Anya nodded as she continued to look through the photos. She stopped at a young man, age sixteen, with a charming smile. “Him.”
Kate returned to Anya’s side and looked closely at the picture Anya had pointed out. She squinted at the name. “Theodore ‘Teddy’ Arnold. Wait. Ruby’s brother? Are you saying you think he had something to do with his sister’s disappearance and the murders?”
Anya put the photos together and stared at Ruby and Teddy. Something about them seemed familiar yet made her skin crawl. “Their mother passed away from cancer a year before they entered foster care.” She read from the intake sheet thatKate had printed out, accompanying each photo, while ignoring the question. “Apparently, their father wasn’t up to the task of taking care of them on his own, opting to spend all of his money on…prostitutes instead.”
Kate laid a hand on Anya’s shoulder. “Hey. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine. I just think it all makes sense now.”
Kate’s eyebrows shot up. “Mind filling me in because I’m still—” she fluttered her hands about in a chaotic way. “You’ve always been five steps ahead of, well, just about everybody. But I kind of need to be on the same page since I am the Special Agent in Charge.”
“Yeah.” Anya blinked, disengaging her mind from the theories running rampant in her head. She needed to stay focused and diligent. She needed to remember what—and who—was at stake here. “Right, okay. First, were shell casings found from Jaime’s shooting?”
“Um.”
“I know I’ve probably just given you whiplash by changing directions, but there’s a method to my madness, and I need you to trust me, Kate.”
“I do.” Kate sat back down at the table to root through her briefcase. “They did find shell casings. The fingerprints didn’t match any in the system.”
“Do you have a portable DNA analyzer with you?”
Once again, Kate searched through her briefcase and retrieved the equipment that Anya had requested. “Still trusting you here, Anya.”
“Thank you. Let’s hope that getting the fingerprints off the shell casing didn’t compromise the touch DNA.”
Kate’s eyes lit up. “That’s one piece of the puzzle put in place for me! I can do this part, but if there’s no match in the system, we’re still at square one. Foster homes don’t normally do DNA testing.”
“I know.” Anya got up and grabbed the biohazard bag she had brought home from the hospital. Her hands trembled slightly as she opened it, but if Kate noticed, she didn’t say anything. Inside were the bloody clothes from the night Jaime was shot. “I always change my route home and make sure that I am not being followed. But the night Jaime was…” Anya paused and exhaled a long, slow breath. “I know when I’m being tailed, Kate. Obviously, I knew Jaime and Max were following me, but no one else. Max and I couldn’t figure out how they found me.” She dug through the bloodied clothing as she spoke. “And I know they didn’t know where I lived because they would have tried to kill Jaime much sooner.”
“If you tell me what you’re looking for, I can do that for you.”
The compassion in Kate’s voice nearly brought Anya to tears. “I don’t…” And then she felt it. A small bump in the watch pocket of her jeans. “Do you have gloves?”
“Yeah, hold on.” Once again, Kate dug through her briefcase and found a couple of pairs of disposable nitrile gloves.
“You come prepared.” Anya smiled as she put on the gloves. She pulled out a small, round black device that was about the size of a quarter.
“A tracker.” Kate held her gloved hand out. “First, we can use the TOUCH DNA locating device to see if there’s even anything to work with.” She said that while pulling out a sophisticated-looking scanner that was unfamiliar to Anya. “If there is, a dual analysis may be possible, but, Anya, I think fingerprints need to be prioritized here.”
“There are two sides to every coin, Kate. If there’s a fingerprint on one side, there’s one on the other. Use your fancy equipment there to prioritize both.”
“You’re looking for something specific, aren’t you?” Kate asked as she scanned the first side of the tracking device, turning the scanner for Anya to see. “We have touch DNA andfingerprints on side A.” She flipped the tracker over to repeat the process. “Same on side B.”
“Good. And the answer to your question is yes. If the touch DNA tells me what I think it will, I’m one step closer to knowing who’s behind all of this.”
“Okay,” Kate nodded. “I’ll swab this, then get the fingerprint. Analysis will take about ninety minutes.”
Anya took a deep, steadying breath. “That gives me enough time to research one more thing.”
Kate looked at her watch. “We’ve been working nonstop for nearly ten hours.” She eyed Anya intently. “You’re going to burn yourself out if you don’t pace yourself.”
“Kate.”
“Use these ninety minutes to rest. It’s been quite a traumatic couple of days for you, Anya, and you haven’t given yourself time to…”
“To what, Kate? Grieve? Freak out? Fall apart? I don’t have time to do that! And I’m not going to grieve for Jaime because she’s going to be okay. If I think any other way, then Iwillfall apart, and if I do that, the killers will get away again.” Anya reached over and picked up the file from her case and handed it to Kate. “Those five beautiful women in that file are dead because of me. Jaime is in the hospital because of me. And now, those killerswillbe caught…because of me.”
“Okay,let’s go over it one more time.”
