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She spun toward him. “Just hear me out.” She pointed at one of the two rows of names on the far side of the wall. “What if these victims—mostly prostitutes, some runaways, bodies moved postmortem and all but one dumped outside of Seattle city limits, and killings that started in ’82—are Green River Killer victims.” She pivoted and pointed to her new list with only four names. “Andthesevictims—two prostitutes and two not,notmoved postmortem, and found mostlywithinSeattle city limits, killings starting in 1980 and last seen either at bus stopsor getting inside a blue car, or both—were killed by someone else.”
Jared threw his head back in annoyance. “Holly, you’re not making any sense. Jennifer Duran is still a missing person. And the first Green River Killer victims were killed in the summer of ’82.”
“That’s what I’m saying.” She tapped the wall. “I think thesewomen weren’t killed by the Green River Killer. They were killed by a different serial killer, someone whose murders were wrongly thought to be done by the Green River Killer.” Thinking of Meg, she added, “Or at least most of them.”
Jared rolled his eyes and opened his mouth to speak, but Holly put up a hand.
“Sally Hickman and Brooke Holtman were both murdered one day after major news articles ran about the Green River Killer. I think these two killers might be feeding off each other. And the unidentified killer murdered those two knowing they would get attributed to the Green River Killer, not him. He’s the smarter of the two, I’d bet.” She stared at the lists, her mind spinning. “Possibly even a cop. Someone with inside information.”
Jared scowled. “And you think you’re smarter than me?”
Holly whipped around. In the short time she’d been talking, his face had contorted in anger.
“What? No—”
“You really think that after I get kicked off the task force, I want to hear about your Nancy Drew theories?” His face was red, and a vein bulged from his forehead.
She gaped at him. “That’s not why I—”
He stepped toward her, spilling vodka onto the carpet. “Just because your sister was murdered doesn’t make you a detective.”
She recoiled from his words while he pointed at the wall.
“The Green River Killer is the only serial killer in this town. And your sister wasn’t one of his victims. She was a nobodystripper killed in a bad part of town because of the lifestyle she was living.” He swiped a hand through the air. “Her case will probably never be solved.”
Her throat swelled, and she blinked back tears.He’s had a bad day,she reminded herself.He’s just not understanding what I’m saying.“I’m trying to help. My theory would explain why your suspect today had an alibi for most of the Green River Killer murders, but not Sally’s or Brooke Holtman’s. It makes perfect sense,” she continued, ignoring the sour look on Jared’s face. “The killer is a genius, really.” She gestured to her first column of victims. “He kills and makes it look like a Green River Killer murder, knowing he’d have an alibi for a lot of the Green River Killer murders. That you’d rule him ou—”
“Stop!” Jared shouted.
Holly stepped back, watching his chest heave as he drew in a deep breath. For the first time, he reminded her of her father. She ran a thumb over the engagement ring on her left hand, the metal suddenly feeling as though it were searing her flesh.
Jared knocked back the rest of his drink, then met her gaze, his expression softening. “Look, the guy we brought in today agreed to come back and take a polygraph. Andy still has to verify his alibi. Until then, he’s still our main Green River Killer suspect. He’s not going to pass the lie detector test.”
“He already did.”
Jared’s eyes darkened. “How would you know that?”
“Andy called me.”
He unsteadily closed the space between them, stopping when his face was an inch from hers. “Why would Andy call you?”
“He knows I’m trying to figure out who killed my sister.”
“Yeah, I bet that’s why he called.” He narrowed his eyes, making her feel like an interrogation suspect.
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“Are you cheating on me?”
“Of course not.” Andy was not only twice her age, but also married with two kids. She crossed her arms. She wasn’t going to justify Jared’s accusation by explaining herself. She stepped back. She needed Jared to go home. There was no reasoning with him tonight.
Jared started to pace, almost as if he’d forgotten she was in the room. “Ishould’ve been the one supervising that polygraph. Not Andy.”
“That’s what got me thinking about this,” Holly said. “Maybe the questions they asked were about the Green River Killings and not specifically about Meg or Sally—”
Jared’s hand struck the side of her face before she could stop it. Holly raised a palm to her stinging cheek.
“Just shut up,”Jared seethed, baring his teeth.