Part 6 (1/2)
Hailey frowned. ”She was killed in her office, then moved?”
”Yep. Not nearly enough blood here for a primary site. She'd stopped pumping blood before she was moved. I'd say at least ten minutes before based on the blood quant.i.ty, but that's a guess.” She pointed to the building. ”Roger Sampers has a team up there. Down here, we've got some tire tracks. Maybe eight sets of good ones. We'll cast them.
”Also, we found prints in the car-a lot of them, actually. Some are clean-they might belong to the deceased or to the perp. The rookie cop touched some stuff. I need hers to rule them out. I've got fibers and hairs-it's a heyday of c.r.a.p in that car.”
Hailey looked back at the vehicle Natasha had been driving. It was a gold Ford Taurus, department issued. She frowned. ”Sydney, it's a department car.”
Sydney raised gloved hands. ”I know. It's going to be a nightmare to sort out. Can you get us a list of who's been driving it?”
Hailey nodded. ”No problem, but it'll be a dozen people in the last two weeks, easy. We'll need to go back further to rule them all out. These cars don't get cleaned much.”
”Go back a month. Most of the good prints will be newer than that. We'll find as many as we can. You're the one who's got to find a suspect to match them.”
”No prints on the skin, then?” Hailey asked.
Sydney smiled. ”One very nice index finger.”
Hailey looked over at the tall, thin rookie. ”Hers?”
Sydney nodded. ”Pretty sure. We'll check it, of course, but it's on the neck, right at the jugular.”
”Checking for a pulse,” Hailey thought out loud. ”Anything else?”
Sydney let out an uncharacteristic sigh. ”Not yet.”
”We'll get him.”
Sydney nodded. ”It's why we do it.”
Hailey smiled, excused herself, and pulled one of the uniforms away from the scene. He was on the skinny side, short reddish-brown hair and light eyes that seemed too young to be on the face of a police officer. She read his name badge. ”Officer Grossen-”
”Grossenbacher,” he said. ”Means 'big river' in German.”
”Okay, Officer Big River, I need you to compile a list of everyone on the scene right now. Get full names, phone numbers, when they arrived, and what they saw. Get your partner to help.”
He jerked his right hand into the air as if starting to salute. He caught himself, stopped, his face going red as he turned away quickly. She glanced down at his s.h.i.+ned boots. Army, she guessed. Law enforcement was a natural succession for people who'd served in the armed services. Always took a while to get the military out.
Hailey scanned the crowd until she found what she wanted. Get the worst over first. As Hailey crossed toward her, Jamie fumbled with her pack of cigarettes, shook one loose. Her hands seemed to shake as she lit it. If possible, Jamie looked more uncomfortable than she'd been at the awards banquet. Through the haze smoke, Hailey smelled a mix of something like lavender and peppermint.
”I figured you'd want to talk to me,” she said as a flame flared from her lighter with a hiss. When she opened her mouth, Hailey noticed that her teeth were still clean and white. A sign of vanity, Hailey took it for good news. Deeply depressed people often had no regard for hygiene. Despite some of the signs, maybe Jamie wasn't as bad off as she could have been.
”Just what you saw.”
”Nothing,” Jamie responded, blowing smoke over her shoulder although the wind returned it directly into Hailey's face. ”I got here about quarter to eight. I was just stopping through on my way down to the lab building to check on some evidence from the Osbourne a.s.sault last night.”
Hailey frowned.
”Emily Osbourne was attacked and raped in the stairs last night.”
”Oh, G.o.d,” Hailey said. ”Is she-”
”She'll live,” Jamie said flatly.
s.h.i.+t.
”When I got here, I ran into Linda James. She told me.”
Hailey shook her head. ”Where were you last night?”
”You have a time of death?” Jamie asked.
”Not yet.”
Jamie dropped her cigarette, stamped it out and then retrieved her b.u.t.t off the pavement. ”I left the station at about two. I was here for maybe an hour, so maybe it was two-ten or so. We pulled our suspect in after the rape exam. Was.h.i.+ngton was with me.”
”You nail him?”
She shook her head, looked away. ”On the way home, I stopped for gas and cigarettes.”
Hailey was poised to write.
Jamie shook her head. ”I can't think of it.” She rolled her hand through the air. ”The one with the tiger.”
”Exxon,” Hailey supplied.
Jamie nodded. ”Exxon. Off the Central San Rafael exit. On Irwin, maybe. I paid cash. Marlboro Lights. Kid behind the counter had red hair, skinny, some tattoo on his forearm. A lizard or something. Oh, and one of those little squares of hair under his lower lip. What do the kids call that?”
”Soul patch.”
”Right.” Jamie fiddled with the b.u.t.t of the cigarette like she wanted to light another one. ”Stupid-looking thing.”
The details were good. Any cop knew that details were what made a story believable. Some things would be hearsay, but details like that could be checked. ”And before the interview?”
”I was at the awards thing with you until I got the call on Osbourne. It was-what-close to nine o'clock? I went straight to the hospital and from there to the station. Came back this morning. In between, I was at home.”
Hailey hesitated a moment. She hated to ask but there was no way around it. ”And at home. You were alone?”
Jamie paused, drawing a deep drag on her cigarette and blowing it out over her shoulder. ”Alone.”
Something about the way she said it made Hailey hesitate. ”You sure, Jamie? If you weren't alone, it would make it easier. I can be discreet.”
Jamie smoked a moment, then dropped the cigarette to the ground and stamped it out.
Hailey waited. ”You were alone,” she prompted again.
”I've got a dog named Barney. Don't know if he'd be convincing in cross-examination.”