Page 73 of Three Girls Gone

“No, thankfully,” Damon said.

“You’ve done very well,” Amanda told the Maynards. In fact, she was very impressed by their overall composure during the interview. Hope was doing its job and holding them together. “Detective Stenson and I have enough to start our search for Eloise, but before we leave, we’re just going to pop upstairs and look at her room, if that’s all right?”

“Yes, of course,” Damon told them.

“Please just send the list of people who attended the birthday party to the email noted on my card.” She gave one to Damon, who passed it along to Krista.

Amanda left the room with Trent, and McGee returned. She overheard him asking the Maynards if he could call anyone to come be with them, as she started up the stairs.

The sound of CSIs Blair and Donnelly moving around helped direct Amanda where to go.

She found Donnelly bent over a section of floor with a sheet of mylar laid down. Amanda had seen this process before and knew that she’d be electro-charging it with a special apparatus to lift shoeprints unseen to the naked eye. Amanda wondered if CSI Stuart, for all her supposed thoroughness, had done this. If she had, she hadn’t said anything about it.

Blair stepped over to the doorway, a camera strapped around her neck. “Two in a matter of days. What’s going on?”

“We’re trying to find out,” Amanda replied, turning to Trent. “Whoever is behind this is escalating. They acted impulsively by taking Eloise. So much so their MO has changed. He’s breaking into homes now. CSI Stuart wouldn’t commit to that being the case at the Tanner home.”

“CSI Stuart doesn’t commit to much. She’s very black and white. Too much so, if you ask me,” Blair said.

“A person has to know their mind and stand their ground.” Amanda took in the room. The bed was slept in. The sheets were disturbed, and the blanket was on the floor.

“Emma?” Donnelly called for CSI Blair’s attention. “There’s something under the bed here. Hand me a marker, and photograph it, please.”

Blair grabbed a yellow evidence marker from a kit and walked around to where Donnelly was pointing.

Hairs were standing up on Amanda’s arms, as she walked to where the CSIs were bunched together. “What is it?”

“Could be socks, a bunched-up shirt… Fabric anyhow.” Donnelly’s voice was strained and then petered out as Blair took a few pictures, the flash widening out.

Then Blair reached under the bed and pulled out Donnelly’s find.

“Way to steal a woman’s thunder,” Donnelly mumbled.

“You’ll get over it,” Blair said drily and came out holding a microfiber cloth in her hand.

“Dropped there by someone who was cleaning?” Trent said.

Blair’s response was to sniff it. “Chloroform.”

Donnelly came to her with an evidence bag, and Blair dropped the cloth in and sealed it up.

“I guess we know how he got the girl to stay quiet.” Though Amanda’s mind tried to fill in the rest of the blanks. Had he taken her limp body out the front door in his arms?

“You saidhefor a second time.” Trent squinted, peering at her face.

“Because I think we’re after a male here. Not going at this with a closed mind or anything, but I’m reverting to statistics and a gut feeling. We also can’t ignore the mystery man we have with the Tanner case we haven’t yet tracked down.”

“There’s always one.” Donnelly smiled at Amanda.

At least the investigator found it amusing. “Job hazard, but a look at our track record also tells us they don’t stay a mystery for long.”

“That’s right.” Blair smiled. “Now, I will tell you we processed the note and found one print. We ran it through a new mobile device we have.”

“New tech? I guess we’re moving up in the world,” Trent said.

“Yeah, yeah,” Blair said.

Amanda just wanted to get on with the result. “And what did you find out?”