Page 24 of See How They Hide

Lani sighed and sorrow returned to her face. “I can’t believe someone killed her. Jane was an angel, truly. The world is a lesser place without her in it.”

By the time they left, it was raining again. Kara took it in stride. She’d gone to high school in a small town outside Spokane, Washington; she knew about rain and cold and drizzle. She’d always prefer the near-perfect Los Angeles weather, but she didn’t hate the rain.

Michael, on the other hand, opened his umbrella with a frown and covered them both on the short walk to the car. Kara would have teased him, but it wasn’t fun teasing Michael about his fastidiousness. He took his personal grooming very seriously. But his impeccable wardrobe was fair game. He’d earned the nickname GQ.

They drove to Ashley’s apartment. Kara knew from Kinder that Ashley didn’t have classes on Tuesdays. It was after nine, so Kara had no problem waking her if she was still sleeping.

When Ashley answered the door she was in pajama bottoms and a tank top, her hair a mess, and a mug of coffee in her hand. “Hi,” she said with a yawn. “What time is it?”

“Nine ten,” Kara said. “This is my partner, FBI Agent Michael Harris. I’m sorry to just stop by, but I wanted to look at one more thing in Jane’s room. Is that okay?”

“Um, sure?” She opened the door wider and Michael and Kara walked in. The smell of marijuana was strong.

A young man was slouched on the couch in sweats and no shirt. A bong was on the table in front of him and he made no move to hide it. Why would he? Marijuana was legal in Oregon. Kara didn’t much like it, though. Everyone she knew who smoked pot regularly had little motivation to do much of anything.

“We can show ourselves,” Kara said and motioned toward Jane’s door.

Michael followed her in, closed the door. “Let’s make this quick.”

She stood in the middle of the room, looked around. Then she pulled up the photos from the email, scrolled through them, and walked over to Jane’s closet. What had seemed so familiar to her?

Shoes...clothes...

The suitcase.

She pulled Jane’s suitcase off the top shelf and brought it over to her bed. She studied the photo of Chris Crossman’s closet and the row of identical suitcases stacked side by side on the shelf above the clothes.

Jane’s was the same style suitcase. It looked identical.

“What do you think?” she asked Michael.

He looked from the photo to the suitcase, nodded. “It’s the same. But devil’s advocate—it’s a common brand.”

“Yes, but both owners are dead.”

She took pictures of Jane’s suitcase, then searched it. There was only one thing inside—a toiletry kit. It looked identical to the kits in Crossman’s linen closet. Inside the kit was half-used shampoo and conditioner—same brand that Crossman had—and an extra toothbrush and pink razor.

There was also an envelope that looked exactly like the ones that held Crossman’s cash.

Kara carefully opened it. Inside were three one-hundred-dollar bills.

“I think it’s conclusive,” she said and showed them to Michael.

“Call Matt, tell him what we found, take pictures, and then we’ll bring everything with us.”

Chris Crossman had given Jane this suitcase. And Jane had likely stayed at his house, at least for a short time. Whatthatmeant, however, she had no idea.

10

Quantico, Virginia

Ryder set up the video conference in Matt’s office, then left to take a call from Denver that he had been waiting for. Matt would have preferred Ryder on the conference call—his insight was valuable, and he was the go-to guy for information—but getting answers from Colorado was a priority.

Catherine came in and sat next to Matt so they would both be on-screen during the call. He finished bringing the rest of the team into the secure chat—Jim and Sloane in a conference room at the Santa Fe police station, and Kara and Michael in the business center of their hotel, which Michael had secured for the next hour.

As soon as everyone gave their thumbs-up that they could hear, Matt said, “You all read each other’s reports, so we can save time. Catherine has been fine-tuning her profile, and Ryder’s on a call with the Denver field office, so he may have more information in a few minutes. Zack Heller is analyzing Crossman’s finances to determine why he has so much cash. Jim, we’ll start with you and Sloane. Did you learn anything new from Crossman’s colleagues?”

“Not much,” Jim said. “But I thought it interesting that, just like Kara learned from Jane’s colleagues at the bakery, no one knew anything about his past. He never talked about family or where he was from. His employment records are thin—social security number, degree in mathematics from University of Colorado at Denver, teaching credentials from the state of New Mexico. His emergency contact is his next-door neighbors, a married couple who don’t live here full-time. They asked Crossman to keep an eye on their place when they’re gone—they split their time between Los Angeles and Santa Fe. Ryder has the documentation, so he’s going to verify the degree, see if he can find anyone who knew Crossman while he was at college.”