Read Shelby's Secret (Once a Marine, Always a Marine Book 4) for Free Online Page B

video Mike forwarded, enhancing as much as he could.
    Daniel had already watched the video several times, each time searching for something new. Now he focused on everything about the space the girl was in, but the walls were bare. Nothing about the architecture stood out. The warehouse was likely just as generic as the first crime scene. “Damn, I was hoping for something useful.”
    Lance shrugged, still playing with his system. “Give me a couple minutes. I want to zoom in on the right side. Something over there is blurry.”
    Daniel saw the dark blur. About six feet high, it could have been a stack of barrels. Or crates. Smack in the middle of the blur was a white strip. Daniel moved closer to the screen. They had a still image from the video projected onto a wall in one of the bigger offices.
    “Could be a label,” Lance said, squinting up from his computer.
    Damn, it could be. Daniel tried to quell the excitement. He still couldn’t read it. “Any way to enhance the shot further?”
    “Hey, this isn’t CSI —that computer shit they do isn’t even real. I can only focus so much before I lose everything and it becomes one big pixel nightmare.”
    Running a hand through his hair, Daniel nodded. “I know, man. But something’s got to give. We have to find the crime scene before the fucking rats get there.”
    “Rats nothing. Have you seen what those feral cats can do?”
    Daniel grinned. “Dog person, huh?”
    “Hell yeah. If I die, I don’t want my pet eating off my face, and those cats will. Dude, the moment you die, you’re nothing but kibble to them.”
    The image cleared a bit more and it was a stack of crates. The thick white stripe was still blurry, but Daniel could make out a logo of some kind. “What is that?”
    Avery had a magnifying glass over the screen of his computer. “Maybe a crown or hat of some kind? I can’t make it any bigger, or we lose the image altogether.” He held out the magnifier to Daniel as he scooted back to make more room.
    Skirting the desk, Daniel moved closer to Avery’s screen. With the image magnified, it did look like a crown, but with three lines to the right and some letters that were too close together to make sense of. “Can you screen shot this? I’ll probably go blind looking at logos, but I know I’ve seen this somewhere.”
    Hearing Avery busy tapping on keys, Daniel wandered back to the larger image. Who are you?
    But the victim couldn’t tell them anything, except who she was . . . eventually. Maybe that would help, maybe it wouldn’t. If she was indigent, then she was a random target that fit the killer’s needs. But if she wasn’t, then tracking her movements in the days before she was taken might provide useful leads.
    “Oh shit.”
    Daniel turned at the exclamation, eyebrow raised, armed crossed. “What?”
    Avery was almost vibrating with triumph. Still tapping away on his computer, he turned his monitor and pointed. “I know what that symbol is.”

    ***

    Tara Shumway was finally off shift.
    He was waiting. He watched as she pulled the tie from her hair, letting the red corkscrew curls loose and running both hands through her head. He thought he could hear her moan at the release of all that hair.
    Leaving the lobby of the emergency room, Tara glanced around before heading into the parking garage. The night had been busy, and that she was looking forward to getting out of her scrubs and into a bubble bath. He’d heard her conversation with a co-worker while they were on a break.
    It was two a.m., and a good time to hunt. The voice was quiet, and he could focus and maintain the control he needed to use his disguise.
    She held her purse close, keys in hand, like she did every night—keeping her head up and her body alert. Tara’s daddy had taught her well, and she was always vigilant. He knew all about her, and she talked about her Daddy often. But his warnings wouldn’t help her. Not tonight.
    “Excuse me?” His voice startled her