Ties That Bind

Chapter 14

DAYS WENT BY, and there was nothing new to go on. Layton still hadn't shown up, and Madison was starting to think they'd never find him. She tried to get his picture put in the papers, but Sergeant Winston wasn't agreeable. He knew the evidence now. There was proof of more than one man in Laura's bedroom. He didn't want to be responsible for destroying a potentially innocent man's life.

Her mind churned out more possibilities. What if they were wasting time hunting down Layton? What if he was innocent? What if the man they needed to find was the one in a photograph?

"What do you think you're doing?"

The voice nearly gave her a heart attack. As it was, she was creeping in relative darkness at ten on a Friday night. "Holy crap, Cyn. You trying to kill me?" The startle transformed to aggravation. Here she thought she'd be alone. Terry had long since called it a day. Staff was running at the bare minimum. She even made a point of not turning all the lights on in the lab.

Cynthia walked over to the table where Madison was hunched over. She tapped the photograph. "Should have known."

"I had to see it again. The original." The file was open on the table in front of her.

"Uh-huh." Cynthia shook her head. "There's more to this. I wasn't born yesterday."

"Are you sure you want to discuss your age?"

"Shut up, smart ass." Cynthia crossed her arms in front. "Spill it."

"Have I told you lately to kiss my..." Her eyes met Cynthia's and, surprisingly, she didn't have the resolve to continue. She would understand. Besides her partner, Cynthia knew her better than most. "I can't let it rest."

"But, I thought you had your guy. Isn't it Layton?"

"Come on, Cyn. There's evidence of two DNA profiles. One could be Layton, but it doesn't answer who the second one belongs to. I think it could be the guy in the photo. Did you get the towel from the bar analyzed?"

She felt her friend tense up.

"What is it?"

"Okay, I was going to tell you, I promise."

"What?"

"The genetic analyzer is down."

"What? You've got to be kidding."

"Trust me, I wish I was."

"When should I have results?"

She held up her hand. "Before you gain momentum on this tangent of yours, I sent the towel over to Uniqus. We've used them before when we gotten overloaded. Their work is admired in the scientific field."

"Why can't anything come together with this case?" Madison asked the question not expecting any satisfactory response from her colleague. She repeated her earlier question. "When?"

"Sent it over today. Asked that it be rushed."

"You've had the towel since Monday."

"You're not the only person needing lab work."

Oh no, it better not be him. It was in Cynthia's tone of voice. Call it woman's intuition. "Sovereign?"

"Not just him."

"You're kidding m—"

"Sorry, but I'm not. The Sarge said to prioritize."

"Prioritize mine."

"Can't do that. His case involves a home invasion, assault. It just happened Wednesday. There's a lot of evidence to wade through. The entire team's busy with—"