Page 20 of The Last Close Call

“He didn’t know of anything specific but said his sister probably wouldn’t have told him about it. Anyway, John Bauer and Amber broke up six months ago.”

Typically, an ex-boyfriend—particularly a “controlling” one who raised red flags with the victim’s family—would zoom straight to the top of any suspect list.

But this case wasn’t typical.

Jack watched Heidi’s expression, searching for clues to how she was leaning, but she had a good poker face.

“The evidence doesn’t fit with a vengeful-ex scenario,” Jack said.

“I’m aware.” She sighed. “But that doesn’t make it your guy, either.”

Jack just looked at her, wondering whether she had something new to tell him to explain why she didn’t like his theory.

“So, no DNA. Same condom brand. The choking.” Jack paused. “The T-shirt draped over the television.”

She frowned. “I know. But all of that’s circumstantial.”

She was right.

“You’re sure it’s the same guy?” she asked.

“No.”

“But you believe it’s him.”

He nodded.

She sighed again and shook her head.

“You still aren’t convinced?” he asked.

“No.” She gave a slight shrug. “But I’m coming around.”

“You know, Amber Novak grew up in Austin, so they could have crossed paths here,” Jack said. “Maybe he’s someone from her childhood.”

“Gee, that hadn’t occurred to me.”

“Sorry.” Jack combed his hand through his hair. “I sound like a know-it-all.”

“Well, you do, but that’s why I came here. I want your input. If you’re right about the connection with your rape cases, that makes you the expert on this UNSUB. You know more about him than anyone, and I have questions. For example, the T-shirt thing. What’s up with that?”

Jack turned and opened the fridge to grab a beer. He offered it to Heidi, but she shook her head.

He twisted off the top and took a sip, then set the bottle on the counter. “You know, five years ago this was the hottest case we had going.”

Heidi just watched him. She’d moved to San Antonio by then, but he knew she would have followed the investigation in the news.

“The press was all over us, we were doing briefings all the time,” he said.

“And then he stopped.”

“That’s debatable.”

“Five years with no attacks?” she asked. “Sounds like a hiatus to me.”

“No attacks that we know of,” Jack corrected. He took another sip and set the bottle down. “We had no new reports, but we continued to work the cases hard. We didn’t let up.”

Jack had remained fixated on the unsolved rapes long after the media had moved on and the public had seemingly forgotten. The brazenness of the crimes had always bothered him, and he’d believed all along the perpetrator was capable of murder. Jack had been determined to track him down before that.

---