Page 73 of Pretty Broken Dolls

“How about three years?” she said.

“Hmmm.” He kept flipping through pages inside folders. “Here we go.” He pulled a file. “I always take pictures of the artwork before removing them, just call it for insurance reasons. And they also have to sign a type of release. I handle all of these types of clients.”

Katie scrolled through her phone until she came to a photo of the mostly removed tattoo on Jeanine’s wrist.

Big Daddy gave her the photo from the file.

Katie looked at both photos. She turned to McGaven. “What do you think?”

He stared at them. “I would say it’s her.”

Katie looked up. “Do you remember anything about this client? What’s the date?”

He read down and said, “March, two years ago.”

“I see. Do you remember anything about her?”

He appeared to really try hard to remember. “I recall the tattoo but the woman…I can’t remember exactly what she looked like, even with that photo. Plain Jane, most likely. She didn’t complain like so many of them do. It’s not a nice procedure.”

“One more question,” she said.

“Anything for you, little lady,” he said and smiled.

“It’s ‘Detective.’ Why do most people get tattoos removed? In your experience.”

“Usually it’s a boyfriend or girlfriend that’s now an ex and they can’t bear seeing that name. Sometimes it’s just a bad tattoo, muddled, usually from guys that have been in prison.” He thought more. “As I recall, this K9 tattoo was something that she didn’t want to be reminded of anymore.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah. She didn’t say much. I got the feeling that she was scared. See, usually people who have tattoos removed are very angry.”

“You sure about that?” she asked.

“Hey, I deal with people day in and day out…I think I know when someone is angry or scared.”

“Noted. Take my card and if you remember anything else about her or someone else comes in asking about her…call me.” She handed him a business card.

“Thanks. I will.”

“Thanks for your time, Big Daddy.”

Katie and McGaven left the premises.

“What do you think?” asked McGaven.

“We know now that Jeanine Trenton was scared about something…or someone.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Tuesday 1055 hours

Katie was tired since she had only slept for three hours, but it was important to continue their investigation on Jeanine Trenton’s murder until reports arrived from the Jane Doe homicide. She knew that they would overlap in many ways and waited patiently until more information became available.

Katie spent fifteen minutes talking with Virginia Rodriguez from the Community Health Alliance, the first chance since the distraught man with a gun overshadowed the interview. The woman was difficult to talk to, but was truthful about the friction on the job, as she called it, between her and Jeanine, and admitted to bullying her in the past.

She hung up the phone and sighed.

“Anything?” he asked.