Page 5

Holly spun. Her pulse surged when she recognized the tall, white-haired detective in a light gray suit striding toward her. His presence could only mean one thing.
“Hi, Andy.”
Detective Andy Harris worked for King County Major Crimes, not Seattle Homicide, investigating serious offenses, including homicides that occurred outside Seattle’s city limits. Like Jared and the sergeant Holly saw coming out of the woods, Andy was also on the Green River Killer task force.
“How you doing?” he asked when he got closer.
She’d met Andy five years ago, before becoming a reporter. He’d introduced himself as the detective assigned to Meg’s murder while Holly sat, red eyed and clutching a tissue in the Major Crimes Unit’s small waiting area—a moment she’d never forget.
“I’m good.” Holly flicked on her tape recorder and held it between their chests. “Do you know who the victim is? I heard Stacey mention Jennifer Duran.”
Andy frowned. He glanced in Stacey’s direction. “They shouldn’t be speculating anything. We haven’t given them any inclination it could be Duran, because it’s not.” He exhaled. “I’m sure we’ll be hearing from Duran’s family now. I’ll have a talk with her supervisor.” He ran a hand through his white hair.
Holly looked behind her, unable to see anything in the woods besides swaying flashlight beams, which had moved farther away from the trailhead.
“Off the record?” Andy said.
She turned to face him, and he gestured to her tape recorder. She flicked it off.
Andy shot a look at the TV news reporter and lowered his voice. “It’s hard to tell from the level of decomposition, but the clothes we found near the body match the description of a prostitute who was last seen getting into a car on Aurora Avenue last December. But until we know for sure, we can’t release anything related to her identity to the public.”
Holly nodded. “Got it. And you’re thinking the victim could’ve been killed by the Green River Killer? I assume that’s why you’rehere.” She didn’t really need to ask—Andy’s presence meant that they did. But she hoped he might tell her more.
He put his hands on his hips. “Well, it’s too soon to say anything definitively. But most likely, yes.”
“Cause of death?”
“Again, we won’t know definitively until the autopsy. Despite the cold temperatures, the body has significant decomposition. But, off the record…”
“Of course.”
“Her lack of any apparent major injuries makes it very possible she was strangled.”
She studied Andy’s eyes from the glow of a patrol car’s headlights behind him. Without flicking on the tape recorder, she asked, “Do you know anything else?”
Andy folded his arms, lifting his gaze to the trail behind her. “Off the record, there is one thing that doesn’t quite fit with the Green River Killer’s previous murders.”
Holly’s heart skipped a beat. “What’s that?”
“There are a few barefooted footprints near where her body was found, and her clothing was strewn around the woods nearby. It appears the victim was killed in these woods, not moved here after she died.”
Holly’s breath stuck in her lungs.Just like Meg.Meg was found partially hidden under an overgrown hedge, with evidence of a struggle around her.
“She also looks to have more defensive wounds than many of the suspected Green River Killer victims,” he added. “But most likely she was just the first to put up a good fight. And her killing didn’t quite go to plan.”
“You said someone saw the victim getting into a car on Aurora Avenue. Do you know what kind of car it was?”
Andy pressed his lips together as if debating whether to answer. “It was a blue car, small, four-door, driven by a brown-haired, middle-aged man—with a child, a boy, in the backseat. However, the witness was a prostitute, and she was high at the time.”
Holly’s eyes widened, first from the mention of the blue car, then imagining a child witnessing their father brutally murder a prostitute from the backseat. Thinking of her nephew, out there somewhere being raised by strangers, caused a shiver to creep down the back of her neck.
“Do you have any idea who the driver might’ve been?”
Andy shook his head. “We did have a suspect, Gary Ridgway, who has brown hair and also has a young son, but he passed a polygraph last year. He also drives a maroon pickup, not a blue car. So, to answer your question, no. Nothing credible.”
Holly turned to look beyond the crime scene tape and imagined Meg’s killer chasing this woman through these woods after she escaped from his car.
“Hey. I know it’s probably not my place,” Andy said, “but I think you should tread lightly with Jared.”