Stolen Daughters (Detective Amanda Steele)

“No worries there. If he killed my sister, you nail that son of a bitch!” Her anger toward her sister’s abuser—possible killer—burned hot but morphed quickly back to grief for her sister. Her face became shadows, and her eyes vacant. “He was freaking obsessed with her, even though he’d apparently hooked up with some other woman. Not that it stopped him from showing up at Shannon’s door from time to time. She told me I was making too much out of it, and that she had it under control.” Keira bit her bottom lip.

“Did she get a restraining order against him?” Trent asked.

Keira shook her head and picked at the soaked tissue in her hand. “As I said, she didn’t think he was anything she couldn’t handle. Besides, a restraining order wouldn’t have stopped the bastard. He did whatever he liked.”

“Well, if she had gotten one, it would have given police authorization to put him in jail if he broke the terms.” Amanda hated that her words made it sound like Shannon was to blame for the harassment.

“Sure, okay, but then he’d just get out and return to the streets angrier than before.”

Amanda had nothing to say to that. The system wasn’t perfect. She watched as Keira turned the tissues into shreds. “You and your sister were close,” she said kindly in offer of support.

“Very. We were all we had. Our parents weren’t any type of role models.”

As they’d learned from Bethany… “Sorry to hear that, and so very sorry for your loss. Is there someone that we could call to come be with you? Your husband?”

Keira dabbed her nose. “We separated last month. He was a cheating piece of shit.”

“Anyone else?” Amanda’s heart broke for this woman.

“Nah, I’ll make some calls myself.”

“If you’re sure.” Amanda inched forward on the couch. “Before we go, we’ll need that man’s information.”

“Not really a man in my opinion, but his name’s Sean Fitzgerald. He lives in town.” Keira proceeded to give them his address, which Trent recorded in his notebook.

They said their goodbyes, and once back in the car, Trent brought up the ex’s background in the computer.

“He’s forty-eight, and he’s a piece of work all right,” Trent said. “Guy’s got a record. Drug possession, and charges of domestic abuse and assault.”

“Let’s go meet him.”

Twenty-One

“What the f—” The door swung open, mid-knock and mid-sentence.

The man standing in the doorway, with his large gut and wide girth, would have intimidated a lot of people. Not Amanda. Not given what Keira had told them. Not with what his criminal record had revealed.

She held up her badge. “Detective Amanda Steele with the Prince William County PD. My partner, Detective Trent Stenson, and I would like to talk to you about Shannon Fox.”

“Oh, yeah.” He crossed his arms, which were like tree trunks and heavily tattooed.

She stepped to within a few inches of him. “She was found murdered this morning. You have something to do with that?” She was primed to drag his ass to the station. She just needed him to give her one teeny reason.

He started to laugh. “She’s, ah, what now?”

“Murdered,” Amanda hissed. “We understand that you—”

“Threatened to kill her? Yeah, I’d admit to that.”

She should be appalled by his blatant audacity, but guys like Sean lacked the ability to shock her. “Okay… Did you act on your threat?”

Another laugh. “Bitch wasn’t worth my time. Can’t say I’m surprised she drove someone to it, though.”

With every word from the man’s mouth, Amanda’s temper ratcheted.

He arrogantly carried on. “It was fun toying with her. Making her a little loco.” He spun a finger in a circle next to his ear and grinned.

She curled her hands into fists but coaxed herself into relaxing them. She didn’t need this loser viewing it as a threat from the police. “We’re going to need to know where you were between four and six this morning.”