter Ten
  16. Chapter Eleven
  17. Chapter Twelve
  18. Chapter Thirteen
  19. Part II
  20. Chapter Fourteen
  21. Chapter Fifteen
  22. Chapter Sixteen
  23. Chapter Seventeen
  24. Chapter Eighteen
  25. Chapter Nineteen
  26. Chapter Twenty
  27. Chapter Twenty-One
  28. Chapter Twenty-Two
  29. Chapter Twenty-Three
  30. Chapter Twenty-Four
  31. Chapter Twenty-Five
  32. Chapter Twenty-Six
  33. Chapter Twenty-Seven
  34. Chapter Twenty-Eight
  35. Chapter Twenty-Nine
  36. Part III
  37. Chapter Thirty
  38. Chapter Thirty-One
  39. Chapter Thirty-Two
  40. Chapter Thirty-Three
  41. Chapter Thirty-Four
  42. Chapter Thirty-Five
  43. Chapter Thirty-Six
  44. Chapter Thirty-Seven
  45. Chapter Thirty-Eight
  46. Read on for a sneak peek at the next Violent Crime Investigations Team mystery!
  47. Chapter One
  48. Acknowledgments
  49. About the Author
  50. Back Cover

Mahler watched two cars drive east, then saw a car approach from the opposite direction. It pulled over in front of the police building. The car idled in the No Parking zone.

“The DA’s investigator, Paul Eckels, emailed me some early stuff on Frames’s accident,” Rivas said. “They recovered his Glock. One round missing. Also found a canister of pepper spray Frames used on the dogs. No prints on the trunk of the car or on the lock outside the parking lot. Eckels says this doesn’t look like a random thing. Someone went after Frames. He figures they might try again.”

Mahler looked at the street. “Eckels is a smart guy. He’s probably right. Someone connected to this homicide is coming after us.” A pickup drove into view and maneuvered around the idling car.

Coyle turned in his seat to face Mahler. “Eddie, I went through the victim’s computers. On her office hard drive, I found traces of files that had been deleted but not wiped clean. All from one folder. I’m trying to see if they can be recovered from the cloud. The home laptop had art files for a company called DivingBell. Craig Lerner says it’s not one of his clients, so the work must have been a freelance project that the victim was working on. DivingBell’s a startup in San Francisco. Something to do with search engines. Benjamin Thackrey’s not involved, according to their website and filings.”

“Call them,” Mahler said. “See if they know Thackrey and what our victim was working on.”

Eden pointed to the whiteboard. “Whatever happened with the DMV search for that vintage Mercedes on the park’s security film?”

“Working on it,” Coyle said. “Patrol found two owners of that model in the Bay Area. Ruled out one. The other’s an individual named Victor Banerjee. We’re looking at him and trying to get an address.”

Mahler watched the idling car. The headlights were on, the windows closed. A small vapor stream came out of the exhaust. By the light of the streetlamp, Mahler could see the car was silver, and by body shape and the taillights, he knew it to be a Jaguar.

Without turning from the window, Mahler said, “Eden, Steve has a pair of binoculars in his top drawer. Could you bring those over here?”

“By the way, Eddie,” Coyle said, “I’m getting some strange messages on my computer. The guys in IT think we’ve been hacked. I’ll let you know.” He scrolled through a file. “I also called Los Altos PD and asked them to check Thackrey’s residence there—place was empty.”

“What’s the make on his vehicle?”

“Jaguar. 2018.”

Eden handed Mahler the binoculars, and he focused the lens on the car windows. A figure was visible in the driver’s seat. Mahler moved the lenses back to the license plate. “What’s the number on that registration?”