Page 17 of Crime Lab Cold Case (Pacific Northwest Forensics #2)

Something was not right on the phone. Michael kept trying to catch Natalie’s eye, but she avoided his gaze and gripped the edge of the table as if afraid she’d fall over.

“I—I don’t know how that would happen. I didn’t do it… Yes, yes. I understand. I’ll let them know.”

She ended the call and sat still, the phone resting on her shoulder.

“What was that all about? What did the rental-car company say? They’re trying to blame you for the accident?”

Her eyes finally focused on his face as she peeled the phone from her ear. “They said the brake lines were cut—on purpose. Somebody tampered with the car.”

“What?” He dropped the plastic bag in the trash. “How does that even happen?”

Natalie jumped up suddenly. “I almost died in that crash. Do you think someone did it on purpose? Do you think someone’s trying to harm me? First, the stolen files and now, the brakes.”

“Wait a minute. Stolen files to hijacked brakes is a big leap. One is mischief. The other could’ve been deadly.

” He sat on the desk and folded his arms. She couldn’t think that someone in this lab wanted her gone so badly they’d tampered with the brakes of her rental.

“The rental-car company has had the car, a heavily damaged car, back barely one day, and they’re making these claims?

Sounds like they’re prepping for a lawsuit coming their way.

You had the car at Nicole’s. Do you really think someone crept out to your car while you and Nicole were eating and cut the lines? ”

“I don’t know.” She sucked in her bottom lip. “It could’ve been done before, right? Someone could’ve nicked the lines a little earlier in the day, at my hotel, or…here.”

He downed the rest of his Diet Coke and crushed the can. “C’mon. What would be the reason behind it? Someone doesn’t wanna look bad at work, so they mark you for death.”

Hunching forward, she planted her hands on the table. “They had no way of knowing if or when those brakes would go out, so, no. I don’t believe I’ve been marked for death , as you so elegantly put it. But what if someone just wanted to scare me off. Send me back to DC with my tail between my legs.”

“Anyone who’s talked to you for five minutes know that’s not going to work.

Look, no attorney is going to take the rental-car company’s word for the failure of the brakes after they had one of their own mechanics take a cursory look…

and you shouldn’t, either.” He brushed some crumbs from the table into his hand and tipped them in to the trash. “Is it going to scare you off?”

She tossed her hair back over her shoulder. “Of course not, but I’m going to be looking at people through a different set of eyes.”

“That’s a good policy, anyway.” He stopped at the door and twisted his head over his shoulder. “I can check under your hood, if you like.”

She raised her eyebrows. “That sounds like an improper proposal.”

“I wish.” He snorted as he left the office, closing the door behind him.

Michael chewed on the inside of his cheek all the way back to his office. He’d brushed off Natalie’s concerns because he didn’t want to worry her, but if someone in his lab was trying to run off the FBI agent, they had a real problem.

Lou Gray’s name came to mind immediately. He didn’t want to remind Natalie that Lou oversaw all evidence related to vehicles—evidence collection, car-crash investigations, tire tracks…and brake lines. If anyone knew how to nick a brake line for the slow release of fluid, it would be Lou.

When Michael got back to his desk, he made a call to Lou at the garage. Lou’s assistant told him Lou was in the middle of overseeing the search of a drug dealer’s car, knee-deep in panels, flooring and cushions.

The guy was a total professional. He had curmudgeon written all over him, but Michael had a hard time imagining Lou sneaking around after Natalie and tampering with her rental car. Lou would know better than anyone that that kind of tampering could be spotted in a second.

Rubbing his chin, Michael logged in to his computer and looked up Alma Nguyen’s case.

Alma’s body was found about five months after Sierra’s.

Didn’t share much in common with Sierra, except age, gender and approximate location of the body.

Sierra had been in a car on her way home from work.

Alma had been with friends in the woods, much like Katie.

Sierra had been stabbed. Alma had been shot. Just on method alone, the police were hesitant about linking the crimes, except neither crime scene yielded much evidence…or that evidence had gone missing.

As he scrolled through the file, he realized that he knew Alma’s mother. Penny Nguyen worked as an accountant in town. He’d never used her services, but she’d been recommended to him on a few occasions.

He read through her interview with a tight throat, his gaze shifting to the picture of Ivy hugging Peaches. He blinked and continued reading the screen. Mrs. Nguyen had mentioned Alma’s jewelry—one piece missing, replaced by a bracelet she’d never seen before.

Michael clicked through the file to find pictures of the evidence.

He double-clicked the personal-items file and skipped past Alma’s bloodstained clothing.

Besides the clothing, items found on the body included a hair clip, a cross on a chain and gold hoop earrings. The list didn’t contain a bracelet.

He flicked back to the crime-scene photo of Alma’s body crumpled on the trail. He zeroed in on her hands and wrists. One sleeve of her jacket, rolled up, revealed a bare arm. The other sleeve hit the top of her hand.

He zoomed in further on her right wrist and his heart stuttered. A glint of something metal peeked out from the sleeve. It did look like a piece of jewelry.

He returned to the evidence list and went through every item again—no bracelet listed. Why had Mrs. Nguyen mentioned a bracelet and one can be seen on the photo of the body, but the evidence list didn’t include it?

He logged out of his computer and grabbed his jacket. He had a sudden need for tax advice.

* * *

Natalie jerked up her head at the sound of the knock. She squinted through the blinds over the conference-room window and gestured for Michael to enter.

“Are you still looking for something to do this afternoon?” His eyes were bright with excitement, which caused an answering flare in her chest.

“What did you have in mind?”

He stepped inside the room and closed the door. Tucking his hand behind him, he leaned against the door. “You mentioned the Alma Nguyen case, so I looked it up in the database.”

“Okay.” She dropped her pen and swiveled her chair to face him.

“In the statements, Alma’s mother, Penny Nguyen, mentioned something about jewelry. Said her daughter’s bracelet was missing, and that she was wearing another, unfamiliar bracelet.”

Natalie’s pulse ticked up a few notches. “Jewelry again. What did you discover about the bracelets?”

Parking on the edge of the desk, he said, “There was no bracelet in the list of Alma’s personal items, but I looked at the pictures of her body from the crime-scene photos, and I can detect something metal around her wrist.”

“Wait.” She waved a hand in the air as if to clear her own confusion. “How did Alma’s mother know about a bracelet if one wasn’t found with the body and listed as evidence?”

“I’m not sure, but I’m about to go on a field trip and find out. Do you want to come with me to talk to Penny Nguyen? She still lives in the area.” He dragged a hand through his hair. “I thought it would better if you came with me, just in case…”

“Just in case she’s one of the people who believe you murdered your wife.” Natalie’s heart gave a painful thud.

“Exactly. If Zane Tolbert believes that, there must be others. I don’t want to terrify the woman.”

“I’ll come with you, but first…” Natalie clicked on some files, opening the case for Sierra Conchas. “Sierra was murdered before Alma, right?”

“About five months before. Different MO. Someone shot Alma.” Michael shook his head, as if trying to erase the crime-scene photo from his brain.

“Katie disappeared seven months before Sierra’s homicide, lost a pendant that wound up around Sierra’s neck.

Was Sierra missing any jewelry?” She snapped her fingers in the air several times.

“What if the MO of this guy is to take a piece of jewelry from one victim and leave it on his next? It could tie all these girls together. That’s what I’ve been trying to find—a link between Katie’s disappearance and other murders in the area. ”

She found the page she was looking for and leaned in to scan the personal items list. Michael hovered over her shoulder for a second pair of eyes.

He read off the list out loud. “A number of stud earrings along her ear down to the lobe, several bangles on her arm, some of which fell off in the struggle, and the witches’-knot pendant, which we know didn’t belong to her.

Did anyone report that Sierra was missing anything at the time of her death. ”

“I didn’t see that anywhere, but it’s not hard to imagine that her killer took one of those bangles without anyone noticing and slipped it over Alma’s hand.” She tapped her fingers on the desk. “But if that happened, where is it? Why isn’t it listed in the evidence of Alma’s personal effects?”

“That’s what I’m hoping Mrs. Nguyen can tell us.” Michael wagged his finger at the screen. “Get to the photos of Sierra’s personal effects and get a picture on your phone of those bracelets.”

While Natalie followed his instructions, Michael took two long strides to the coat-tree and plucked her jacket and purse from it. “Got it?”

“Give me a few seconds.” Once she’d snapped a picture of the bracelets, she logged off her laptop and pushed back from the desk. “Do you know where to find Mrs. Nguyen?”

“I do.”

“What’s your story going to be?”

“Me?” He tapped his chest. “I’m there for tax advice. You’re there to ask her about Alma.”