The Trophy Exchange (14 page)

“
Yep,
”
Max said.
“
She had a rickety old shack her father built right on the banks of the Roanoke. Can
’
t figure why flood waters hadn
’
t washed that place away years ago.
”

Lucinda focused next on a shot of the woman
’
s face after the rock was removed. One silver hoop pierced one ear. The other lobe was empty. Around the neck, the clear, unmistakable slash of a ligature mark.
“
Did you find a rope or any other ligature?
”

“
Nope,
”
Fred said.
“
Tore the house
a
part for that, too.
”

“
Any fingerprints?
”

“
Not prints but we think we have marks. Hand me those photos,
”
Fred said. He grunted as he stretched across the table. He flipped through until he found the one he wanted and slid it across the table.
“
See that,
”
he said pointing to the small pool of blood by the victim
’
s head.
“
See those rounded impressions. Looks to me like someone wearing gloves pushed hi
m
self up off the floor right there.
”

“
Yes, I can see that
.”
Lucinda paused before she set foot in touchy territory that might dampen the new spirit of cooperation.
“
I saw the woman
’
s mother on TV.
”

“
Don
’
t remind me,
”
Fred said.

“
But what she said about the ring?
”

“
Damned woman is trying to protect her son Darrin.
”

“
You think he killed his sister?
”

“
No. Nothing like that. But we figured he stole that ring from somewhere and gave it to his sister. Darrin
’
s been nothing but trouble for years
:
vandalism, petty theft,
small time
player in the drug scene. We figured his sister got tangled up in one of his bad drug deals and she paid the price for his sins.
”

“
Bad Deals? What do you mean?
”

“
Darrin ain
’
t too bright and he ain
’
t a bit ethical. We busted him one time with a shitload of cocaine
–
at least that
’
s what we thought. That stuff was cut so many times it couldn
’
t get a cockroach high. There was only enough of the real thing in all those baggies for a minor possession rap. He got probation
–
nothing more. Sure wouldn
’
t surprise us if he did something that stupid again and really pissed someone off. But right
‘
bout now, I
’
m figuring we might be wrong. Is that how you
’
d see it?
”

“
Would Darrin have any reason to come up our way?
”
Lucinda asked.

“
Shoot, I don
’
t think that old boy
’
s ever been out of the county. But I can check it out,
”
Fred said.

“
I
’
d appreciate that.
”

“
What do you think is going on here, Lieutenant?
”

Lucinda paused, uncertain about how much to reveal. She evaded the question for the moment with one of her own.
“
Any DNA profiles from the scene?
”

“
That
’
s up at the state lab,
”
Max said.
“
They
’
ve pulled the vic
’
s DNA but haven
’
t found anything else yet. They
’
re still looking.
”

“
O
kay
.
”
Lucinda closed her eye and inhaled deeply.
“
Before I tell you about what I think is going on, I need you to understand it is just a theory
–
my theory
–
and I need your assurances you won
’
t leak anything I say to the media.
”

Fred and Max looked at each other and burst out laughing.
“
Media doesn
’
t hang around here much.
”
Max rolled his eyes.

“
Oh, we got a few calls after that Nancy Grace show,
”
Fred added.
“
Except for you, though, we never returned any of them and they stopped calling. The only thing we
’
ve got round these parts you could call media is an endless revolving series of young kids at the local radio station and a lazy old reporter at the weekly rag.
”

“
That will change soon. The connection between my homicide and yours is bound to leak out eventually
–
particularly if we find a similar MO in other jurisdictions.
”

“
We don
’
t plan on returning anyone
’
s calls, do we?
”
Fred turned to Max.

“
Nope.
”

“
The one thing that can
’
t be released to the press before we have an arrest is the jewelry connection,
”
Lucinda said.

“
There
’
s something more than that ring?
”
Fred asked.

“
Yes. I think so.
”
Lucinda swallowed hard
;
doubts about her newborn theory raced through her head along with doubts about sharing it with two investigators she barely knew. She continued anyway.
“
Kathleen Spencer
–
a Jewish woman
–
had a turquoise cross around her neck. Her missing ring showed up on the Haver girl here and one of that girl
’
s earrings is missing. I believe somewhere another vic has
–
or will have
–
that silver hoop looped through her ear.
”

“
You thinking serial killer?
”
Fred asked.

“
Maybe.
”

“
Shit,
”
Max said.

“
Maybe not,
”
Lucinda added.

As she walked out of the station, Max turned to Fred.
“
Mmmm, mmmm, mmm, what a waste. At one time, that was one fine
-
looking woman.
”

“
Let
’
s just hope she
’
s better at solving homicide
s
than she is at dodging pellets. She screws this up, we
’
re going down with her.
”

Lucinda drove out of the parking lot with copies of the Riverton crime
-
scene photos and with the suspect ring itself. She
’d
signed her life away to get custody of that piece of jewelry but it made more sense to take it with her than to drag Evan Spencer down to Riverton. She crossed back over the state line as her cellphone chirped.
“
Pierce,
”
she said.

“
Lucinda, it
’
s Ted.
”

“
Hey, Ted,
”
Lucinda said with a smile.

“
Have you finished up in Riverton yet?
”

“
Yeah, I
’
m on my way back. Should be in the office in an hour or less.
”

“
Useful trip?
”

“
I think we
’
ve got a connection, Ted.
”

“
You might have more then one. Four different jurisdictions called in
–
one with two cases. All of them have smashed faces and ligature marks.
”

“
Four departments?
Six
murders?
”

“
Yeah. F
ive
homicides before ours and one since the
Haver
kill
–
the body was just found
yesterday
morning.
”