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“How long have you been working here, Nia?”
“Oh, baby.” She waved a set of manicured nails in the year. “Don’t age me, now. I’ve been here for over twenty years.”
He lowered his voice. “And Deke? How long has he been working in this office?”
“This office?” Nia rolled her eyes to the ceiling. “I’d say about four years.”
Finn’s shoulders slumped as he widened the door. “Okay, thanks again.”
“That’sthisoffice.” She wagged a finger at him. “He’s been working at the university for longer than that, maybe twelve years total.”
“Really?” That stopped Finn in his tracks. So Deke was here when Tiffany was murdered. He never mentioned that murder to Finn.
“He climbed his way up the ladder. Proud of it, too. He’ll tell you himself he started as a lowly food service worker.”
“Food service, huh?”
Finn exited the office, chewing the side of his thumb. Hadn’t Tiffany worked in food service?
Chapter Ten
“You discovered the body?” Michael’s voice rumbled over the phone. “What the hell are you doing out there, Jessica?”
“The killer wanted me to discover Missy, Michael. He lured me out and led me on.”
“The question is, why would you allow yourself to be lured and led by anyone? You’re there to collect and analyze evidence for a murder…now two.”
“I completed the evidence report on Morgan Flemming, and I’m ready to send it to you this afternoon. I just came back from my meeting with Deputy Alvarado, and I was at the Missy Park crime scene before that.” She’d been enumerating her accomplishments on her fingertips—not that Michael could see her over the phone. “I’m busy, Michael, but this killer has some sort of interest in my sister’s case. He’s pulling me into it.”
“That’s dangerous. You don’t need to be pulled into anything. The next time you get a text like that, you call Detective Morse.” He cleared his throat, lecture over. “Any more evidence present at the Park crime scene than Morgan’s?”
“A bit more. Found red fibers again, this time under Missy’s fingernails, and I found more on the trail.”
“The fibers could be from the murder weapon wrapped around her throat.”
“That’s what I’m thinking.” She was also thinking about that rhyme on the sympathy card—something old, something dead, something stolen, something red She heard a beep on his end of the line.
“I have to take this call. You be careful. It sounds like someone’s put a target on your back for whatever reason.”
The reason was that she was Tiffany’s sister. “I’ll be careful.”
Red fibers. Had Jessica just tripped over another coincidence? Red had been Tiffany’s favorite color. She’d owned a lot of red clothing. What had her sister been wearing when she was killed?
Jessica checked the phone she’d gotten back from the sheriff’s department. They’d downloaded her data and would try to trace the phone that texted her, although they all knew it wouldn’t be that easy.
No messages from Finn today. Was it because he knew she didn’t have her phone or because of that kiss last night? She’d been waiting for a kiss from him for a long time. When she’d been leading him on ten years ago, she hadn’t wanted him to kiss her. By the time she wanted it, he’d discovered her deception and had backed off.
She’d like to think they had another chance. She scrolled through her contacts and tapped his name.
He answered on the first ring, as if he’d been waiting. “You got your phone back.”
“Yes, the deputies got what they wanted and gave it back to me. I’ve had an exhausting day on top of that terrifying night, but I have something else to get through before I can rest.”
“Can I help?”
Finn never failed her. “Do you still have the case file from my sister’s murder?”
“I don’t havethecase file, but I have a ton of copies and notes. What do you need?”