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It felt awkward, accepting congratulations when she was still unsure, but for Baz’s sake, she smiled. “Thanks, guys,” she said, then turned to Navarro’s office.
He was at his desk, also wearing his uniform. A woman in a lab coat sat in the guest chair, her intricate braids an immediate giveaway. Dr.Alicia Batra was here. Hopefully that meant she had a cause of death for Colton Driscoll.
Navarro looked up from what he was reading when they came into his office. “Detectives.”
“Sir,” Kit said, then turned to Alicia. “What did you find?”
“Death by asphyxiation,” Alicia said. “Ligature marks were consistent with the rope he was found hanging from. Shape, size, and placement were consistent with a hanging. The basic tox screen came back negative. Still waiting for the results of the other tests you asked for.”
Kit was... disappointed. She’d expected Alicia to find something off in her exam. Something that would reinforce her gut feeling that the crime scene hadn’t been right.
“But Dr.Batra’s initial findings are enough to make a statement,” Navarro said.
“Why today?” Kit asked, her skin feeling too tight over her bones. “I thought we were going to wait for the full autopsy report.”
Navarro glared, but Kit didn’t think it was meant for them. “Tamsin Kavanaugh.”
“Oh no,” Baz groaned. “What did she do now?”
“Got a real scoop from Jaelyn Watts’s parents,” Navarro said bitterly. “She followed you to their house when you took them home from the morgue, Kit. Plus, she’d followed you two to Longview Park on Monday.”
“But we had that entire area cordoned off,” Baz protested.
Navarro shrugged. “She used a long-range telephoto lens to get photos of you at the grave site. Apparently, your reactions were enough to make her realize that this was bigger than an individual murder.”
“We didn’t tell the Wattses about the handcuffs,” Kit said. “Did she get a photo of those, too?”
“No, thankfully. But she knows that Jaelyn was a victim of a serial murderer.”
“That didn’t come from us,” Baz said fiercely.
“I know,” Navarro said. “But Kavanaugh’s not stupid and she’s apparently been keeping records on our homicides over the years. She showed me her notes when she came by two hours ago with her article, looking for my comment. She did her research and knows we have unsolved murders of girls in the same age group with similar physical characteristics. She’s already put together that there were five victims, but that we’ve only ID’d two—Ricki Emerson and Jaelyn Watts.”
“What doesn’t she know?” Kit asked, frustrated.
“She doesn’t know about Cecilia Sheppard and she doesn’t know about the handcuffs. She also doesn’t know that you’ve ID’d Miranda Crisp as one of the Jane Does. She does know that Driscoll died by suicide—she followed you from the precinct this morning. The neighbors saw him being taken out in a body bag, and apparently someone overheard a first responder mention a rope.”
Baz sighed. “What a mess.”
“No argument from me,” Navarro agreed. “She has this story ready to go on the front page of tomorrow’s paper. Sunday edition, above the fold. She said it’s going up on their website within the hour and asked for SDPD’s comment. So we had to decide if we’ll get ahead of this or not.”
“And Dr.Batra’s autopsy findings give you the information you need to do that,” Kit said heavily. “Dammit. We needed more time.”
“Sometimes you don’t get more time,” Navarro said, but not unkindly. “Sometimes we can dot our i’s, but we don’t get to cross our t’s. It’s a balance, but if we let this story run tomorrow on its own, it makes us look like we’re hiding something.”
Kit blew out a breath. “I get it. Does she know about Dr.Reeves?” Please say no. That would be a nightmare for the man with the sincere green eyes.
Navarro shook his head. “I don’t think so. She didn’t say anything about him, and I think she would have.”
Relief hit her harder than it should have. But the man had risked his career to help people he’d never met. “Good. What do you need from us?”
Navarro shook his head. “Nothing except to stand next to me while I read a statement prepared by the captain’s office.”
“Do you need me to be there?” Dr.Batra asked.
“Not at this time,” Navarro said. “You’ve done your part, and we thank you for making it a priority. Just prepare your office for the follow-up calls.”
“Will you leave Dr.Reeves out of it entirely?” Kit asked.
