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The moment they arrived at the mansion, Sierra took charge of the scene, allowing Mina to stand back and observe. Maybe notice things she’d missed last night. Things that could move this investigation forward.

They checked in with the deputy on duty, and as they walked up the big, wide steps, Nolan described the details from the night before to Sierra and Blake.

Inside the large foyer, Sierra turned to Nolan. “So you don’t think Smythe cooked the food on site?”

Nolan shook his head. “First of all, the house didn’t smell like anything had been cooking. There were some pleasant food aromas, but only when he uncovered the serving dishes. Nothing as intense as if he’d cooked here. Second, I don’t think he could’ve cleaned up the entire kitchen and packed up his supplies in the time we were in the escape room.”

Sierra frowned. “So he likely didn’t leave prints in the kitchen, but you can at least check with local caterers to see who might have supplied the food.”

“Not many caterers in the area,” Mina said. “And the meal wasn’t your typical chicken dish, so I’m confident my sergeant will track that down.”

Sierra shifted her attention back to Nolan. “You mentioned that you put your phones in a Faraday bag. Where is that bag now?”

“I’ll show you.” He took off down the hallway to the dining room, then stood back and pointed at the gleaming mahogany buffet. “We found them here after we got out of the escape room.”

“Any thoughts that your phone was cloned while you were inside?” Blake asked.

Nolan blinked a few times. “Now that’s something I didn’t really think of. I’ll have Hayden check that out.”

Sierra got out a small notebook much like police officers carry and wrote something down. “We’ll be sure to check the bag for Smythe’s DNA.”

“But he wore gloves,” Nolan said.

“Now this is where you’re underestimating Sierra’s skills.” Blake cracked the first smile they’d seen.

“We transfer DNA in many ways other than fingerprints. For example, he could have dry skin, scratched his face or his eyebrows and released flaky skin onto the gloves. Or brushed his arm or his face. All are good possibilities.”

“Which is why we’re so thankful you’re here,” Mina said.

Sierra smiled. “So, where is this escape room?”

“Follow me.” Nolan strode down the hall and stopped outside the closed door.

“Has the door been closed the entire time?” Sierra asked.

Nolan shook his head. “Smythe unlocked it and it remained closed while we were inside the room, but we left it open when we went to search for him and to call 911.”

Mina rested her hand on her sidearm. “If you’re worried the scene was contaminated, I can assure you it’s been protected from the moment one of my deputies arrived.”

Sierra waved her hand. “I’m sure you took care of that, and I’m not concerned. I’m just questioning the air quality inside, if we can retrieve DNA from an air sample.”

“From the air?” Nolan gaped at her. “If that’s possible, then forensics have changed a lot since I attended police academy.”

“That it has, and it’s changing all the time.” Sierra retrieved gloves from her pocket and put them on. “It’s not possible in all instances an air sample will give us DNA, but once I see the size of the room, I’ll know more.”

She bent down to the box of booties sitting by the door and slipped on a pair. “Please come into the room and close the door, but stay by the entrance while I get a good look at the scene.”

She entered, Mina followed, and Nolan and Blake came behind. When Nolan closed the door, Mina understood what it must’ve been like to be trapped in this room with the mayor’s body. Her gaze went directly to the locker where they’d found him, and she fought off a shiver. She considered herself a tough law enforcement officer, but no one ever got used to finding a murder victim. If they claimed they had, they were probably lying.

Sierra looked over her shoulder. “Which locker held the mayor’s body?”

“The first one as you’re entering the room,” Nolan said. “If you look inside, you’ll see the back is cut out, providing extra room for his body.”

She peeked into the locker, then started down the room toward the punching bag, turning around to come back down the other side. She took notes as she walked and stood scribbling for a few moments before looking up. “This room will take considerable resources and time. It’s likely the killer, or this Smythe fellow if he’s not the killer, touched every item in this room. And like I mentioned with the Faraday bag, DNA could be left in many forms in here. Think of it. One of them could simply have sneezed.”

“Surely they would’ve wiped the object off,” Mina said.

“They might have indeed, but even if they wiped it off, they likely still left DNA behind.” Sierra turned to survey the room and shifted her stance as if fortifying herself for the task at hand. “Each removable item in here will have to be photographed and bagged. The fixed items and furniture will be processed in place, though I would like to see if the lockers can be dismantled to bring the one that held the mayor back to the lab.”

“Do you need help with that?” Mina asked.

“Thank you, but no.” Blake planted his hands on his hips. “Our team has taken apart far more challenging items than this, and they can handle it. After today we don’t want anyone outside of our team in this room without our knowledge until the scene is finished.”

“If you need to see this scene or the other two, just let me know, and I can arrange to escort you.” Sierra moved her hands to encompass the space. “A room map will have to be created. In addition to copious photos. I’d also like to do a 3-D video so we can refer back to it if we need to.”

Blake looked Mina directly in the eye. “And like she said, that will take time.”

“How much time?” Mina asked, starting to wonder how long this killer would go free.

Sierra studied them as if she expected an argument. “This room alone will probably take one forensic expert plus a full-time photographer two days to complete.”

“And don’t forget the time on the other end in the lab.” Blake let his hands fall to his side. “The items will have to be processed for DNA and fingerprints. Sierra will handle fingerprinting, and my wife, Emory, will process the DNA.”

“Dare I ask how long we’ll have to wait for that?” Nolan asked before Mina had a chance to voice the same question.

Sierra nipped her lower lip. “The actual DNA processing requires a full twenty-four hours, but locating, extracting, and quantifying it could eat up days. Honestly, with extensive potential evidence to process, it could be weeks. However, if you would like to prioritize the items we collect, that could speed things along.”

Nolan let out a long breath. “I can give you a list of items that helped us solve the escape room mystery. Maybe we could start with those things.”

“That sounds like a good idea,” Mina said. “If our killer touched anything in this room, he likely touched those objects.”

“Then I’ll text you a list as soon as we finish up here,” Nolan said.

Sierra nodded. “With your permission, I’d like to hold off on processing the kitchen and dining room until after we see what we locate here.”

“I’ve already searched the kitchen for any takeout containers or other leads,” Mina said. “And I’ve looked for trash taken out to the bins. We found nothing, so he must’ve taken it all with him.”

“Makes sense,” Blake said. “From what I’ve seen so far and heard from you all, we could be looking for a person with serious skills in evading law enforcement.”

“We could even be looking for someone who once was in law enforcement,” Nolan said.

Blake looked at Mina. “It might be worth investigating prior members of the local force, if you haven’t already done that. Especially someone who was let go.”

“That would be a short list,” she said, but he was right. “I’ll certainly look into it.”

“There could be someone on that list who had a grievance with the mayor.”

“I can’t speak to the time when I didn’t live here,” she said. “But local politics can always play a role in hiring and firing. I suppose someone could’ve made the mayor mad and the sheriff terminated the employee.”

“Then let’s move on to Becca’s house.” Sierra changed the subject. “Maybe we’ll find something there that will jump out as a strong lead, and we can get it handled quickly.”

Mina could only hope so, but investigations didn’t work that way. Leads weren’t handed to law enforcement. Finding a killer required detached, diligent work. She only hoped she could put aside the fact that someone under her watch, someone she knew and liked, had been murdered and find the strength to lead such an investigation.

Nolan led Sierra and Blake toward Becca’s main door. He was impressed with the Veritas staff, to say the least, and looked forward to their take on this crime scene. They were both very knowledgeable about crime and crime scenes, and Sierra seemed to have cutting-edge knowledge and skills in forensics. He didn’t know how he was going to repay them for their kindness, but he would try to find a way.

His phone rang. Seeing Jude’s name he answered. “Hold on a second.”

He looked at Blake and Sierra. “I have to take this. Mina can show you around, and I’ll be right in.”

They departed, and Nolan turned his attention to his call. “Please tell me you have something about Becca to report.”

“Not really. It’s more like what I don’t have to report. I reviewed all of her social media accounts, and there’s no mention of her going out of town.”

Nolan wanted to pound something, anything, but he shoved his free hand into his hair instead. “Was there anything of interest in her accounts at all?”

“She was close to her dad, as we suspected. Lots of pictures of them doing things together. Not many friends. Two who seemed really close. I’ll interview them in person this morning. The others were more like acquaintances. I’ll get their phone numbers and give them a call after the interviews.”

“Anything else?” Nolan asked, as his phone sounded a text that he ignored for now.

“Not for me, but Hayden’s about to call you with an update. So stay tuned.”

“Roger that,” Nolan said and ended the call. So they couldn’t confirm that Becca was out of town, but they also couldn’t confirm that she hadn’t gone out of town. They were really still stuck on square one.

He checked the text to find the list of family and friends that Daisy promised to provide. He replied with a thank you and then forwarded the list to Reece to begin researching.

He stowed his phone and entered the house. All three of the occupants turned to look at him. He shared the information from Jude.

“Mina has updated us on this situation,” Sierra said. “I’m sorry that you weren’t able to confirm good news on Becca.”

“Then we move forward with the forensics and prove where this pool of blood came from.” Nolan stopped to the left of the blood. “The footprint outside the window along with the bull’s-eye in the window says the shooter was outside when he fired his weapon.”

“Grady can confirm that for us.” Blake pointed at the slug in the wall. “Of course he’ll also give you the ballistics information for that bullet too.”

“The mayor’s fatal wound was a through-and-through,” Nolan said. “We’re suspecting that’s the bullet that killed him.”

Sierra gave a firm nod. “We could potentially get DNA from the bullet. Not only the mayor’s, but the shooter’s as well. After Grady removes it, we’ll be sure it’s top priority for processing.”

Odd. “Grady has to do it?”

“Removing a bullet from the item it’s lodged in without damaging it can be tricky.” Sierra lifted her shoulders. “We want to be sure we take every opportunity to preserve the slug so Grady can analyze it and we can try to locate that DNA. And since he’s here, we should let him handle it.”

“How likely is it that you’ll get DNA?” Nolan asked.

“It happens, but not as often as we would like. Grady can give you more information on that.” Sierra frowned. “The thing that we have to keep in mind here, is that even if we locate DNA samples, that doesn’t mean they’ll match to anyone in the CODIS database.”

Nolan was familiar with the Combined DNA Index System, the FBI’s national database that stored DNA profiles to help solve crimes and identify missing persons. He’d used it when hunting down the suspect who’d tried to kill the governor. He wished he had access to it for his missing persons work, but only law enforcement officers and labs like the Veritas Center could access it.

Blake’s expression tightened. “Odds of matching to the database are better if a random burglar committed the murder.”

Mina nodded. “He’s most likely to have his DNA in the system.”

“So true,” Sierra said.

Nolan didn’t like being the only person in the room who didn’t understand this conversation, but he wasn’t going to let his lack of knowledge embarrass him. Not when he needed to know this information. “I don’t follow.”

“Unless a murder is a crime of passion,” Mina said, “it’s likely that the shooter is someone who has been involved in other crimes before that. Criminals don’t generally start right out committing murder but have a list of lesser crimes that escalate to a level where they’re comfortable with taking someone’s life.”

“Oh. Right. Gotcha,” Nolan said. “So the odds are good that they were busted somewhere along the line and their DNA will be in the system.”

Blake nodded. “You should be proud of your sheriff. She’s looking at all avenues and not forming a single theory, then setting out to prove her theory.”

Mina blushed under his compliment, but Nolan was indeed proud of her.

Sierra jotted a note on her pad and stepped deeper into the room. She turned to face them. “Was this portable air conditioner unit running when you arrived or was it turned on later?”

A flash of something crossed Mina’s face. Sierra’s implication that someone modified the crime scene probably didn’t sit too well with her, but also, she might be wondering if someone on her team had turned it on.

Nolan could end that worry. “It was on when we arrived.”

“Are you sure?” Sierra asked.

“Positive,” he said. “I remember thinking it was a bit early in the season to be running the AC, but then we’ve had some unseasonably warm weather, and it’s been humid too. So I assumed they were cleaning the humidity out of the house.”

“Is that a problem for forensics?” Mina asked.

“Problem.” Sierra shook her head hard. “Not at all. In fact it’s a good thing. Remember when I mentioned getting DNA samples from the air in the escape room? The same can be true in a home, but due to the large size of rooms open to one another, it makes it more difficult. However, we can find DNA on the surfaces of the air conditioner units for the usual users of a room as well as visitors.”

“So if the killer came in the house to verify the mayor was dead and take his body, then his DNA might be on that AC unit?” Nolan clarified.

Sierra smiled. “Exactly. We’ll still take air samples as they most likely denote the more recent occupants, where the air conditioning unit will more likely represent previous occupants.”

Nolan shook his head. “It still surprises me where DNA can be located these days.”

Her eyes lit up. “There are a number of research projects going on now, and it’s an exciting time in environmental DNA. Seems like there’s a new development every day. eDNA—environmental DNA shed from sources like skin and saliva—can be detected in so many places in the environment. That includes water, ice, air, soil. Even dust.”

“A word of caution, though.” Blake took a wide stance. “As of now, some of it’s too experimental to use as evidence in a court of law, but it’s enough information to give you a suspect to pursue.”

“We’ll take any help we can get,” Mina said.

“Okay, so we’ll process this entire room, plus the outside, making sure we get that shoe into evidence. Do you want us to handle the rest of the house too?”

“No,” Mina said. “We gave it a thorough search and didn’t see any indication of a disturbance or struggle. If that changes, I’ll let you know.”

Sierra closed her notepad and shoved it in her pocket. “The next stop is the mayor’s house. It doesn’t sound like you’ve found any forensics in his house at all. Am I right?”

“That’s right,” Mina said. “Since we can’t yet prove that this was the murder scene for the mayor, Becca could’ve been killed here as far as we know. I was hoping you could use your special lights to search for blood that someone might have tried to clean up in his house.”

“That we can do.” Sierra clapped her hands, the sharp sound reverberating off the high ceiling. “So this is what we’ll do. I, along with Ainslie and Jeremiah, will go to the escape room. I’ll take air samples and process the fixtures in the room. This is where the work is more complicated, so I’ll handle that. Then since there’s so much in the room to be taken into evidence, and it isn’t a very complicated task, I’ll have Jeremiah package the evidence after Ainslie photographs it.”

“That sounds like a good plan,” Nolan said. “What about this scene and the mayor’s house?”

“Chad is a very skilled forensic technician, so I’ll have him process this house and have Chelsea take photographs. Since that’s the entire staff I brought with me assigned to duties, once I complete my work at the escape room, I’ll go to the mayor’s house and search for blood evidence.”

“And of course, she’ll oversee everything to make sure it’s done correctly,” Blake said. “Our team is quite capable of doing their jobs, but that’s just who Sierra is.”

“Aside from lives depending on us to do everything correctly, we also have to maintain our reputation as a premiere agency,” Sierra said. “That means making sure our work is above reproach.”

Blake nodded. “I’ll see that Grady does the bullet trajectory along with removing the slug from this wall. He won’t begin work until Chad has finished the forensics in the area so he doesn’t disturb the evidence. I can notify you when he begins, if you like, so you can ask any questions you might have.”

“That would be great.” Mina smiled at Blake.

“From what you’ve told us,” Blake said. “There’s a computer at the mayor’s office, his home, and one here that Dylan will need to image. Is that correct?”

“Image?” Nolan asked. “Does that mean making a copy of the computer’s hard drive?”

Blake nodded. “Exactly. We need to do that to maintain the state of the computers for evidence. Any searches Dylan conducts, he’ll do on the image.”

“How long does that take?” Mina asked.

“Depends on the size of the hard drive and the complexity of it,” Blake said. “Would you like me to get Dylan on the phone to give you more details?”

“That would be great,” Mina said. “I was hoping once he took the computers into evidence that he might have time to search for information that I’m sure he could locate far faster than my one-man IT staff.”

Blake got out his phone and made a video call. After Dylan answered, Blake held the phone out so Mina and Nolan could see the screen. “We have three computers to take into evidence and as far as I know no cell phones.”

“That’s right,” Nolan said. “We haven’t located any cell phones.”

“How long would it take you to image the three computers?” Blake asked.

“We talking laptops or desktops?”

“Two laptops and one desktop,” Mina said.

“Likely a couple of hours then,” Dylan said. “I can take the laptops to the desktop location and image them all at the same time. Why do you ask?”

“Mina was hoping you would have time to search for information for them,” Blake said.

“Yeah, sure. I don’t have the computing power I’d have at the lab at my fingertips, but I should still be able to get more information than most people around here.”

“Modest much?” Sierra asked.

“Why be modest when you’re telling the truth?”

“And here I thought Nick was the team superstar.” Nolan joked.

“He’s good for an OG.”

“Old guy?” Nolan asked. “He’s at most in his late thirties. Just a few years older than us.”

“Exactly. An old guy.” Dylan laughed.

“Looks like we can’t take you out of the office.” Blake stared at his phone.

“Oops, better start to be on my best behavior as my mom always said.” He chuckled again. “Anything else? If not send me the address to come retrieve the computers.”

“I’ll text you,” Blake said, not seeming too happy with the new young guy, but he turned to them with a tight smile on his face. “I’ll coordinate all of the staff and evidence collection, so if you have any questions while we’re in town, would you please direct them to me so the techs can continue to do their jobs to the best of their abilities?”

“Of course,” Mina said.

Blake gave a firm nod. “Also, we’ll be sending the helicopter back to Portland at the end of the day with today’s evidence so our staff there can begin processing it.”

“That’s wonderful.” Mina gave a big smile.

The smile hadn’t been directed at Nolan, but he felt his mouth turning up too. “I second Mina’s comment and thank you for coming. Without you, I’m not sure we would be able to find Becca or solve this murder.”