Page 6 of So Silent

“Our Boss is very good at making sure we’re wherever he’s not,” Michael quipped. “I see bloodstains but no body. I’m assuming M.E. picked her up?”

Wanda frowned at Michael, clearly disapproving of his casual behavior. She kept her opinion to herself though and only nodded. “The coroner picked her up seven hours ago. He promised an autopsy to us by the end of the day, so you’ll probably have preliminary results from that by the time you’re finished here.”

Turk approached the largest of the bloodstains, a sticky pool about three feet wide that still hadn’t dried. Wanda’s frown deepened as he began to carefully sniff the area, but once more, she kept her disapproval to herself.

“Who called it in?” Faith asked.

“A vagrant named Barry Everett. He panhandles on Conch Avenue about a mile from here and usually sleeps behind one of the businesses at night.”

“Did he see the killer?”

“No. He woke up because he heard dogs barking and decided to move on because he thought one of the business owners was looking for him.”

“Why did he think one of the business owners was looking for him?”

"Vagrancy and loitering. He told us he's been chased off by dogs before, but he didn't want to do it again. He walked past and saw Rebecca's arm through the window, then called us."

“How did he call you?”

“Cell phone. Believe it or not, most homeless people have them.”

“I believe it,” Faith said. “Where is Mr. Everett now?”

“He’s at the precinct. He’s gotten three free meals out of this, and I’m guessing he’s going to try to barter a night in jail so he’ll have a roof over his head.”

“Can’t say I blame him,” Michael said.

"Me either," Wanda admitted. "I'd do the same thing. In any case, we weren't able to get much out of him. He didn't find the body until two o'clock, and she'd been dead for an hour by then. We didn't really suspect him, but he has an alibi. Most of the buildings around here have security cameras, and he's on all of them up until he reaches this one an hour after Rebecca dies. No chance he could have been here when she was killed."

“Anything notable about the scene?” Faith asked.

“She died quickly,” Wanda said.

“Is that notable?” Michael asked.

“In my experience, yes. Stab victims usually bleed out over several minutes. Wanda was out in less than one. She was stabbed here.”

She pointed a few yards behind the big bloodstain. Blood spatter had sprayed in a fine mist on the counter to what would have been Rebecca’s right and the wall to her left. Arterial spray. Faith anticipated to hear from the M.E. that her carotid was, in fact, severed.

“She walked three or four steps,” Wanda continued, showing them drops of blood that would have fallen from her throat to the floor. “Then she fell here and died.” She pointed at the big bloodstain. “Judging by fabric remnants left on the ground, she reached out with her arm and then stilled. Out like a light in less than a minute.”

Turk finished examining the bloodstain and trotted deeper into the studio. Wanda lifted her eyebrow questioningly, and Faith explained, “He’s going to look for clues. If he picked up the killer’s scent, he’ll be able to tell us where he came from.”

“How did the killer get inside?” Michael asked.

“We’re still trying to figure that part out,” Wanda said. “There’s no sign of forced entry. We don’t know if anyone else had a key to the studio. She worked alone, so it’s difficult to tell if anyone else could have gotten in here without breaking in. It’s possible she forgot to lock the door, but I find that unlikely. My preliminary hypothesis is that this was someone she knew and trusted.”

“What’s the connection to the violinist?”

Wanda chuckled. “That would be Maria Gonzalez. Yeah, the M.O. looks the same. Stabbed in the neck, died quickly, no evidence. We don’t know yet. But if they are connected, that would throw a wrench in the hypothesis that this was someone Rebecca knew. There’s no connection between the two of them.

“Maria didn’t work with Rebecca in the past?”

“No, she was exclusive to Sony records. Bethel was a subsidiary of EMI.”

“Got it.”

Turk trotted back to Faith and barked once. He hadn’t found anything either.

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