With the Internet, this supplier could be anywhere in the world. “Are there similarities between the partial print on Terrance Dillon’s belt buckle and the partial on the Hayes doll?”
“I have a thumbprint on the buckle and a right index finger on the doll. The thumbprint is a fairly good sample, but the index finger shows signs of scarring, perhaps a burn. I had no matches on the index finger and was able to match one, maybe two points on the thumbprint, but as you know, I need at least six for a solid identification.”
“Thanks. Word is you were also on the team in Elena Hayes’s apartment? Find anything?”
“Lots of prints, but no telling which ones, if any, belong to our killer. It’s a matter of sorting through the hundreds we collected and matching them to either the thumbprint or the AFIS system.”
“We’re looking for a needle in a haystack, but at least we have a haystack now.”
“I’ll forward what I have.”
“Thanks.”
As Sharp ended the call, he heard a car door close and looked out his front window. He saw Tessa approaching the door. His first thought was there had to be a problem for her to come to his house this early. He set his coffee cup aside and moved to the door, snapping it open before she could knock.
“Tessa,” he said.
She smiled. “Just the man I need to see. I have information for you.”
He stepped aside. “Come in.”
Closing the door behind her, he felt a familiar tightening in his gut when he watched her walk. Damn. When would he get over wanting her? She moved into the living room, and he motioned for her to sit. She chose the sofa.
He remained standing. “What do you have?”
She scooted to the edge of the couch, clutching a file in her hands. “I pulled Kara’s autopsy file.”
His insides turned brittle. “Why’d you do that?”
“The comment my cousin Holly said bothered me.”
“About the makeup?” A calm tone hid the fire burning in his gut. “The Kara I knew didn’t wear makeup.”
“She wasn’t wearing it that night. The picture proved it. I know my cousin remembers everything, but I thought she might have heard wrong. So I pulled Kara’s medical examiner case files and looked at the pictures taken of her when she arrived at the medical examiner’s office. Have you seen them?”
He paused to shore up his defenses. “No.”
“I know this is painful, Dakota, which is why I did the looking without talking to you first.”
He cleared his throat. “What did you find?”
“The photos show remnants of heavy makeup. The remaining coloring reminds me of a doll. Pale skin, red lips. The pictures prove Kara didn’t wear any makeup to the party. The fact that makeup was on her face makes no sense. Especially considering she’d been missing five days.”
Puzzle pieces snapped into place. “Someone else applied it.”
“That’s what I think.” Her fingers gripped the edges of the file tighter. “I think someone kept her drugged and sedated her like Diane.”
“The killer wasn’t planning to take her,” he said, letting the theory take shape. “He used what he had at the time. Barbiturates and face paint. And he overdosed either by accident or intentionally.” The end result was the same. His sister was dead.
She opened the file and rustled through the papers. “I also discovered the medical examiner found DNA on her. At the time, it didn’t match anyone in the system, but that was twelve years ago. The science is more refined now. Long story short, I’ve requested retesting, and I’ve also asked the DNA be cross-checked against the DNA found on Diane Richardson and Terrance Dillon.”
Sharp rose and paced the room. He stared at her, not trusting himself to speak. Answers dangled just out of reach.
She stood, set the file aside, and moved toward him. “Have you found Elena?”
“Not yet.” He flexed his fingers. “Madison dated Kara, Diane, and you.”
“He did not date me. I kind of had a crush on him, and he came by to see me several times after my accident. It was never romantic.”
“For you. You can’t speak to what he was thinking.”
“He never gave me any indication he was interested.”
“It’s a connection to all four of you. And until he’s found, I don’t want you going anywhere alone.”
“Anywhere? That’s kind of ridiculous. I mean, this is Stanford. The guy played cards and watched old movies with me while I was in a leg cast.”
“I don’t care if the fucker read bedtime stories to you every night. He knew all three victims, has professional artistic skill, and now has dumped all his work in the trash and vanished. We have no samples of his DNA yet, and until we do and can prove his innocence, you need to be on high alert.”
“Dakota—”
He captured her wrist with his hand. “You did a great job, Tessa. I listened to every word you said. Now it’s time for you to listen and let me do my job.”
She looked at his hand on her wrist. Laying her hand over his, she pulled his fingers free and took his other hand in hers. Her touch was warm. Soft. Somewhere inside him, he felt locks tumble free and a door open. Emotions raced toward the light.
“I’m going to solve this.” His voice sounded distant, hoarse.
“And then what?” she challenged.
“What do you mean?”
“Don’t play dumb. After this case, we figure us out.”
How could he make a promise to her he didn’t know he could keep? He was far from perfect, but he’d never lied to her. “None of our problems will be fixed by solving this case.”
“I don’t believe that. Kara’s case is the root of it all.”
“And what if it isn’t?”
She shook her head. “Did I ever tell you I had a little crush on you when I saw you that last Christmas? I tried to get your attention, but you didn’t see me.”
“I saw you.”
That prompted a nervous smile. “You did a good impression of pretending you didn’t.”
“You were seventeen. Underage. And I was home on leave. And it’s not acceptable to mess with your sister’s friend.”
“It was bad timing all around.” The words carried more meaning than they should have.
“We never really got the timing right.”
“No.” He tried to pull free of her touch, but her fingers tightened around him. How much of the past would have to be exorcised for them to now have a chance?
“After seeing Diane and her face destroyed, I understand better why you’re so driven. It’s one thing to believe in monsters, but entirely another to cross paths with a real one. It’s hard to know that someone is getting away with such cruelty.”
Anger burned in his chest. He broke their connection, his fingers flexing involuntarily. “This killer isn’t getting away with it.”