Page 16 of Three for a Girl

“I’m Chad.”

“Great,” The DI said, patting his shoulder. “We’ll get you up to speed with the case.”

Chad nodded, more than grateful to get on with it, move on.

The DI looked pointedly at Faye, she dragged her gaze from Chad, and tapped the keys on her computer. The screen at the front of the incident room showed her desktop view, and she clicked on a file.

“Ellen Blakely,” she said.

A picture of Ellen appeared on screen. Long blonde hair, low cut top, sticking her tongue out at the camera. Her eyes were warm brown, her skin perfectly clear, Chad didn’t know whether she was using a filter on her photos or whether the look was natural. Either way, she was beautiful, and very popular by the number of likes on the posts.

“She’s been on the news, found last Thursday.” Chad said.

“Her body was found dumped in a ditch outside of town. There was a six-inch incision across her midriff, and her kidneys had been removed.”

Faye nipped her lip, shooting a glance Chad’s way. If she was expecting some kind of dramatic reaction, she wasn’t going to get it.

“Before or after death?” Chad asked.

Faye’s eyes found him again, still wide, and darting. Her lips popped open and closed, and Chad frowned.

“She—she was alive when the killer—"

“Christ.” Ally muttered. “She was alive when they were removed. Rope fibers were found in the wounds on her wrists, and the cut to her abdomen wasn’t clean. Ellen thrashed, mincing up some of her insides in the process. Both kidneys were taken out, and so far, they’re unaccounted for.”

Faye winced at Ally’s bluntness, and tapped another key. Images of Ellen’s injuries appeared on screen. Her roped-burned wrists, and the gaping hole in her stomach.

“The killer shoved a hat over her eyes.”

“A hat?”

Faye nodded, before finding the image of the hat. A woolly hat with the Scottsdale team logo and colors, burgundy, and yellow.

“It’s a football team.”

Josh looked over, grinning, “You know your teams, but do you know your logos and kits.”

“Huh?”

“The logo’s been altered, that hat isn’t from the last two years, it was bought before then.”

The DI snorted. “Three years before. The date it was made is on the label.”

Chad glanced his way. “You think this is football related?”

“We don’t have any concrete motive yet.”

“Or any concrete suspect.” Josh added.

The DI glared at Josh. “We have a strong lead suspect, though.”

“Look at the screen.” Ally said.

Chad snapped his attention to it. The screen was full of thumbnail pictures of Ellen. There was a man in most of her pictures, the two of them posed and draped themselves on each other. They were smiling in every photo, never looking anything less than perfect.

“Who’s he?” Chad asked.

“Ellen’s husband, Kerion.” Ally said, “They’re social media influencers and earned their fortune by endorsing products. Mainly health foods, and fitness equipment.”

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