Page 10 of The Creekside Murder (Pacific Northwest Forensics #1)

She tucked the card back in her purse and swung by the self-serve soda machine to fill up a cup with half root beer and half Diet Coke. This time the clerk smiled at her as he rang up her purchase.

When she got back to her car, she dropped her drink in the cup holder and pulled out her phone. Task one completed, task two up next.

The phone rang twice before King County Sheriff’s Deputy Tomas Alvarado picked up. “Detective Alvarado.”

“Detective Alvarado, this is Jessica Eller, Washington State Patrol Crime Lab.”

“Hi, Jessica. You can call me Tomas. I was waiting for your call. Are you ready to transport the physical evidence to the lab? Marysville, right? Or is this going to Seattle?”

“Marysville. Seattle’s all full up. I’d like to meet with you first and discuss the evidence. I also found a couple of items at Morgan Flemming’s memorial site I’d like to show you.”

“It’s a little late for me today, but I can do tomorrow. Three at the station sound good?”

“I’ll be there.”

“In the meantime, to prep for the meeting I’ll email you a list of the material evidence. We didn’t categorize it yet. We’ll leave it up to you guys, as usual.”

“Perfect. You have my department email. Send it over, encrypted.”

She ended the call and cupped the phone in her hands. Michael had been right. Time to focus on Morgan. If that led to new discoveries about Tiffany, she’d take it.

Shuffling through those greeting cards had taken her longer than she’d expected, so she rushed back to the hotel. She wanted to review the email from Tomas before she got ready for her…meeting with Finn.

Back in her room fifteen minutes later, Jessica peeked into her closet to see if she had anything halfway presentable to wear to dinner tonight.

So far, Finn had seen her in jeans, T-shirts and hiking boots, and slacks and a blouse—hardly memorable.

But this wasn’t a date, so it didn’t matter if he found her attractive.

It didn’t matter because they had this…thing between them—chemistry, electricity, good old-fashioned lust. She’d wondered over the years if her attraction to Finn at that time had been because she needed him to get info on her sister’s case.

Maybe, feeling guilt about using him, she had convinced herself that she really did feel something for him.

This reacquaintance with him had pretty much put that theory to bed, which is exactly where she wanted him. She slid the closet door closed and smirked at herself in the mirror.

With her drink from the convenience store beside her open laptop, Jessica accessed her email. She scrolled past several, including one from Celine Jerome, a PI who specialized in genetic and family tracking. Jessica had decided to take up where Tiffany had left off tracking down their brother.

She clicked on the message from Tomas and opened the attachment. She expanded the file and ran a quick eye down the short list of items.

Outdoor crime scenes usually yielded less physical evidence than indoor ones, and the elements subjected that evidence to more deterioration and less reliability. They did pick up a shoe print, but how long had it been there? It could belong to anyone in that public area.

She opened her own file and began to make notes on the evidence in her own words.

The method helped her process the items, especially when she hadn’t been on the responding CSI team.

She had to reconstruct the scene and the physical evidence in her head.

She also used a program on her computer to sketch out the scene. Visiting it in person always helped.

A cigarette butt in the area held promise.

A red cloth fiber that hadn’t come from anything of Morgan’s.

A foil wrapper from a granola bar, but no prints on that.

No prints on anything, including Morgan’s neck.

Most likely, her killer had strangled her with a piece of clothing.

Necktie? Scarf? Is that where the red fiber came from?

Plank had used a tie on her sister, although authorities had never found it.

Most of these items had been shipped to the forensic lab in Seattle for possible DNA sampling.

Marysville did DNA, but this evidence had been fast-tracked, so the items that might contain DNA had been sent to Seattle.

The lab in Marysville handled physical evidence, her department, and vehicle inspections, although no vehicles were involved in this case—that they knew of.

There was no evidence that Morgan had fought back, either. No skin cells beneath her fingernails, no bruising, broken fingers. Had she known her killer, or had he sneaked up behind her? Had he lain in wait…smoking a cigarette while he watched?

Her phone rang, and she jumped. Her gaze darted to the time, and she answered Finn’s call as she hopped up from her chair. “I can’t believe it’s seven already.”

“Ah, you’re not ready. I’m here in my car. I guess I expected you’d be waiting out front.”

“And I would’ve been, if I hadn’t gotten so engrossed in my work. Do we have reservations anywhere?”

Finn coughed. “Sorry, no. Wasn’t thinking a reservation kinda place, but that could change.”

“No. That’s fine. Give me fifteen minutes.”

“Tell you what. Let’s go to the restaurant down the street, near the dock. They do some decent fish and chips. I’ll drive over there, have a beer and wait for you. I’ll even order you a glass of white.”

“Make it a beer, whatever you’re having, and you’re on.”

She dropped the phone on her bed and stripped off her clothes on the way to the bathroom. This was feeling less like a date and more like a convenient business meeting. Good thing she’d left the sexy date-night clothes at home.

After a quick shower, Jessica pulled on a pair of jeans, a lightweight red sweater and a pair of boots with a small heel.

She stroked on some mascara, added a red lip and fluffed up her hair.

She grabbed her purse and a black leather bomber jacket and stopped at the mirrored closet.

“Not bad for a sort of date on a tight timeline.”

When she hit the front desk in the lobby, she asked the clerk, “Which direction do I take to the dock?”

“Take a left out of the parking lot, and you’ll run right into it. Dockside Fish Grill?” He replied as she nodded. “Order the fish and chips.”

“Will do, thanks.”

She stuck to the sidewalk on one side of the street, as quite a few cars whizzed by. Hardly the romantic date night she’d envisioned, but Finn had probably felt the same way when he discovered she hadn’t even been ready on time. Or maybe he’d envisioned no such thing.

Twinkling lights swaying in the breeze signaled the restaurant up ahead, and she quickened her pace. She could use a beer after the day she had, filled with more questions than answers.

She spotted Finn on the outdoor patio and climbed the wooden steps to join him under the heat lamp. He jumped up to pull out her chair.

“Too chilly for you? We can move inside, but the heat lamp helps and the air is refreshing, especially as I’ve been cooped up indoors all day.”

“This is fine.” She scooted her chair closer to the table and shrugged off her jacket. “How were your meetings?”

“Office hours are usually okay, but that one student of mine, Dermott Webb—you saw him after my class—he’s kind of a fanboy.

Always has a ton of questions, many designed as gotchas for me.

He’s testing me. Those kinds of students are tiresome.

And the staff meeting?” He took a long swallow of his beer. “Even more tiresome.”

A waitress pushed through the glass doors to the patio with a tray laden with a bottle of beer and a frosty mug. “I would’ve had it waiting for you, but I wanted to be sure you got it cold.”

“Perfect. Thank you.”

When she left, Jessica picked up her perfectly poured beer and raised it. “To less tiresome and less confusing days.”

“I’ll definitely drink to that.” He clinked his bottle against her glass. “I’m sure your day was more interesting than mine. Tell me what you discovered.”

“I discovered, thanks to my boss, that I’m putting my sister’s old case ahead of Morgan’s and doing her an injustice.” She sipped her drink and touched her tongue to the foam on her lip.

“I think you can do both at the same time. What did you find out from Denny and Ashley?” He shoved a menu at her with one finger. “I’m ordering the fish and chips.”

“Me, too, on the suggestion of the hotel desk clerk.” She stacked the two menus, hitting the edges on the tabletop. “Did you know Denny was selling drugs at the time of Tiffany’s murder?”

“I knew that, yeah.” Finn wrapped his hands around his bottle, lacing his fingers. “That lead went nowhere. Denny was in good standing with his bosses. Didn’t owe anyone. Nobody owed him. No skimming. No stealing.”

She wrinkled her nose. “Wow, so he was a good drug dealer.”

“Good enough not to make him…or his woman a target.”

After the waitress took their orders, Jessica tilted her head. “You never told me that about him.”

“Like I said, didn’t play a role in Tiffany’s murder.” He tapped his bottle with his fingernail. “What else did you find out from those two?”

“The doll, my doll, the one I’d left with Tiffany, was stolen in the weeks prior to her murder.”

His eyebrows bunched over his nose. “That’s not in the case file. Nobody mentioned a break-in at her place.”

“Ashley never reported it. Claims she’s not sure anyone did break into their apartment. Noticed it missing but put it down to a prank or someone just walking off with it.”

“You think Tiffany’s killer stole the doll and then ten years later left it at the crime scene of another murder victim?” His gaze burned into her, and she wondered again how blue could cause so much heat.

“Y-yes.” She took a gulp of her beer and patted the foam from her lip.

“You don’t sound so sure now. Is that your doll or a replica?”

“With the same missing button?”

He lifted his shoulders. “It’s a toy. Buttons go missing.”

“Maybe—” she snapped her fingers three times “—it’s not the same doll but one meant to look like mine.”

“That brings us back to the same place. Someone ten years ago took Tiffany’s doll, maybe lost it, or maybe just took notice of the doll and copied it to leave it at Morgan’s memorial site. Why?”

The waitress saved her from coming up with an answer, placing their baskets of food on the table. “Anything else? Another round?”

Jessica glanced at her half-full glass and shook her head, and Finn asked for some vinegar.

The appearance of the food didn’t deter him, even as he shook his napkin into his lap and picked up a french fry. He waved it at her. “Why would someone be playing you like this? How would that person even know you’d be back here?”

“I don’t know. He could know my job, know I’d be on the scene for the evidence.”

“Or it could have nothing to do with you at all. I think I told you before, could be a sick joke, someone fascinated with your sister’s case.

We both know there are people out there like that.

True crime podcasts flourish, websites dig into cases new and cold.

Lotta crime buffs out there. It’s not a stretch to imagine that several of these fans are sickos.

They want to insert themselves into cases.

” Finn sprinkled his fish and chips with the vinegar the waitress had left.

“I’m sure it wouldn’t surprise you to learn that several women have proposed to Avery Plank. ”

She picked up a piece of fish with her fingers and blew on it. “Don’t ruin my appetite.”

“I’m just sayin’.” He held out the bottle of vinegar to her, and she shook her head. “Any luck with the condolence card? I’m figuring you would’ve led with that if you had gotten lucky.”

“Exactly. Found some cards from the same company but not this particular one.”

“Did you check the university’s bookstore?”

“Good call.” She smothered her fries with ketchup, noting Finn’s horrified expression. “You know for sure the store carries cards? Do students even buy cards?”

“I know for sure you just made a mess out of your fries, but yeah. I’ve bought a few cards there myself. In fact, I’d hazard a guess that the majority of the students who left cards at Morgan’s memorial bought them at the student store.”

“I’ll check tomorrow.” Her phone buzzed in the side pocket of her purse, and she pulled it free, cupping it in her hand beneath the table. She squinted at the unknown number on her display and tapped it, leaving a smudge of ketchup on the screen.

Her pulse jumped as she read the message: If you wanna know what happened to ur sister meet me at morgans at 9 come alone .

She shoved the phone back in her purse and curled her fingers around the handle of her beer mug so tightly she felt as if she could snap it off.

“Everything okay?” Finn crunched into a piece of fish and raised his brows.

“That was my boss, Michael. He’s not very happy with me right now and wants my evidence report like yesterday.

” She took a sip of beer to soothe her dry throat.

“I’d started it before dinner. That’s why I hadn’t realized how fast the time had gone and that you were downstairs waiting for me. I hadn’t even taken a shower.”

She put down her beer and shoved a piece of fish in her mouth. Stop talking, Jessica .

“Oh, wow. Sorry. I didn’t realize you were so busy. You could’ve canceled.”

“Even overworked, overwhelmed CSIs need to eat.” She flashed him a fake smile as her brain tripped out. “But I should really get back. I’ll take the rest of my food with me. Do you mind?”

“Absolutely not. I’ll grab a couple of to-go boxes.”

As Finn left the patio, Jessica retrieved her phone and answered the unknown texter that she’d be there at nine. She knew he’d meant Morgan’s memorial site, and she had every intention of being there—alone.