Already Dead (Laura Frost FBI)

Up ahead of them, Detective Waters was leaning by his own car, looking awkward and trying to pretend he couldn’t read Agent Won’s body language. It must have been fairly obvious that they’d had an argument. Laura gestured to him wordlessly from where she stood rather than moving closer to talk, indicating that she was going to make a call and then go. He got into his car, taking the hint to not eavesdrop on her call.

She dialed for Rondelle, knowing he was probably going to be annoyed with her for calling in the middle of a case but unable to help herself.

“Division Chief Rondelle speaking.”

“Hi, Chief,” Laura said. “Look, I was thinking about this whole transfer thing.”

Rondelle sighed. “I know he’s a bit eager, but that’s what they’re like fresh out of the Academy. I know you don’t remember it, but you were like that once as well. Just give him a chance.”

“It’s not that,” Laura said. Although it very much was that. “It’s about Nate. I was thinking, can’t you delay his transfer? Maybe long enough that he has to come back to work to avoid using up all his annual leave? He’s avoiding my calls, but if I can just speak to him…”

“Laura,” Rondelle said, with the kind of fatherly admonishment that only a paternal figure could muster. Which he was, really – for everyone in his division. “You know I can’t do that. My hands are tied. I’ve already put the paperwork in. As soon as it clears, he’ll be moving on.”

“Well, what if the paperwork got pulled back?” Laura said. “Maybe you filled in something wrong on the form and you realized, and you want to correct it before filing it again.”

Rondelle made a noise in his throat, and she could imagine him shaking his head with that sharp look in his eyes. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t just suggest that I tamper with employee paperwork in order to suit your own personal agenda,” he said. “Aren’t you supposed to be catching a murderer right now?”

“Yes, sir,” Laura sighed. At least she’d tried.

Rondelle ended the call first, clearly not in the mood to hear any more of her complaints. Laura sighed and got into the car, resting her hands on the steering wheel for a moment as she contemplated their next move.

“We should at least check his alibi,” Agent Won said. He seemed to be subtly fuming under the surface. He was still hung up on it, apparently.

“We can ask Detective Waters to do that,” Laura said. “It’s not a priority, and we need to delegate. I’ve got a better idea.”

“What?” Agent Won asked, in a tone that implied he didn’t really think there was any other possibility that could be better than the lead he’d come up with personally.

“The candles,” Laura said. She trusted in her vision. She was seeing flames for a reason. “We need to go back and look at them. Find out who made them, where they might have been purchased from. This is a small town, and the killer is probably a local. If we’re lucky, it’s going to be some kind of niche handcrafted product that only exists here for the tourists, and they’re going to have credit card records leading us to someone who just bought a bunch of them, and we’ll be able to bring in a new suspect.”

“Oh,” Agent Won said, looking somewhat abashed. He turned to face the front windscreen. He clearly had no way to argue with this idea and hated it.

“Yes, oh,” Laura said. “Evidence and proof, Agent Won.” She started the car’s engine, well aware that it was extremely hypocritical for an agent who relied on psychic visions to say this to a rookie – but also well aware that there was no way he would ever know she got her leads from different sources.