Page 18 of The Creekside Murder (Pacific Northwest Forensics #1)

“I’ll follow you.”

He followed her to her car where she retrieved the two paper bags, and then they got settled in the van for the ninety-minute ride to Marysville, including the ferry across the Sound.

As Jessica adjusted her seat belt, she asked, “You ever play football?”

“Why, yes, ma’am. Washington State Cougars. How could you tell?”

“Ah, because you’re as broad as a double-wide trailer, and I mean that in the most complimentary way.”

He chuckled. “My wife would take exception. She keeps telling me I don’t need to eat like I’m still making those tackles.”

She and Kimani chatted easily about football, the King County Sheriff’s Department, living on the Sound and his wife’s cooking, anything to keep her mind off what was happening to Deke Macy back at the station.

Had she ever seen the guy before? If he was the killer, he must know who she was.

Knew her car. Had followed her. Had her phone number.

The knowledge made her feel slightly nauseous, and she cracked the window.

The hour-and-a-half ride went by fast, and they’d missed most of the traffic, but by the time Kimani pulled the van into the parking lot of the forensic lab, Jessica was ready to stretch her legs.

Kimani parked outside the vehicle inspection center where a few cars perched on hydraulic lifts, ready for a thorough search.

She knew several people in that unit, and they’d pull plants from the undercarriage and dig out seeds from the tires in an effort to glean every bit of evidence they could from a suspect’s or victim’s car.

Too bad neither of the crimes on campus involved vehicles.

She hopped from the van and Kimani grabbed the pouch from the back. As he handed it to her, he said, “I’m escorting you to Evidence Receiving, and then I’m going to get some lunch and head back. Are you coming with me or staying?”

“I’ll be staying for a while. I can probably hijack one of our vans to go back to Kitsap.”

They parted ways at Evidence Receiving when Jessica handed the pouch over to Nicole Meloan, the supervisor.

She shook the paper bags at her. “A couple of things in here I’d like tested, but I compromised the chain of evidence because I found them on my own, and in the case of the doll, I carried it around with me. ”

Nicole clicked her tongue. “Michael know about your little faux pas?”

“I told him. He was…disappointed.”

“This evidence won’t be in lockup long. I’ve had lab rats knocking on my door all morning looking for it.”

“There’s not much to paw over, and the evidence that might contain DNA has been sent to Seattle.”

Nicole unzipped the pouch and plucked out the form. “I hear that’s on a rush, too.”

“Have you heard anything else? The sheriff’s department is questioning a person of interest. He may have worked with both women…and he was there ten years ago when my sister was murdered.”

Nicole put a gloved hand on her arm. “Do you think these cases are linked to Tiffany’s?”

Flicking her finger at the paper bags on the table, Jessica answered. “That’s what these are all about—a card that mentions my sister’s name and a doll that may be one my sister had in her possession at the time of her murder.”

“You’re kidding. That’s significant…and scary for you. Are you all right?” Nicole’s dark brown eyes got huge. “Wait, is that why you found the second victim? This guy told you where she was?”

Jessica told her the story of the text, the meeting that never happened and how the killer lured her to Missy’s body. “It was awful. Somehow discovering a body like that was a hundred times worse than coming into a murder scene where dozens of cops and CSIs are already roaming around.”

“I can imagine.” Nicole waved her arms around the room, shelves stacked with boxes, plastic and paper bags. “It’s all so sterile in here. Anyway, I haven’t heard anything about a person of interest yet.”

“I’m keeping my fingers crossed.” Jessica tapped the form on the table. “Initial this, so I can get out of here and go find Michael.”

Jessica passed by several of the labs where the techs would soon be analyzing the evidence from Missy’s homicide. She made a right turn at the end of the hallway and tapped on Michael’s open door.

He glanced up and waved her in, rolling his eyes and pointing at the phone. He’d just dashed her hopes that he’d be in a good mood and this interview would go better than she deserved.

When he ended the call, he dropped the phone on his desk and dragged his hands through his black hair, which made his light blue eyes even more startling when he skewered her with his gaze.

“So, Nancy Drew is back in the lab.”

“Yeah, so funny.” She plopped in one of the two chairs facing his desk without an invitation. “But Nancy’s the one who found Missy Park minutes after her death. The cops could’ve caught the guy right then and there.”

“He must’ve had some sort of escape plan mapped out in advance, knowing you’d find the body and report it right away.” Her boss steepled his long fingers. “I heard Finn Karlsson was on the scene with you.”

“He was there. We’ve been in touch since I’ve been in Kitsap.”

“He’s writing a book about Plank. Did he tell you that?”

“Y-yes.” Eventually. “But he’s going to have to write an addendum when we find out Plank didn’t murder my sister.”

“Deke Macy is not looking like the guy for these crimes, though.”

“Really?” Her head jerked up. “Who says?”

“King County Sheriff’s Department. Just got off the phone with one of the deputies.

Macy has an alibi for both murders. Have to be checked out, of course, but easy to find out if he’s lying.

” He held up his hands. “Suspects lie about alibis all the time, knowing full well the investigators can figure that out after a few phone calls, interviews or camera footage. Could still be the guy.”

“But unlikely.” Jessica slumped in her seat. “I knew he was too good to be true. Creepy dude icking on college coeds and following young Instagram models—and not trying to hide it.”

Michael narrowed his icy eyes. “Sounds like you did quite a bit of your own research on the creepy Mr. Macy.”

“He worked with Tiffany ten years ago.”

“If you want to be a cop, Jessica, go to the academy and be one. If you want to be a top-notch forensics investigator, do your job.”

“Like you didn’t do your own investigating once upon a time.”

“Yeah, that was because I was accused of murder.”

His office phone rang, and he dropped his gaze to the display. “Sheriff’s department again. Maybe Deke Macy did lie. Wilder here.”

Jessica studied Michael’s impassive face, which gave away nothing.

“I see. Good. Rush job. Yeah.” When he ended the call, Jessica was none the wiser.

“Did he lie about his alibis?”

“No, but something almost as encouraging. They found trace DNA on both sets of red fibers…and it doesn’t match the victims’ DNA reference samples.”