“You know I keep a gun in the glove box.” She added, “And I was already suspicious. I wouldn’t have been that easy.”
“No, you wouldn’t.” His hand reached out and gently touched her cheek. “But I think you wouldn’t have been so eager to run out of the house if your precious reconstruction wasn’t in danger.”
“I don’t know if I would or not.” She could feel the fury that she had been trying to subdue start to rise. “I do know I’m angry as hell that Jenny’s reconstruction was stolen. All I have now are those computer photos that I—” She stopped. “The photos.” She whirled away from Joe. “The photos, Joe. That’s the only documentation I have on the reconstruction. I was going to send them to Nalchek later today, but I—”
“You were interrupted.” He took her elbow and strode toward his car. “And you weren’t ambushed because the killer had something more important he had to do first.”
*
There was a squad car in their driveway, and the front door was wide open.
“It’s okay,” Joe said, as Eve tensed beside him. “At least, this part is.”
“This part? What’s happening?” Eve asked.
“Don’t panic. I phoned ahead when I was on the highway and told one of the officers at the crime scene to check out our house and surrounding area to make sure that—”
“You could have told me.” She got out of the car and headed quickly for the steps. She had panicked when she’d seen that open door.
And the panic didn’t abate when she saw the face of the gray-haired officer who met them at the door.
“Officer James Kiphart, ma’am. You’re Ms. Duncan?”
“That’s right.” She looked beyond him to her workstation. “Dammit, where’s my computer?”
“It’s missing?” the officer asked. “I was hoping that we’d scared the thief off before he was able to steal anything. The lock was broken, and the door was wide open, but nothing appeared to be missing.”
She ran over to the worktable. The place that her computer usually occupied was vacant. The notes and measurements she’d used to reconstruct Jenny were no longer in the binder on the dais.
“Would you like to fill out a report?” Officer Kiphart asked.
“Not now.” Joe was standing beside her. “Maybe later. You checked out the other rooms?”
“Clean as a whistle. Like I said, I hoped that I’d scared him off.” He was looking sympathetically at Eve’s stricken expression. “Maybe your home insurance will cover the computer.”
“Maybe,” Joe said. “We’ll look into it. Thank you for coming so promptly, Officer. I’ll help with the paperwork and give you a statement when I get back to the precinct.”
It was a clear dismissal, and the officer nodded and headed for the door. “I’m sorry that I didn’t get here in time to catch your thief, Detective Quinn. I’m afraid you’ll have to replace that lock.” He nodded at Eve. “Good day, ma’am.”
“Good day.” She was still looking at the place on the worktable where her computer had been and paid no attention to the door closing behind the officer.
“How bad is it?” Joe asked quietly.
“Bad,” Eve said. “He took all my notes on the reconstruction. And he made sure the photos couldn’t be copied by stealing the entire damn computer.” She swallowed. “And I don’t have the actual reconstruction of the skull. He took care of that when he killed that FedEx driver.” Her hand was shaking as she brushed a strand of hair back from her face. “I have nothing left of Jenny. She’s gone.”
“God, I’m sorry, Eve. Look, you know exactly what she looked like. Can’t you draw a sketch and send it to Nalchek?”
“Yes, but that wouldn’t be enough without the reconstruction. Nalchek wouldn’t be able to persuade any of the media to act without proof it was based on the actual skull. It would just be my word, and it’s a damn cynical world.”