Page 29 of Crossing Lines

“We still need to talk to Vicky Rutherford and Kaylee Summers. I’ll see if I can arrange a time,” Jo said, consulting her notes from the small paper notebook she carried. Most cops used their cell phones or tablets, but sometimes she still liked using good old-fashioned paper and pencil.

Movement at the door caught Jo’s eye. Major was rubbing his cheek on the frame, his eyes glued to the toy.

“I’ve looked at these pictures for hours and can’t find any clue.” Sam walked closer to the corkboard. He was good at finding patterns that stuck out, noticing things that didn’t belong. If he didn’t see anything amiss in the photos, chances were there was nothing. It was unfortunate, because they could usually glean a few clues to follow up on just by looking at the pictures of the crime scene. In this case, the only thing they had was one hair and a cryptic email.

Major appeared unconcerned about their lack of clues as he slunk slowly along the wall toward the toy.

Jo’s gaze returned to the pictures. She couldn’t see anything either. “Don’t worry, something will break.”

Sam turned to her. “I forgot to tell you last night that I swung by the party spot on the way to your place. No one was there.”

“So the murder has them spooked.”

“Maybe. Or maybe they are partied out. I was hoping to see how many redheads are in the group. I’ll have to track Jesse down and hope he remembers.”

Jo snorted. With the way Jesse smoked weed, she doubted he would.

Over at the window, Major crouched down and reached a paw out toward the toy.

Lucy slept, blissfully unaware, as Major skewered the toy with one of his claws and dragged it close. Lucy shifted position.

With the toy a safe distance away, Major grabbed it in his mouth and spun around.

Lucy woke up and looked for the toy, only to see Major’s fluffy tail high in the air as he made a beeline for the door with the toy in his mouth.

Woof!

Lucy’s gaze shifted from Major to Sam, her eyes pleading as if she wanted Sam to punish the cat and bring the toy back.

“Sorry, Buddy, I can’t fight your battles.”

Wyatt appeared in the door. “Good news. I’ve traced the email about the pie that Menda received. You won’t believe where it came from.”

“The prison?” Jo hoped it was Thorne messing with them.

“Nope. The Black Cat Café.”

The café was the place that emails had originated from in their previous case with the girls who had been murdered five years ago.

Sam frowned. “Wait a minute. So this is the same guy that killed those girls five years ago?”

“It doesn’t necessarily mean that,” Jo said. “It could be a copycat or disciple, or the email coming from the same place could be a coincidence.”

She hated to even think that serial killers had disciples.

“But it’s definitely not Thorne,” Sam said.

“Not unless he can spoof the IP address or something.” Jo looked to Wyatt to see if that was even possible.

Wyatt shook his head. “Nope. It definitely came from the café.”

Sam came around the desk. “Guess we better pay a visit to the Black Cat.”

Jo was already halfway out the door. “Good timing. I’m hungry.”

* * *

The Black Cat Café hadn’t changed since the last time they’d been there. Sam parked in front of the shop with its quirky sign featuring a giant black cat. Lucy eyed the sign warily from the back seat.

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