Page 24 of Unbearable
“We just got confirmation from dentals on the latest victim,” Danny said, handing her a piece of paper. She wrote Jack Dawson above the photos from the morgue. She would add a photo of him alive as soon as possible. It was important to remember that these were men with lives and people who loved them, not just some body on a slab.
“Mr. Dawson was from Hartford. Looks like he was here on business too,” she added. “He was reported missing by his boss when he didn’t turn up to head to the airport the next day. He was also found stripped of clothing with a St. Francis’s medal around his neck. We should know more when the lab gets back to us with their report.”
She looked over the report for any other details she needed to voice. Finding none, she looked up at the chief waiting to see what he would say.
“It looks like you might be right, Detective. See what else you can find. Touch base with Cambridge. We’ll need a copy of their files,” he said. “You’ll be point on this. Are you good with that, Danny?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good. Dom, Kyle, shift your load to someone else. I assume you’ll want to be in on this.” He turned once again to face her. “I’ll expect a full report tomorrow morning.” With a nod, he left the room. Those who remained turned their gazes on her awaiting instruction.
“Okay, Dom, do you want to keep working on the Goodwin case. Danny, contact Buffalo and see if they can send someone to interview the boss. I’ll contact Cambridge and have them send over their files. We might have the detectives on that case brought over for a while. We’ll meet back at about four. Sound good?”
She watched as the other detectives got to work. If they could just connect the dots on the cases, maybe it would lead them closer to their killer. She knew Danny would get to work tracing Dawson’s whereabouts during his trip to Boston. Now to convince another district to turn over their case.
She returned to her office and put in the request for the case file from Cambridge. Danny reported that Buffalo PD was sending someone to the law office to interview Dawson’s boss. She doubted he could shed much light on what happened, but with any luck, he could tell them where Dawson was going that night.
“Hope I’m not interrupting,” Sean said, walking into the office. “I thought you’d want the final autopsy findings as soon as possible.” He crossed the room and dropped into the side chair next to her desk. “I emailed you a copy, but here are the hard copies of everything.”
Dover snatched the copies from his hand and began pouring over them.
“Nothing new to report. He was strangled by some sort of belt. I don’t think it was done manually because there are no defense wounds. I did find a small needle mark on his neck, but whatever he was given doesn’t show up on the toxicology report. My thought is he was kept alive for a while before death. At least twelve hours if GHB was used.”
“Thanks, Sean.” He was sitting close enough for her to catch the scent of cedarwood. It took all of her concentration not to lean into it. She mentally shook her head. There was no way she could develop a crush on the medical examiner during an open investigation of this magnitude. It was completely unprofessional. Not to mention ridiculous.
“Alleman and Dawson were very similar except for the medals. I pulled Bianchi’s case back out and reviewed it also. It’s definitely the same MO down to the same size strap used in yourcase. I didn’t notice anything the other ME missed. If you’d like me to, I can read over the Cambridge case when it arrives. Just let me know.”
“That would be great. I’ll forward it as soon as it shows up.” He smiled, and she couldn’t help but smile back.
“Yeah, there’s no special treatment there,” Danny mumbled once Sean left.
“Strictly professional.”
“Then why are you still grinning like a fool?”
Dover scowled. Snatching up the autopsy, she stomped out of their office. She needed to add the latest notes to the boards in the incident room anyway.
She wondered if Danny was right though.Was it possible Sean was interested?She shoved the high school crush thoughts to the back of her mind. Uncapping the dry-erase marker, she began updating the case boards.
Dom had been filling in the timeline for the Goodwin. He had last been seen at a bar in Southie in the company of a blonde woman. That was interesting. It wasn’t far from where they had traced Alleman’s last whereabouts to. She needed those files from Cambridge, now.
“Hey, Danny?” she said, stepping back into the office. “Do we have a list of all the Southie bars?”
“Should.” He pounded on his computer for a minute until the printer started to hum. “That’s a pretty big list,” he added, nodding at the printer. “What are you thinking?”
“Bianchi’s vic was last seen at a Southie bar with a blonde. It’s worth a shot. Alleman was also seen in Southie. Maybe that’s his hunting ground. Do we have a better photo of Dawson yet?”
“Just came in.” He handed her a photo of a young man smiling for the camera. Her heart hurt for the family who would never get to see that smile again.
“Can you hold it down, while I go see what I can find?” She checked her watch. “Everything should be open, but not too crowded yet.”
“Go on. I’ll call you if anything comes up.”
“Thanks, Danny.” She took the list off the printer and headed out.
CHAPTER 9
“Thanks for watching him,”Fox said, ushering Ethan into Bailey’s house.