Page 78 of Night Moves
She waved a hand as she swallowed. “I’ll do whatever I can within reason to help you.” A cute grin crossed her face. “Besides, I’ll always have bragging rights that I helped bring The Clipper to justice.”
“You are the best sister ever.” He scooped her into a hug.
“Don’t I know it.”
The doors opened, and she waddled down the hall to her lab, tossing raisins in her mouth on the way. The moment she stepped inside, she tossed the raisin box and clapped her hands. “Okay, everyone. Join me at my table. We have less than an hour to finish processing this blouse, and it’s at least four hours of work. So let’s get moving.”
“How is that even possible?” Drake trailed behind her and gave Natalie a smile as he passed her.
Sierra stepped behind her table. “We pull out our lab-on-a-chip and give it the best test it’s had yet.”
“Lab-on-a-chip?” Natalie asked.
Sierra slipped on gloves with practiced ease. “A microfluidic device we’re testing for the manufacturers.”
“Oh, right, that explains it.” Drake rolled his eyes.
Sierra pulled a box out from under the table. “I don’t have time for a detailed explanation, but think pregnancy test. We load a sample into the device and get a yes or no.Nomeans move on. Yes,means human DNA is present and will be great for profiling.”
“And that means, you can finish the blouse before the agent gets too cranky?” Drake asked.
Sierra looked up and smiled. “That’s my plan, and we should soon know if there’s DNA other than Tracey Gentry’s on her blouse. If so, I’ll get it down to Emory to process.” Sierra looked at Natalie. “She’s our DNA expert.”
“How long before she’ll have results?” Drake asked.
“She could better tell you, but a minimum of twenty-four hours.”
“I was hoping you’d say sooner than that,” Drake said. “But I know you’re doing this as fast as possible.”
Drake moved back to Natalie’s location to watch Sierra work for a minute.
“This is exciting and boring at the same time,” she whispered.
He laughed, the sound bouncing off the high ceiling.
“We’re working here,” Sierra called out without looking up. “And on a tight deadline. So behave or take off.”
“Guess we’ve been told,” Drake whispered, grinning at Natalie.
“Guess so.”
They fell silent, and he studied Natalie as she intently watched his sister and her team pour over the fabric.
“Got something here.” She leaned closer. “Another speck of blood. Could be Tracey’s or belong to someone else. Won’t know until Emory processes it.”
Drake’s phone rang with a call from Erik. Drake answered.
“I’ve been monitoring Gentry’s phone,” Erik said.
“How did you do that?”
“Don’t ask. Anyway, the body shop that’s fixing his car, left a message on his voicemail. His car is finished and ready for pick up.”
Drake had no idea how his little brother pulled this off, but he owed him big time. “Give me the name and address of the body shop, and we’ll head over there right now.”
Natalie walked next to Drake in the parking lot that surrounded the small body shop. The scent of paint clung to the air. Despite it being dinner time, the sun was still high in the sky and wouldn’t set until after eight, but the temps had dropped and a cool wind blew over the lot.
Drake took her elbow and drew her close to lead her toward the small building with bright blue paint and striped awning. She had to smile at his protectiveness even though Kirk was smart enough to know that once the police located his car, they would stake the place out and that would be the last place he would want to be.
