Agent Ren Bryce Thriller Series Books 1-3: Blood Runs Cold, Time of Death, Blood Loss

‘OK,’ said Ren. ‘The last known sighting of Jean Transom was at the Glenwood RA on Friday, January 12th by her colleagues, Tiny Gressett and Todd Austerval. Our White Collar Squad is going through the financial records. What we got so far are recent transactions. So we know that that evening she went to the nine p.m. showing of a chick flick at Rifle Creek movie theater. We’re waiting for an ID on her there. The movie was over at eleven p.m. If she went straight home, earliest she would have made it was eleven thirty. I’ve just come back from speaking with her neighbor, Margaret Shaw. She saw her walk into her house at seven p.m. and didn’t see her later on that evening. Mrs Shaw herself had gone to bed by ten thirty.’

Ren looked through the notes that had been left for her by the Sheriff’s Office detectives and the Safe Streets guys. ‘On Saturday morning, January 13th, Jean paid for breakfast at Mort’s Diner in Rifle at nine a.m. She went to the outlet mall in Silverthorne. She bought a shirt in J Crew, a necklace in Zales and a grill pan in Le Creuset. They were still in bags in her house. She then went to the Open Book in Frisco. The owner called here after she saw the news. She remembered Jean, says she was polite, they talked briefly about the weather, that was it.’

You can go through a day, a week, a month, a year without ever thinking that someone will end up retracing your steps because you’ve never come home.

‘Colin Grabien over there,’ said Ren, ‘is our phone expert in Safe Streets. He’s waiting for Verizon to get back to him. So we should have cellphone and office phone records by tomorrow morning. I visited Jean’s office and her home. There was a phone charger in each location, but they were not for the same phone – there was a Motorola charger in her office, which Tiny Gressett confirmed was her regular work phone. And in her home, she had a Virgin charger.’ Ren flicked through her notes. ‘I haven’t seen any references yet to the corresponding phone.

‘I’ve taken away her work files from the Glenwood office – she had forty open cases. I’m going to split them between you all, so we can check for possible links to her murder.

‘Lists of people with priors in town are currently being checked out by the detectives here at the Sheriff’s Office.

‘This evening and tonight, I need people pounding pavements.’ She paused. ‘Thank you for your time.’

Everyone left and moved back to their offices. Ren gathered up her notes and was walking toward Bob’s office when she heard Tiny Gressett’s voice around the corner. Something made Ren stop: her name and his tone.

‘… Bu Babe who probably has Safe Streets wrapped around her little finger.’

Bureau Babe. Nice. There was a brief silence. Ren wondered had they heard her.

‘Uh. Do you think?’ said Todd. ‘She doesn’t seem the type …’

‘Really?’ said Gressett. ‘You don’t think she goes in there and –’

He made a noise – Ren wasn’t sure what it was supposed to represent.

‘I’ve never seen her do that,’ said Todd. His tone was ‘wrap it up’.

‘Well, look at you …’ said Gressett.

‘She’s not my type,’ said Todd. ‘Have you ever seen me with a brunette? What about you, Gressett? You pulling her pigtails, is that what this is about?’

Gressett snorted. ‘Sure. Yeah. Sure.’

Ren held her cellphone to her ear and spoke – loud and cheery. ‘Not a problem, I’ll do that. You bet.’ She had turned the corner by the time she pretended to hang up. ‘Hey, guys. What’s up?’

‘Not a thing,’ said Gressett.

Chapter 17 (#u8bb60e53-87b4-54e1-a600-62c12d8c99b9)

Ren walked into Bob’s office with a face to match her feelings about Tiny Gressett.

‘Is everything OK?’

‘Yes, sir,’ said Ren. ‘Are you ready?’

Bob nodded and got up, grabbing his jacket from the back of his chair.

Mike Delaney walked in. ‘Hey, a call just came in from Reign on Main. Hal Rautts says Jean had supper in there on the Monday night – January 15th.’

‘Hal Rautts is the owner,’ said Bob to Ren.

‘OK, you want to swing by there, check it out?’ said Ren.

‘Yeah,’ said Bob.

‘See you later,’ said Mike.

‘Where are you going to go?’ said Ren.

‘Me and your friend Robbie Truax are going to hit the bars on Main Street, starting out at the north end – Big Mountain Brewery.’

* * *

On quiet sidewalks covered with snow, Breckenridge still had warmth. It was a mining town that had ridden the boom and bust rollercoaster and come out on top; a resort town that managed to keep its charm.

Ren looked out the window of the Explorer at the thousands of tiny white fairy lights that lit up the trees along Main Street.

‘Here’s how I see it,’ she said. ‘Aspen is the beautiful, aloof sister. Breck is the cute one who everyone really wants to be with. And Vail is the one who’s had all the plastic surgery to try to be like the other two.’

‘Interesting,’ said Bob.

‘Even their names sound that way,’ said Ren.

‘You’ve put a lot of thought into this.’

‘I have.’

‘Doesn’t mean people are going to agree with you,’ said Bob.

‘It’s not about that. It’s about me working out how I feel about things through the use of analogies.’

Bob smiled. ‘I like it here.’

‘I love it.’

They drove past the Prospector, a little diner on Main Street.

‘A parking space is the gold dust around here,’ said Bob. He drove up Main Street for the second time and took a left on to Jefferson Avenue. ‘Round and round we go …’

‘It’s cool,’ said Ren. ‘I’ve –’

‘Do not say you’ve just said one of those parking-space prayers,’ said Bob, turning to her.

‘They work.’ She pointed to a space on the opposite side of the street.

‘Sure,’ said Bob, looking over. ‘Let’s park in front of a doctor’s entrance.’

‘Oh …’