Page 76 of Burning Justice

Not wanting to get into it, he’d grunted in response, then left before her father could launch into an all-out grilling. Gemma’s parents might have been trying to set them up, but that didn’t mean her dad would take kindly to knowing Brett already had sex with his only daughter.

About to close out the file, he scrolled to the bottom of the last page but stopped. Beneath the RELATIVES portion of the report was the name David Hawkin and several paragraphs regarding Hawkin’s wife, Kelly. The section about David Hawkin, Michael’s brother, contained only one paragraph.

He’d read all this multiple times since the Torrance Lane fire. Now that he and Gemma were investigating other fires Michael Hawkin was suspected of setting but had alibies for, the scant background on brother David tweaked Brett’s radar. “Can I tap into your wifi?”

“Sure.” Gemma nodded, then waited while he clicked on available wifi networks. “I’m sure you can figure out which one is mine.”

Several wifis popped up, the strongest signal coming from the network Jaws. He clicked on it.

“It’s Ilovegoldfish272!”

Brett smiled as he typed in her password. When he’d successfully logged on, he took another bite of his bagel, then typed his own ID and password into CCIC—the Colorado Crime Information Center database—and ran a DMV search on David Hawkin.

David’s license had expired about three years ago, as had all the registrations for any vehicles he’d owned in Colorado, none of which were a white SUV. Looked like David was no longer a state resident. But the man was six-three, the same general height as Gemma’s attacker.

Brett ran another search in Accurint for prior and current residences, along with employer information. Several residences in Colorado popped up, including his brother Michael’s address in Longmont, but David’s most recent residence was in New Mexico.

Returning to the national database, he ran David for a driver’s license and registrations in New Mexico. This took a bit longer, and as he waited for the system to respond, he glanced at Gemma. Her eyes had narrowed, and her kissable lips pursed and twisted, and he couldn’t take his eyes off them.

Forcing himself to do just that, he returned his focus to his laptop to find the system had returned a New Mexico driver’s license issued to David Hawkin and a vehicle registration.

Brett leaned back in the chair. David’s current registration was for a white GMC Yukon. While he couldn’t be certain, he’d initially pegged the white SUV he and Gemma had been following in Leadville as a Yukon. The shooter’s vehicle at Piggly’s had definitely been a Yukon. Still not a smoking gun, but the circumstantial was stacking up.

“Got something?” Gemma looked at him, brows raised.

“Michael Hawkin’s brother, David, lives in New Mexico and owns a white Yukon. Could be coincidence.”

“Another coincidence. Hmm.” Now her lips pursed again, but this time in sarcasm.

It was at that exact moment Brett decided with finality that Gemma’s lips were the sexiest he’d ever seen.

When she returned her gaze to her own laptop, he shook his head to clear it of a different image. This one of her sexy lips wrapped around his—

Yeah. Don’t go there.

He turned his laptop so that Gemma could view the screen, then he enlarged the driver’s license image. “Could this guy be who attacked you?”

After a long moment, she shook her head. “No. Maybe. It could be him, but I couldn’t pick him out of a lineup and say it was definitely him.”

That didn’t mean he wasn’t Gemma’s attacker. Not only had the guy been wearing sunglasses and a ball cap, but DMVs everywhere were notorious for issuing licenses with horrendous photos that looked nothing like the actual person.

Further search revealed that, prior to relocating to New Mexico, David had been employed by Hawkin Construction. No shock there. David must have opened his own business, because his employer for the last three years had been DH Construction.

Before closing out the database, Brett scrolled down to the OTHER LICENSES section, searching for any gun licenses. That section was blank.

He must have made another sound because Gemma asked, “Found something else?”

“No.” He’d been hoping, though. “Colorado is an open-carry state. You don’t have to register guns or get a license to carry openly, but David Hawkin lives in New Mexico. New Mexico is also an open-carry state, but one that requires a license. I was checking to see if David Hawkin owns a 9mm.”

Brett queued up a criminal history on David Hawkin. While he waited for the system to kick back a response, he noticed Gemma staring at her laptop screen.

She rubbed her hands together. “Now this is interesting.” She’d opened up a new window and was in the process of doing an internet search on Charles Pilcher.

The website filling the screen was for Mountain Legal Associates, a law firm in Denver. Gemma clicked on the Meet Our Lawyers tab and from the dropdown clicked Pilcher’s name.

“Who is he?” Brett asked. Colorado didn’t require a real estate attorney to close on a house, but that didn’t mean a buyer or seller couldn’t use one.

Gemma gave him a saucy grin that made it increasingly difficult not to kiss it off her pretty face. “He’s a personal injury attorney.” She hit a button on her keyboard. A printer on the end of the table fired up and began spitting out pages.