Page 19 of Just Right

"I’ve gotten into one of her online social media platforms. It looks like she sells homemade chocolates and cookies from home,” Cami said. “Before she came home, she was at the planetarium. Not viewing the show. She was making deliveries to a kiosk there. She pinned her location there and then came back, probably just over an hour ago."

Someone had known, without a doubt, that she was coming home,Connor thought.

"And she's blonde," Cami said, hanging back as they approached the master bedroom where Connor guessed the drowning had occurred in the ensuite bathroom.

Another blonde. Was it a coincidence? Or was the killer seeking out women with this hair color for a reason?

Perhaps viewing the body would give him an insight, although as he stepped into the bathroom, he saw Cami hang back. She was not comfortable with seeing the crime scene and as always, Connor felt a flash of irritation because the crime scene was exactly where he needed the eyes, ears, and impressions of his partner.

The victim was floating in the bath, face down. Her fair hair fanned out around her head. There was a trace of blood in the chilly water, and Connor guessed that the killer had hit her over the head in the same way he'd killed the others, before dumping her in the bath to make sure she drowned. Since she was fully clothed, she hadn't been in the bath at the time. She must have been moved there, dragged or carried.

That indicated some strength, because she was a well-built woman, not petite. Again, Connor felt the parameters in his mind shift. Someone strong. Someone with the power and physical strength to move these victims.

There was the blue bracelet with the same red stud earring in place, set carefully on the side of the tub.

"There's no footprints, no trace of him to be found so far," the detective said. "We can't find any fingerprints so far, but we're continuing to look. The only ones on the scene appear to be the victim's."

The coroner was already on the scene, crouched over the tub, carefully examining the victim before draining the water.

"She's been dead about an hour, I'd guess," he said, turning to Connor. "Taking into account the temperature of the water which would have cooled her faster. This is very recent."

Connor bit his lip. Recent was still not good enough. An hour sounded like a short time, but in an hour, the killer could have escaped the city completely.

One of the cops carefully lifted the bracelet and placed it in an evidence bag. Connor hoped forensics could get something from it, but there had been nothing found on the others, he recalled.

From the other room, he heard Cami calling out, "Connor, can you come here real quick?"

Connor knew that she should come to him but wouldn’t because of her dislike of murder scenes. As right now didn’t seem like a good time to push that particular argument forward, Connor walked out. But then he saw what she had seen.

The victim's purse was hanging over a chair in the bedroom. And in the purse, Connor could see the shape of a phone.

"I might be able to find something on there," Cami told him, her face earnest. "It looks to be an older phone and a type I can unlock easily. Do you want me to take a look?"

Connor knew this was where the powers of his unusual partner could come into play. Her abilities would give him the chance to get ahead.

"Take a look," he said, after checking that she had gloves on and would not contaminate any evidence. The phone would need to be signed in and form part of the scene's evidence, so unless there was a compelling reason to sign it out again, what Cami found here—if anything—would be their only clue.

He turned back to the bathroom, glancing around him as he searched for any sign of where this might have happened. Where had she been attacked? He guessed it was very possible that, having been confronted by an intruder wielding some form of weapon, she’d fled. There was nothing visible on scene, so he must have brought it with him. Perhaps in terror, she'd run into the bathroom, and he'd attacked her and delivered the killing blow there. That would have made it easy for him.

But why her? That was what was puzzling Connor. What had made this killer target her?

And then, from the bedroom, he heard Cami call out again, this time sounding excited.

"I've got something!"

"You have?"

Quickly, Connor rushed through, to see what secrets the phone had yielded.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Cami glanced up as Connor hurried back into Marion Albert’s bedroom. She had been perched on the bed but quickly got up, not sure if sitting on a bed counted as contaminating the scene.

"This phone." She held it up in her gloved hand. "It's got malware on it. I've just found it running in the background."

Malware, thanks to her recent escapades in the FBI database, was something she was on the lookout for. It might be her own guilty secret, but perhaps it could help them on this case.

"What type of malware?" he asked.

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