Page 25 of The Whispering Girls (Detective Katie Scott #14)

TWENTY-FOUR

Katie and John arrived back at the lodge to an active investigation. The fireplace was burning, making the room comfortable, and Cisco was on the couch watching over everything.

McGaven and Officer Clark were organizing crime scene information as well as making lists of interviews. There were more points indicated on a large overall map of the area that included the crime scenes with possible entrance and exit locations.

“Wow,” said Katie as she studied the board. “What time did you get up?”

Cisco jumped off the couch and greeted Katie, sniffing her curiously, wondering where she had been without him.

“I couldn’t sleep because I knew Clark would have reports and preliminary details of the hospital crime scenes,” said McGaven.

“Next time, wake me up.”

“You needed to sleep. ”

“I appreciate that, but this is more important,” she said.

“Depends on how you look at it.”

“Give me ten minutes and I’ll be right back.”

Katie hurried to her room to take a quick shower and change her clothes for the long day ahead. Cisco closely followed her.

She returned about fifteen minutes later completely refreshed and ready to work. The new information helped to breathe fresh life into the investigation.

“Where’s Clark?” she said.

“He’s back on patrol,” said McGaven.

“What do you want me to do?” said John.

“By the way, where did you sleep last night?” she said to John.

“I crashed out on the couch for a couple of hours,” he said.

Katie saw a leather duffel bag on the floor.

“Fresh coffee and toast,” announced Jack as he emerged from the kitchen carrying a tray.

Katie was surprised to see him. There was a part of her that didn’t like so many people coming and going; being in a place she didn’t have one hundred percent control over.

Back at the department, there weren’t any surprises inside their cold-case office, but the lodge seemed to have a revolving door and there was no way of telling how many people had the combination for the front keypad.

She wondered if Jack changed it when new people stayed there.

“You look surprised,” said Jack as he handed her a cup of coffee.

“Thank you. This case has been quite the surprise on so many levels. We really appreciate you letting us stay here.”

“My pleasure. Anything to help solve these crimes.”

John didn’t say anything and nodded his thanks when Jack gave him his cup.

Jack then headed out. Katie wasn’t sure if the men had met officially but decided not to worry about it and approached the board, munching on her toast. Noticing that the board had been previously covered by a sheet, she assumed McGaven was keeping things private from anyone who happened to be in the room.

Katie studied the two forest crime scenes and the hospital ones.

The list of evidence collected seemed to connect, but the blood message with the warning was different.

However, that warning was consistent with the other scenes on some level.

The thought-out extravagant totems weren’t an afterthought, but a clear warning—even if it only made sense to the killer. "

John left the lodge and Katie assumed he was going to his truck.

“What do you have?” she said to McGaven.

“With Theresa Jamison, I remember you saying that Officer Clark’s sister, Tami Clark, knew her.”

“And?”

“I found out from Clark that Tami’s in town and we can interview her.”

Katie nodded. “Maybe get some background on Theresa.”

“I also spoke with Theresa’s mother. She didn’t have anything to say about her daughter except that she was a good person and was working hard to become a nurse.

She’s an only child and has two cousins living in New York as well as the one in Pine Valley.

And…her dad is deceased. He died two years ago. Everything seems to check out.”

“Did her mother know about Devin?” she said.

“That’s a firm no.”

“Really?”

“Her mom told me that Theresa wasn’t dating because she was concentrating on her studies.”

“Okay, we’ll have to see what her friend says.” Katie put her hands on her hips and studied photos and the list from Theresa’s crime scene.

“What’s up?” said McGaven. He knew his partner well .

“The way everything came about…bothers me.”

“Meaning?”

“So this young woman who called herself TJ came to my cabin door and brought me to Theresa’s crime scene. No one knows her or has ever seen her before—at least that’s what they’re saying. How did she even find Theresa? What’s her connection?”

John returned with a couple of boxes.

“What’s that?” said McGaven.

John put the boxes on the table. “These are my on-the-road microscopes and goodies.” He pulled everything out and organized them on the dining room table.

“Cool, a portable forensic lab,” said McGaven.

“I can compare prints and look at any evidence up close for basic comparison.”

Katie was pleased they would not have to wait for the forensic lab to return their reports.

“There hasn’t been any word on the identity of TJ?” she said.

“Nothing.”

“If she came to Echo Forest for whatever reason and doesn’t live here—she had to have stayed somewhere,” she said.

“Friend?” said McGaven.

“Just spending the day?” said John.

“No, I don’t think so. It’s so remote. I think she would have stayed at a motel, most likely, for a couple of days,” said Katie.

McGaven keyed up searches for motels nearby or the closest to Echo Forest. “Good news. There’re not a lot of places to stay.”

“Except here,” said John.

“I would think that TJ would have stayed somewhere that no one would notice.”

“The closest motel is Valley Motel. There’s nothing swanky about it. It looks old and is on the outskirts of town. The next closest is about twenty miles away.”

“Any B and Bs?” she said.

“There are two, believe it or not. Echo Forest Bed-and-Breakfast and Valley Inn are small boutique types. Both are not cheap and offer several amenities.”

“And wouldn’t really compete with this lodge,” she said. Katie wondered how Jack perceived the bed-and-breakfast spots.

“Different type of lodging.”

John pulled out one of the four large binders. “Just as I thought.”

“What?” said Katie.

“This fiber appears to come from a carpet, based on its characteristics.” John went back to his microscope and studied the fiber further. “It appears to be a green low-pile that has been looped into a backing—even though we don’t have the backing, it has a slight curl.”

“Can you tell where this fiber came from?” she said.

“I can only tell it’s most likely synthetic—like polyester or nylon. If I had to guess, it would be poly.”

“Like from a house or car?” said McGaven.

“It’s a lower-end type of carpet I’ve seen over the years, but it’s difficult at this magnification level to be able to tell if it’s for house or car. It could be both.”

“Wait a minute,” said Katie. She went directly to the reports from the laboratory from Theresa’s crime scene. “It says here there were carpet fragments in Theresa’s hair.”

“Color?” said John.

“It says olive-green synthetic polyester.”

“It’s something,” said McGaven.

“Yes and no,” she said, looking at the board. “What’s the preliminary at the hospital?”

“The victim, nurse in training Natalie Renaldo, was working the late shift along with nurse Patty Brown. They were taking care of the chief. Nelson Gonzalez was the security guard. He had some defensive wounds, which means he saw the killer,” said McGaven. “All victims were strangled.”

“Is there at this point any connection with the nurse to Theresa or TJ?” she said.

McGaven shook his head. “No, we haven’t connected anything yet. But Clark and Banning are still questioning people and we should hear from them soon. But, one thing they did say was that Natalie was new to town and she went to the café quite a bit.”

“I think most of the town goes there. But that would mean the killer does too,” she said.

“So what was the killer doing at the hospital last night?” McGaven said.

“Maybe they were there for the chief?”

“Why?”

Katie shrugged. “Maybe to shut the investigation down? Maybe the killer knows the chief? Or has been watching him and the other officers. But why didn’t they kill him while they had the chance?”

“Then he brutally murders the nurse and takes out the other nurse on duty and the security guard in case they saw him?” said McGaven.

She shrugged again. “What about the security cameras?”

“There’s only footage up to 8:30p.m. The rest is completely blank.”

“So by the time we got there around 10p.m. the killer was already there.” Katie was frustrated. Just when she thought they were making some headway they were hit with setbacks.

“More than likely. The killer was most likely the one who locked us into the bathroom.”

Katie ran all the hospital events through her mind. “Three down…more to go…” she whispered .

“What?”

“The message on the wall. Three down…more to go…”

“What about it?”

“The killer highlighted the murders of the three young women, but didn’t acknowledge the other nurse and security guard.

That would make it five down. Or he could have been referring to the nurses and security guard as the three down…

What is the killer trying to tell us? We need to retrieve an employee list for the hospital, including volunteers, and find out their whereabouts last night. ”

“You think the killer works at the hospital?”

“They must have some connection,” she said. “Not sure what yet, but it’s the first time they have been almost caught—and their MO changed. They were rushed. Or it’s possible they don’t have anything to do with the two previous murders—but that would be some coincidence.”

McGaven added to his notes. “You got it.”

“Let’s get started. We need to find out if TJ stayed at a local motel…and we need to talk to Tami Clark,” said Katie.

“Copy that,” said McGaven.

“John, you up for a short jaunt?”

“You bet. What do you need?” he said.

“I know you don’t usually work the investigative part of a homicide or cold case, but we need the help…

and…I know you’re the best at what you do,” she said and smiled.

“Can you check out places that sell and install carpets…including ones that have remnants? If I’m correct about the evidence from the first crime scene, the killer seems to have transported Theresa rolled in a rug. See what you can find.”

John nodded. “I’ll check it out.”

Katie and McGaven grabbed a few files.

“Let’s go, Cisco,” Katie called.

“Road trip,” said McGaven.