Page 14 of So Silent

“Confirm?” Hector’s eyes widened with hope. That means you have a theory about who did this. Who did it?”

"We don't know that yet," Michael replied, “But we're exploring the possibility that the killer used high-frequency sounds to lure the victims."

Hector frowned. “Those bastards. I told them not to stop looking. I told them that asshole would come back. This is what you get when the police are too lazy to do their jobs.”

His hands closed into fists. Faith worried they might lose control of the interview, but Turk laid his hand in Hector’s lap and gazed into his eyes. She had seen him do this many times with grieving family members. It never failed to calm them, and Hector was no exception. His hands relaxed, and he softly stroked Turk’s fur, looking forlornly back at the German Shepherd.

“So you think that this other victim had good hearing too?”

“Yes,” Faith replied. “When your sister was… the night she was…”

“Murdered,” Hector finished. “You don’t have to be soft with me about it. I live with it every day.”

Faith nodded. "When Maria was murdered, a neighbor reported that his dogs were distressed. In the case of the most recent victim, a passerby reported that local dogs were also reacting with distress. And yes, she had exceptional hearing. Now we know that your sister did as well, thanks to you."

“Will it help you to know that?”

“Anything that gives us a better picture of things helps.”

“Do you think it’s someone in the program?”

Faith sat up a bit straighter when Hector said that. “The program?”

“At the University of Washington. There was a research program ten years ago. She went there for hearing tests. They were trying to determine what gave some people perfect pitch.”

“What school?” Faith asked.

Hector blinked. “The University of Washington.”

He looked a little concerned that Faith could have forgotten that so soon. Michael rescued her. “She means what school of study. Is it the School of Communication? The School of Applied Sciences?”

“You know, I’m not sure,” Hector said, “but I think maybe I’ve got something around here. If I still have it, I mean. She wrote some phone numbers for me on one of the postcards.”

“Postcards?”

“You get paid for a study like that,” Hector said, “and they send you a postcard when your appointments are coming up or when you can do an extra appointment.”

“All of it snail mail?” Michael asked.

"Ten years ago, yeah. Dunno why. Nowadays, I'm pretty sure the Post Office only exists to bring you bills."

“That would be a big help, if you can find us that information.” Faith said. “It might lead us to more people who can talk to us and sometimes just talking to more people who interacted with… the more people we can speak with who knew the people involved, the more likely we are to discover something that can send us in the right direction.”

“Anything I can do to help, I will.” He stood, gently disengaging from Turk, and headed upstairs. “I keep all of her stuff in my room. It might take me a while. There’s a lot of it.”

“Take your time.”

When he was out of sight, Faith turned to Michael. “I want to find out if Rebecca went to the same study. That would give us a connection between the victims.”

"Not to mention a very small pool of people who would have known that both of them were susceptible to high-frequency sound," Michael agreed. "I hate to ask, but are we sure Hector's not the guy? His grief is real, but a lot of killers grieve."

Faith shook her head. “No, he didn’t show any sign of deception when he said he didn’t know who Rebecca Wells was. Even pathological liars show some sign that they’re not telling the truth.”

“I figured. I just had to ask.”

Hector returned downstairs. Faith lifted her eyebrow. “That was fast.”

“Yeah,” he chuckled. “I found what I was looking for sooner than I expected. There’s a separate little box with all of her college stuff. I found the postcard on top. Um…” he hesitated, the card still in his hand. “Do you guys mind just taking a picture of it? I realized why I kept it now. It’s got her handwriting on it, and I don’t have anything else with her handwriting. Not from when she was an adult.”

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