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Ashland, Oregon

When Kara stepped into the living room, Ashley was sitting on the couch, her laptop on her crossed legs.

“Um, Detective Kinder went outside,” Ashley said.

Kara sat across from Ashley. She put the box on the table and asked, “Have you ever seen this before?”

Ashley shrugged. “Once or twice. Jane sometimes had it on her desk—it’s a pretty box. I commented on it, asked where she got it. She said a friend made it for her when she was little.”

“Did she talk to you about her childhood?”

“Not really. She was an only child. She never talked about her parents, and I didn’t pry. I mean, not everyone has a good relationship with their mom and dad, you know?”

Kara knew. She hadn’t spoken to her parents in years.

“You know,” Ashley continued, “Jane was always sort of sad even when she looked happy, if that makes sense.” She shrugged.

“Do you have an example?”

She thought, then said, “I invited her to come home with me for Thanksgiving. She didn’t want to, but I pushed—I knew she’d have fun, and she finally agreed. I have a huge family—aunts and uncles and lots of cousins. We play games and have tons of food and my uncle Ted always drinks too much but he’s a funny drunk, and my aunt May sings Christmas carols—she has an amazing voice, and we do a scavenger hunt. It’s always a blast.

“I didn’t think Jane was having fun because she just sort of hung back, you know? She talked to people, but only when they talked to her first. But when we drove back here the next day, she said she had the most fun she’d ever had in her life. And...I think she meant it. It wasn’t hyperbole. I kind of thought then that she had a rough childhood, you know? Like maybe her parents were mean or abusive. She told me I was lucky.”

“And other than Riley Pierce, she didn’t have any close friends?”

“She was friendly with everyone, but, yeah, no one she hung out with regularly. She planned to move to France when she graduated. I don’t think she wanted to.”

“Why?”

“She loves it here. Said she never wanted to leave, but that she promised Riley that after they graduated, they’d both live in France. They were really close, like sisters.”

Kara pulled out the pressed poppy. “Have you seen this before?”

Ashley tilted her head. “That’s a poppy—they’re everywhere.”

“It’s a red poppy.”

“I mean, I’ve seen them growing, but I haven’t seen that poppy.”

“Did Jane ever talk to you about flowers?”

She shrugged. “I don’t think so.”

The police had withheld the information about the red poppies, and Ashley showed no sign that the flower held any significance for her. But it was important to the killer. Kara now realized it was also important to the victims.

Kara put the pressed poppy back in the box, closed it, and thanked Ashley for her time. She joined Ken outside. He was standing next to his sedan in the thick fog. A light, misty rain had started to fall.

“All good?” Ken asked.

“Yeah.”

“Something wrong?”

She shook her head. “Just turning things around in my head. Bakery next?”

“They’re closed Mondays, open at five a.m. tomorrow.”

She groaned. “I guess there’s no way to convince the owner to talk to us today?”

“Sure, but the staff is who you want, the people who worked with Jane.”

“Okay, tomorrow I’ll be up bright and early.” The police had already talked to Jane’s co-workers, so the follow-up could wait until tomorrow. She held up the box. “I need to overnight this to my team.”

“I’ll take you to FedEx.”

She climbed into the passenger seat and texted her team.

A second search of Jane Merrifield’s room uncovered a red poppy pressed between two sheets of plastic, wedged in a handmade keepsake box. I’m going to overnight the box and contents because I think this is important, but don’t know why. Attaching pictures.

She sent the message and relevant photos, leaned back, and closed her eyes.

Definitely not a coincidence that Jane had a preserved poppy and the killer covered her body with poppies.

Her skin prickled and she had the feeling she was being watched. She opened her eyes, looked out the passenger window. A young woman, college-aged, was sitting on a short stone wall, looking at her. When Kara caught her eye, the girl didn’t avert her gaze, but stared at the unmarked sedan as Ken pulled onto Siskiyou Boulevard. Kara looked over her shoulder and the girl stood and walked in the opposite direction.

“Stop,” Kara said.

Ken glanced in the rearview mirror, then pulled over. “What’s wrong? Forget something?”

“One sec.” She opened Jane’s box and pulled out the photo of Jane and the girl Ashley had identified as Riley Pierce.

“I think I just saw Riley.” Kara got out of the car, and walked briskly down the street, but didn’t see her. She stopped where the girl had been sitting. There was no sign of her. Three young men riding bikes on the opposite side of the road. Someone smoking pot on their balcony in the apartment above Ashley’s.

Kara looked directly across the street. Riley had a clear view of not only Ashley and Jane’s apartment, but the lot where Ken had parked. She’d been watching them.

Ken backed up his cruiser until he reached her. “You saw Riley Pierce?”

“I’m not positive, but it looked like her. She’s gone now. Wait here for a sec, okay?”

Ken agreed, though he seemed both confused and irritated.

Kara ran across the street and knocked on Ashley’s door. She answered, surprised to see Kara again. “Hi?” she said cautiously.

“Have you seen or spoken to Riley Pierce since Jane died?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“She hasn’t called or texted or emailed? Have you seen her around town?”

“She lives in France. She wasn’t my friend—I only met her once.”

“If she contacts you, call me, day or night, okay?”

“Sure,” she said in a tone that suggested she thought Kara was asking for the impossible.

Kara walked back to Ken and got into his car. “We need to find Riley Pierce.”