Too Far Gone

42

Alexa followed Casey West’s Range Rover, glancing down to find Manseur’s number in her phone’s directory and press the button to dial him. He answered immediately.

“Yeah, Alexa.”

“Michael, the West letter is a fraud, so the hunt for Gary West is back on. I think LePointe or Decell authored it.”

“You sure?”

“Casey said Gary writes everything out by hand and it isn’t in his voice at all and he wouldn’t send it to LePointe because he hates him. I have the letter with me. We won’t find West’s prints on it, but it gave me an opportunity to get LePointe’s print for reference, and I’m on the way to get some of Gary’s things.”

“Why would the doctor try something so transparent?”

“Desperation,” Alexa said. “We’re ripping his world apart and he can’t do anything about it.”

“Where are you now?”

“I’m following Casey to her house for Gary’s fingerprints. I’ll see you at HQ in half an hour or so. You’ll be there?”

“Where else would I be? The mayor’s got the press assembling and he’s going to get the cops to go door to door to enforce the order. They’re going to pull every available cop off whatever else they’re working on.”

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think LePointe had something to do with the hurricane’s timing.”

“I wouldn’t bet any of my money he didn’t,” Manseur said.