The Killing House by Chris Mooney Read Free Book Online

shot me,' he said, and placed the sketch in front of Karim. 'Do you recognize her?'
    'No. I would have remembered seeing a face like that. Is that really her smile?'
    Fletcher nodded as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on the counter. 'She grinned at me just before she started shooting,' he said, and picked up his fork. 'I take it you've spoken with the Colorado police.'
    'Rather, they spoke to me . They pulled Theresa's phone records, saw my name and started dialling. I told them the truth - leaving your name out of it, of course.'
    Karim flicked cigarette ash on to his plate. 'I also spoke with my contact at the Applewood policestation - the homicide detective who referred Theresa Herrera to me. No one saw your face, but two people reported seeing what they believed was a black car with tinted windows leaving the house. No licence plate, thank God.'
    'They wouldn't have found anything.' The address listed for the licence belonged to an apartment complex in Queens, New York.
    Fletcher forked the last bite of his omelette. 'What about our shooter?'
    'The woman in the fur coat? What about her?'
    'Did anyone see her?'
    'My contact didn't mention anything, and he's involved in the investigation. Then again, he's not looking for her.' Karim inhaled deeply from his cigarette.
    'What about the crime scene?' Fletcher asked.
    Karim peered at him through the smoke. 'You haven't heard?'
    'Heard what?'
    'There is no crime scene, Malcolm. The house is gone.'

12
    'I assumed you'd heard it on the news or read about it on the Internet,' Karim said.
    Fletcher shook his head. He had taken few breaks on his journey from Colorado to Chicago, and these had been spent processing the information he'd collected, forming possible theories about the Herrera family, the female shooter and what had been occurring inside the house before he showed up.
    'What happened?'
    'An explosion took down most of Theresa Herrera's house,' Karim said. 'It happened before the police arrived. The shock wave shattered the windows of nearby homes, and the falling debris caused significant property damage. No casualties, thank God, just minor injuries from the exploding glass and the usual trauma one experiences in such things.' Karim flicked his ash on the plate. 'The Applewood police station is small, and since they're ill-equipped to deal with something like this, they called on their brothers in blue in Denver for assistance. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, incidentally, has a field office in Denver, so they too were summoned.
    'The preliminary theory is that the bomb was placedon the first floor. The blast pattern suggests dynamite. You didn't hear it go off?'
    'No,' Fletcher said. 'And I doubt the shooter returned to the house to plant the bomb, so it was detonated either by a timer or remotely by a beeper or a cell phone.'
    'Why plant a bomb?'
    'To destroy evidence. Is there any evidence?'
    Karim let loose a dark chuckle. 'The storm dumped almost two feet of snow by the time it tapered off late yesterday afternoon. It's going to be quite some time before the police find anything of value - it will be weeks before any information trickles my way.'
    'From your source.'
    ' Sources . Now that the ATF is in play, the agent I know there will discreetly send me copies of the reports once they've been filed. The Colorado homicide detective has agreed to keep me in the loop. He knows that, when the time is right, I'll give him the information he needs to make an arrest. These sort of high-profile cases come around once in a lifetime. They can make or break a career.'
    'So you intend on pursuing this.'
    'Why wouldn't I? I gave my word to Theresa Herrera that I'd look into her son's abduction.'
    'And now her murder.'
    'And now her murder,' Karim repeated softly. 'There's also a personal reason.'
    'Which is?'
    'Like you, I don't enjoy loose ends - or mysteries.I want to find this woman.' Karim tapped a finger against the sketch. 'I want to know