Tags:
Fiction,
General,
Suspense,
Mystery & Detective,
Suspense fiction,
Crime,
Police Procedural,
Murder,
Crimes against,
rape,
Rich people,
Abused wives,
Daughters,
Atlanta (Ga.),
Crimes of Passion,
Georgia - Employees,
Daughters - Crimes Against
thought in terms of how she could frame a case for the prosecutor. "Bringing the knife to the crime scene shows intent. Go on."
"There's dried blood on the glass outside the front door. Whoever broke it already had blood on his or her hand-it's on the outside of the pane. I'd guess it would take someone with an arm that was around three feet long to reach in through that window and unlock the front door."
"So, no forced entry-the girls let their attacker into the house. Whoever busted the glass obviously wanted to make it look as if he broke in." Amanda mumbled, "I suppose we have CSI to thank for his stupidity."
"Or someone smart enough to make it look stupid."
She raised an eyebrow. "Possibly. Do you think we should be looking at the father more closely?"
"He sells cars and he's a jerk. I'm sure there's a long list of enemies, but this feels deeply personal. Look at Kayla Alexander. Whoever killed her was furious. If you're a hired gun, you go in, take out the target and leave. You don't spend time beating her and you don't use a knife."
"What was your conversation like with Paul Campano?"
"He doesn't seem to know a lot about her life," Will said. Thinking back on the interview, he realized that this fact seemed to be the genesis of Paul's anger. It was as if he had never met his own daughter. "The mother had to be sedated. I'll go back at her first thing tomorrow."
"Do we know if Alexander was raped?"
"Pete isn't sure yet. Bruising would indicate yes, and there's sperm in her vagina, but it's also on the crotch of her panties."
"So, she stood up and put on her underwear at some point after intercourse. Let's see if the sperm comes back to our other victim, if that's what we're calling corpse number two for the moment." Amanda pressed her finger to her lip as she thought this through. "What about the mother? Hysterics, sedation. Pretty dramatic stuff and it conveniently takes her out of the spotlight."
"I think she's genuinely horrified about what's happened and she's scared she's going to be arrested for killing someone in cold blood."
Amanda looked at the dark, congealed pool where the body had lain. "Good defense if you ask me. Let's go back to the father. Maybe he was molesting the daughter."
Will felt his body break out in a sudden cold sweat. "He wouldn't do that."
Amanda studied him. "Do you have a previous relationship with this person that I should know about?"
"What did he say?"
She gave him a sharp smile. "You don't have the luxury of not answering my question."
Will felt his jaw working and made himself stop. "It was a long time ago."
Amanda seemed to realize Charlie was at her feet, picking through carpet fibers with a pair of tweezers. She murmured to Will, "A discussion for another time."
"Yes, ma'am."
Amanda's tone went back to normal. "Charlie, can you walk me through this?"
Charlie finished what he was doing and stood up with a groan, rubbing one of his knees as if he needed to work some life back into it. He pulled down his mask again. "We lucked out with the blood. The female decedent is B-negative, the male decedent is O-negative. The carpet here"-he indicated the shoe prints-"shows almost exclusively B, indicating the female decedent."
"Charlie." Amanda stopped him. "Just paint me a story. Adam and Kayla. Go."
He allowed a smile at the situation. "This is all supposition, of course, but we might assume Kayla was chased down this hallway, toward the back staircase. The killer caught up with her about here." He indicated a distance of about three feet behind them. "We found a significant patch of hair, part of the scalp still attached, here." He pointed to another spot on the carpet. "From this we might conclude that she was jerked back by her hair and fell onto the floor. Possibly, this is the point at which she was raped-or not. The probability that she died here is very high."
Amanda looked at her watch again. Like Will, she hated the fact that forensics worked in the couched
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