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“Was there anyone new in her life?” Faith asked. “Anyone who might have prompted her change in career?”
“No one she ever told me about. She wasn’t really into dating. She went out with a couple of people while she worked here, but I don’t think she really wanted companionship. Some people are like that. They’re better off alone.” He chuckled. “I think she actually did the mixing for that song.”
“What song?”
“They’re Better Off Alone. You know it?”
Faith didn’t know it, but she didn’t particularly care. “Was anyone jealous of her here? Anyone who she outperformed?”
He scoffed. “She outperformed everyone at her job. That’s why she had her job. But no, no one was jealous. We’re tightly knit here, and we all support each other. Everyone was very happy to have the girl with the magic ears handle the ear stuff while they handled their own stuff. We were all sorry to see her go. I would have fought harder for her if I didn’t really want to see her name in lights one day.” He sighed. “She was a good kid. She really deserved it. I can’t say that about very many artists I work with.”
Faith nodded. “What can you tell me about Maria Gonzalez?”
His brow furrowed. “Gonzalez. Why does that sound familiar?”
“Violinist?” Michael said.
Zeke snapped his fingers. "That's right. First violin for the Seattle Philharmonic. She was killed, too. A year ago, right?"
“Yes.”
He sighed. “I’m afraid that’s all I can tell you. We don’t really work with classical artists at Bethel. You don’t think her murder is related to Rebecca’s, do you?”
“We do, actually,” Faith said.
“How?”
“I’m not at liberty to share details yet,” Faith said, “but if you think of any details that you think might help me figure out who killed these women, please give us a call.”
Zeke took her card and nodded. “I will. Gladly.” He shook his head. “You think it’s someone targeting artists? Like out of jealousy?”
“Could be,” Faith said. “We’re following up on some leads.”
“Well, I hope you catch the bastard,” Zeke said. He shook his head. “Damn it, I really wanted her to make it. She was a good kid.”
The three of them returned to the car and discussed their next steps. “We didn’t really learn much there,” Michael said. “You think we should reach out to Maria’s family?”
“I do,” Faith said, “but I think we did learn something.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “What’s that?”
“Zeke talked at length about Rebecca’s perfect pitch. She would have been very sensitive to sound in order to have her pitch so finely developed.”
Michael frowned. “I’m not following.”
“The dogs,” Faith explained. “The reaction they had. I was thinking about it while Zeke was talking about Rebecca. They were acting like they were hearing a dog whistle.”
Michael’s eyes widened. “That’s why they were rubbing their ears on the grass.”
“Exactly. I think that both of our victims could hear the sound or at least feel the sound. I think they came out to investigate, and the killer waited for them.”
“He lured them to their deaths with a dog whistle,” Michael summarized. “Well, that’s a new one.”
“They keep getting more and more clever,” Faith agreed. “But I don’t know if it’s a dog whistle. I don’t know if even a person with sensitive hearing could hear that frequency. It’s some sort of high-frequency sound device, though. At least, I think it is.”
“Maria has a brother in town,” Michael said. “Lives in Tacoma. You want to pay him a visit.”
Faith nodded. “I want to see if I’m right that she had sensitive hearing too. If the killer is using a high-frequency sound device, then we could find our suspect quickly.”
