Read Online Body Count by P.D. Martin - Free Book Online Page A

‘fun,’ ‘gregarious,’ ‘funny,’ ‘entertaining.’” Apparently she liked everyone and everything, and always saw the positive in any situation.”
    â€œI wonder if she managed to do that on the table.”
    Sam continues. “She was also very charming and quite a flirt. She had a boyfriend she saw a couple of times a week, but he says it was casual. Says Jean liked to play the field. Her female friends corroborate this.”
    â€œSo, did she flirt with our guy? Did she know him before he abducted her?” I say, not expecting any answers.
    â€œThey think he nabbed her from her apartment. Inside.”
    â€œForced entry?”
    â€œDidn’t look like it.”
    â€œSo we’re thinking he knew her, or there was some other reason why she let him in.”
    â€œMust be.”
    â€œAny sign of a struggle?”
    â€œNo. But the guys found a bottle of wine, which was almost empty, and one glass with her lipstick.” Sam shuffles through the photos and finds the one of Jean’s kitchen.“There was enough saliva for a DNA test. It was positive for Jean. The glass on the sink—” she points to a wineglass that’s upturned on the draining board, “—was clean—no prints, no saliva, no DNA. We don’t know whether it was from the night before or if she was drinking with the killer and he had the good sense to wash the glass after him.”
    â€œCould be either. What about the boyfriend? When did he last see her?”
    â€œTwo days before. His prints were at the apartment and we found a couple of hairs that have been confirmed through DNA as his. But he’s got an alibi for the night she went missing.”
    â€œGood one?”
    â€œSolid.”
    Sam glances at her watch. “It’s getting late.”
    I look at the clock. It’s 11:30 p.m. “He’s taking shape.”
    â€œYeah, I’m starting to get a real good picture.”
    â€œLet’s sleep on it. We can talk again in the morning.”
    â€œOkay, Soph. Listen, thanks for your help. I know you’ve got a heavy load at the moment.”
    â€œNo problem. As the saying goes, two heads are better than one.”
    She grins, a tired smile. “Can’t argue with that. I’m going to work on the profile tomorrow, then you can have a look at it.”
    â€œI’ll see if I’ve got anything to add. God, we didn’t even get to the dump sites. Where were the bodies found?”
    â€œJean was found dumped in a stolen car on Roosevelt Island, under the Keys Bridge.”
    I know that area. The island is quite isolated and not many people visit it.
    Sam gathers up the photos and documents and puts them back in the file. “Coroner estimates she died about four days earlier.”
    â€œSo the killer couldn’t have been too worried about physical evidence.”
    â€œNo.”
    â€œWhat about the stolen car? Whose was it?”
    â€œThe car belonged to some old lady in Garfield Heights. Looks like the car was dumped well before the body.”
    â€œWhat about Teresa? Where’d they find her?”
    â€œShe was a bit different. She was found about four weeks after her death and farther out, in Cedarville State Forest.”
    â€œThat’s strange. Nothing else turned up at Cedarville?”
    â€œNo bodies, if that’s what you mean.” Sam yawns, puts the file in her briefcase and grabs her handbag. At the door she gives me a kiss on the cheek. “Good night, honey.”
    She bobs her head back around the corner just before I close the door. “And Marco—go for it.”
    I laugh. “Get out of here, you.”
    â€œSweet dreams.”
    I don’t respond. I wish I could dream about Marco instead of murder.
    I close the door.
    The apartment feels so empty now. I quickly do my pre-bed security check, even though Sam has been here, before collapsing on my bed. As soon as