Provoked by Angela Ford

good. Thanks.” Riley’s response jolted Kennedy.
    The expression of excitement left, replaced with shock and horror. Kennedy leaned in on Riley’s desk so no one heard him. “What’s this have to do with the missing person’s case? Is this going to get me in trouble?”
    “Andrew O’Donnell was shot a block away on the same night Beth went missing. I believe there might be a connection. ” Riley didn’t want to admit it was just his gut instinct. It appeared Kennedy liked to play by the rules.
    Kennedy cleared his throat and stood. “I’ll run a search on him.”
    “And Kennedy,” Riley added. “Keep this between us, for now. You know, just in case there’s no connection.”
    Kennedy paused for a moment as if he contemplated doing something out of the ordinary. He nodded. “Sure, Briggs.”
     
    Riley’s focus went back to the criminal activity report on his screen. He only found domestic disputes and small-time drug possession arrests from the brownstone. His attention heightened when he searched death records at the address. Two deaths were reported in the past six months at Adam’s brownstone. The medical examiner’s report stated heart failure and respiratory failure, due to possible overdose. The report stated heroin had been found in the man’s blood, and there were syringes and heroin found in the apartment next to his body.               Riley checked the next flagged death at the address. The medical examiner’s report stated a heart attack; but Riley’s mind drifted back to the last death report. Didn’t it mention something about heart failure, too? He quickly brought up the previous death report and wondered if the two deaths could be connected. Then the name on the report hit him. Peter O’Donnell. Riley scratched his head. Andrew O’Donnell. The man he shot that night. The man who’d killed his partner.
    I wonder if there’s any relation between the two men.
    Riley’s fingers moved across the keyboard. He smiled.
    “They are brothers.”
    Riley leaned back in his chair and thought about the two cases and what stood out besides heart failure and drugs. He went back to the domestic disputes reported at the brownstone. He found quite a few, which he assumed he would. Low-income, rundown brownstone…he expected the discoveries. Both brothers’ apartments had been visited many times with domestic dispute disturbances. There’d been no domestic-related arrests made. Riley figured the women were too scared to press charges. He’d seen it too often, and these women never got the help they so desperately needed. The charges don’t stick for long, unless they get them with something else. In the severe cases, the women never survived the abuse. He wondered, perhaps, if it was a blessing they didn’t. He never understood how a man could abuse a woman.  
    “Riley, you’re going to like this find.” Kennedy grinned.
    “Andrew O’Donnell’s address is listed the same as Beth’s.”
    Riley’s gut had been right. There were connections. He filled Kennedy in on his findings.               “I came across his brother’s name from the death report. It appears Crawford Properties has had two deaths in the past six months, three counting Andrew’s. Besides Andrew, both men died of heart failure. I know, natural causes or drug-related. But all three men had numerous domestic dispute calls to their apartments. All calls made by the one and creepy—Adam Crawford.”
    “Are you thinking Adam Crawford is involved? He is pretty creepy.”
    The excitement in Kennedy’s voice made Riley laugh again.
    “I’ll admit the man is a creep and very strong, but I don’t think he’d have the smarts to plan and cover-up two murders, but my gut tells me there’s more to it. Then there’s Beth’s disappearance the same night I shot Andrew O’Donnell, a block away.”
    Riley sank back in his chair and looked up at Kennedy.
    “What the hell did he do with Beth before