Page 15 of Crossing Lines

The next morning, Sam arrived at the station early. He’d promised Maria Stillwell he would find her daughter’s killer, and the sooner he could make good on that, the better.

He looked over the report from the autopsy and was disturbed to discover that Kirsten had been strangled in a way similar to the other victims they’d found. The only forensic evidence found on the body was one dark-brown hair. Kirsten was a redhead, so it wasn’t hers, but of course it could have come from anyone. Still, the hair could help place a suspect at the scene of the crime, if they actually had a suspect.

Wyatt looked up from his desk. “Hey, Chief, I have those addresses you wanted.”

Sam had given Wyatt the names of Kirsten’s friends that Maria Stillwell had provided. Sam intended to interview them today. Hopefully something would shake out.

“Aha!” Reese yelled from her position wedged in the narrow gap beside the filing cabinet and the wall. She wriggled out backwards and held up the octopus toy. “Major hid this behind here. Not fair to Lucy.”

Lucy’s ears perked up. She stared, bright-eyed, at the toy dangling from Reese’s hand.

“Here you go.” Reese tossed the toy to Lucy.

“Where is Major?” Sam looked around warily, expecting the cat to dart out and cause some sort of ruckus. He wasn’t sure what to think about that cat. He was more of a dog person, but he felt responsible for its welfare since they were the reason it was homeless.

Sam didn’t have to wait long to find out. No sooner had Lucy disappeared into Sam’s office than he heard a loud, defiant meow, followed by a pitiful whimper from Lucy. Major ran out into the squad room with the toy in his mouth. He darted behind the filing cabinet. Reese put her hand on her hips and shook her head. “I guess we’re going to have to move that thing closer to the wall.”

“Looks like Lucy lost that battle,” Wyatt said.

Sam went to check on the dog. She was sitting in the patch of sun under the ten-foot-tall windows that looked out over the town common with its bright-green grass and tall oaks and maples.

Sam crouched down and saw the look of exasperation in Lucy’s eyes. “That cat’s a bully, isn’t he?”

Lucy blinked. Sam noticed a scratch on her nose. “Maybe I should disinfect this.”

“Is she okay?” Wyatt and Reese appeared in the doorway, looking concerned.

Sam stood. “Just a scratch.”

“I’ll get the first aid kit.” Reese disappeared back into the squad room.

“I can’t believe Beryl Thorne didn’t know her uncle was trying to get Lucas out of jail.” Wyatt leaned against the doorway.

Sam put the paper with the addresses on the surface of his desk. It was a leftover from the post office that used to occupy the space and was scarred with postal marks and staples, but it was solid oak and oversized, which made it the perfect desk in Sam’s eyes. He leaned his hip against the edge and filled Wyatt in on his talk with Beryl. “I know it sounds crazy, but that was my impression.”

“I wouldn’t trust any information Beryl Thorne gave me,” Reese, who was now tending to Lucy’s scratch, said.

Sam knew Reese didn’t like Beryl any more than Jo did. He wasn’t really sure why. Maybe they had some kind of intuition on other females. He should probably pay attention to that. In fact, Sam didn’t much trust Beryl himself. “I don’t really. But I think I’m a pretty good judge of people, and I’m sure she was truly surprised.”

Reese petted Lucy on the head and stood. “Okay, you’re all set, girl.” She turned to Sam. “Seems like something funny is going on to me.”

“No doubt. Don’t worry, we’ll get to the bottom of it. But for today, we have a murderer to track down.”

Sam glanced at the corkboard where he usually laid out his clues. On his desk was a stack of crime scene pictures, but other than the hair, he didn’t have one piece of physical evidence he could call a clue. Maybe if he tacked them up on the board, something would jell.

“Hey, everyone.” Jo appeared in the doorway. “Sorry I’m late. I’m not used to having someone at the house.”

“You picked up Bridget last night? How did that go?” Sam asked, hoping things would be normal between them today.

“Good. It’s weird because I don’t really know her that well.” Jo shrugged. “She seems to be settling in. I guess we’ll get to know each other better over the next few weeks.”

Lucy whined, and Jo glanced over.

“What’s wrong with Lucy?” Her eyes narrowed, “Hey, is she injured?” She rushed over, squatting beside the dog to inspect the scratch and clucking sympathetically.

“She lost the toy battle to Major this morning,” Reese said.

Jo looked at Reese over her shoulder. “Oh no. Poor baby.” Jo made a few more noises of sympathy at Lucy then stood and looked at Sam. “Did you visit Kevin last night?”

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