Blood and Roses (Holly Jennings Thriller) Read Online Free Page A

chair.”
    “Don’t get me started.”
    “I’m just saying…You brought up the gunslinger. But as far as good-looking and seemingly genuine, then yes, that is the guy,” Holly said. “Nothing stands out in my notes from the investigation, though. Everything has been a dead end. The killer was clean, no prints, nothing but the dead kids and the note in the racing form. I’ll be interested to see if maybe Geremiah Laugherty had any association at all with Marvin Tieg.”
    “Your gut is usually decent. As far as that note left by the killer goes, I’ve played out every puzzle I could with it. Sorry, but nothing. Until now…”
    “Until now. Maybe,” she replied.
    They exited the freeway and followed the GPS, making the turn off Sunset onto Laurel Canyon and winding on up the palm-tree-lined street—serene, clean, and speaking volumes of wealth.
    “Wow,” Holly said as they pulled up into the driveway. The place was a monstrosity of glass—truly a glass house, built to take in the views of Los Angeles below.
    LAPD had a line of vehicles parked up top in the circular drive, along with the coroner’s van. As odd as she had felt asking the detective who had called her to see if they could hold off moving the body until she arrived, he had agreed. This wasn’t her case, andshe didn’t know if the dead producer was related to her case with the two dead jockeys. But if this was the same perp, and from the sounds of the carrot-in-the-mouth move it might be, then Holly was hoping to discover some answers.
    Anything
.
    She wanted to be able to call poor Katarina Erickson’s family back in Ireland and let them know that the devil who had destroyed their beautiful daughter was locked away. And Tommy Lyons’s father, who had been crushed by the news, would possibly be able to move on in some small way.
    The families of murder victims never really moved on completely, but when the perp was caught—or better still, dead—there did seem to be closure and some small sense of peace. If Holly could in any way provide that for the families, then she would. Even if that meant going out on a limb and asking a colleague from a different jurisdiction to do this favor for her.
    Chad ran his hand through his sandy-colored hair. He gave her a grim smirk and a nod as they got out of the car. The temperature was warm under the sunny LA sky, the smog lighter than usual as a westward breeze pushed the pollution out over the Pacific. Even with the clarity of midmorning, a heaviness hung in the air—the kind of heaviness that seemed to always accompany death, especially as dark a type of death as murder.
    The twelve-foot-high, double-wide wooden doors stood open. Holly and Chad flashed their badges at the cop standing guard. He gave them a funny look, and Holly knew he had made the badge from outside of LA. “Detective Amar requested us. I’m Detective Jennings. This is Detective Euwing.”
    “Let them through.”
    The officer stood out of the way, and Holly could see a thin man in his midthirties, with dark hair, dressed in khakis and a white polo, standing in the massive foyer. He approached them andtook off his rubber gloves to shake their hands. “Good morning, Detectives. I am Devraj Amar, detective in charge on this case. I am the one who phoned you.” He smiled. “Thank you for taking the time to come up.”
    “Holly Jennings and Chad Euwing. Of course. We appreciate your asking us. We have been at a loss with the jockey case in San Diego, and if this is tied in, we’re more than happy to cruise up the coast and see what we have.”
    “Why don’t I show you?” Amar replied. He spun on his heels and led them to the back of the house, his shoes clapping against the cream-colored marble floors. They passed through glass-walled hallways and through a bachelor-chic interior—a lot of beige, shades of browns and grays, leather and suede furniture with interesting artwork that ranged from nude women to movie posters, and