“We’re due for a bit of luck.”
Amanda stepped into the doorway with a sparkle in her eye. “My friend told me Layla went for a run in that donut hole of time between her classes.”
Spenser’s heart swelled and the manic energy already coursing through her was kicked up another notch or two. She tried to swallow it down.
“Amanda, go see Judge Fischer—get him to sign off on a warrant,” Spenser said.
“Do we have enough for a solid warrant?”
Spenser shrugged. “We don’t have a choice. And we can’t worry about what a defense lawyer will do. All we can do is our job and trust the DA’s office to do theirs. Now, go.”
Amanda turned and sprinted out of the office to do as Spenser asked. She was doing her best to keep her emotions in check while managing her expectations.
But as she stared at the board again, taking a few minutes to get herself calm and composed, Spenser silently vowed that as long as she drew breath, she was going to fight to keep that from happening. She silently vowed that Seth Hamill would have justice.
And that Layla Li would be made to pay.
Spenser waited in the parking lot outside of All Day Fitness with Deputies Lane Summers and Tommy Berman, the people coming and going giving them strange looks. Apparently seeing cops massing outside their gym was making people uneasy. As they waited for Amanda to arrive with the warrant, Spenser used the time to brief Summers and Berman on what they were doing there, what they hoped to find, and what the battle plan would be.
“Do you really think we’re going to find that needle here?” Summers asked.
“I really hope so.”
“And if we don’t?” Berman asked.
“If we don’t… then we find another way to make the case.”
She had no idea what that other way might be. And if she couldn’t make the case, maybe Johansen was right, and she didn’t deserve to be the sheriff of Sweetwater Falls. But she would be damned if she wasn’t going to try. If she was going to go down for letting Layla Li walk free, she was going down swinging. She would make it her mission as long as she had that Stetson on her head and the star on her chest.
“Here she comes,” Summers said.
Spenser turned to see Amanda pulling into the parking lot. She stopped next to them and climbed out of her cruiser, waving the warrant in one hand, a wide smile on her face.
“Got it,” she said.
“Excellent.”
“You think it’ll hold up in court?”
Spenser shrugged. “Nothing we can do about it. We made our case to the judge, he signed off on it, so we’re good to go. What happens after this is out of our hands.”
“Fair enough.”
“Okay, you two clear on what your duties are?” Spenser asked.
Summers and Berman nodded. “Maintaining the perimeter around the locker room and crowd control.”
“That’s right,” she said. “My understanding is that Layla is a very popular trainer here and some folks might not be too happy with us poking around in her things. So, be careful. I don’t expect anything to pop off but keep your heads on a swivel just in case.”
“Copy that, Sheriff,” they replied in unison.
“Amanda, you’re with me,” she said.
“Copy that.”
Moving as one, they turned and headed for the front doors. As they stepped inside, they were greeted by rock music, loud voices, and the sound of weights clanking together. The main part of the gym was one large room, pony walls separating one exercise area from another. All Day Fitness had all the usual accouterments—treadmills, bikes, and a wide variety of cardio, weightlifting machines, and free weight stations. Through a set of glass doors on the far side of the room, they had a pool, basketball court, steam room, as well as a massage therapy unit.
Music videos played on TV screens that were hung high on the walls scattered around the gym and two of the four walls were covered in mirrors, allowing people to watch their form as they worked out. The ceiling overhead was lined with exposed beams and pipes, all of them painted black, contrasting with the bright yellow paint that covered the brick walls that were left uncovered by mirrors or signage. It was pared down and didn’t have a lot of the bells and whistles a lot of modern gyms had, allowing people to focus on getting their work in. If she were a gym kind of girl, Spenser would probably have a membership.
Having gotten her bearings, Spenser looked around then walked over to the reception desk. The twenty-something brown-haired guy working the desk looked up at them with a startled expression on his face.
“C—can I help you?”
“I need to see your manager,” she said.
“Uh… yeah… sure,” he replied.
Spenser watched as he disappeared through a door behind the desk. A couple of minutes later, a tall, broad man emerged from the back. His bald head gleamed beneath the overhead lights and his dark eyes were narrow and hard. He had a strong jawline and seemed to have muscles on top of muscles. He obviously spent a lot of time taking advantage of the gym’s employee discount. He wore a black polo shirt that hugged every plane of his taut body, Spenser was half-afraid the company logo on his left breast and the name tag just above it were about to shoot off and take her eye out.
“I’m Gil. I’m the general manager here,” he said, his voice unexpectedly soft and melodic. “How can I help you, Sheriff?”
Amanda stepped forward and set the warrant down on the desk in front of him then stepped back. He picked it up and scanned through the document with a curious look on his face. He finally lowered the paper and raised his gaze to Spenser.
“I’m sorry, I’m not a lawyer. What is this search warrant for?” he asked.
