Next of Kin Read Online Free Page A

eyes, she saw Sarah’s face and that blank, sightless expression—and the blood. Dear God, the blood.
Police were everywhere. The crew from the LAPD crime lab was still taking photos and fingerprints and bagging evidence, although the coroner had come and gone, taking what was left of Sarah Steinman to the morgue.
As Beth glanced toward the windows, she was shocked to see the faint rays of first light pushing over the horizon. A new day was about to dawn while she had yet to come to terms with the old one.
Startled by a flurry of activity at the doorway, she turned to look just as three men in dark suits entered the room. She saw Detective Burroughs glare, have a few words with them, then look her way. Her heart thumped hard against her chest as Burroughs started toward her with the three men at his heels. Something bad was happening.
“Beth, these men want to talk to you.”
Beth drew the blanket tighter beneath her chin as the tallest of the three men flashed a badge.
“Miss Venable, I’m Special Agent Ames with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. These men are Special Agent Burke and Special Agent Charles. We’d like to talk to you.”
Beth blinked. The FBI?
“About what?”
Ames sat down on the sofa beside her, then leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees in what she supposed was a move to try and put her at ease, but that was never going to happen—not here.
“You know the man you picked out of a photo lineup at the police station…the one who matched your sketch and who you said committed the murder in the apartment across the street?”
She nodded.
“His name is Ike Pappas. He’s the current head of a crime syndicate that reaches all the way to the other side of the country. The woman you saw him kill is his ex-wife, Lorena. We’ve been building a case against him—or trying to—for the past two years. Problem is, our witnesses keep recanting their statements or disappearing—or dying.”
Horror was rising within Beth in creeping increments. Just when she thought things couldn’t get worse.
“Have you arrested him?”
“Not yet. The police are still working the evidence from the crime scene. Lorena was going to testify against him. The fact that she’s dead tells us he probably found out. And the fact that your friend is dead is obviously because he found out that there was a witness to the murder. With the intelligence he’s able to gather, it won’t take him long to find out he had the wrong woman killed.”
Her fingers curled into fists to keep them from trembling.
“But wouldn’t his fingerprints be all over the place? And his DNA must be on her. They were hitting each other before he cut her throat.”
“Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. Pappas owns the building. He set his ex-wife up in the apartment and visits regularly. His DNA and fingerprints are all over the place with good reason.”
Beth’s heart was pounding so fast it was difficult to breathe. “Are you saying he’s going to get away with it?”
“Not if we can help it. Not if we can keep you safe until we go to court.”
Beth glanced toward Sarah’s bedroom. “And you’re sure that’s why Sarah was killed.”
“We think so.”
Too shocked to cry, she kept trying to make sense of Sarah’s death. “How did he find out about the phone call so fast?”
Ames glanced at Burroughs, who looked away.
“In this case, we believe someone from LAPD gave him a heads-up that there was a witness, so he did what he always does—eliminates the obstacles in his path. This is the first time that his information was faulty. Because the call that came in was from your friend and the crime was witnessed from this apartment, he made the assumption that she was also the witness. He and his informant don’t know about you. Yet.”
It was the “yet” that made the skin crawl on the back of Beth’s neck.
“What are you saying?”
Ames glanced again at Detective Burroughs, who was trying not to glare. Ames knew the LAPD was