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“Yes, but the killer grabbed each victim and quickly twisted their necks. We have talcum powder from the first two victims to indicate where the hands were positioned. I don’t see the killer holstering or dropping a weapon, then grabbing their neck and twisting. And I know that Dr. Test said that a woman could snap someone’s neck, but could a woman snap someone’s neck while that person was running? Even if we say that Nina could overpower Lorraine, I don’t think she could overpower Lorraine right away. There would be a struggle, and there wasn’t one. Thekiller grabbed Lorraine, twisted, and lights out. He would have had to be significantly stronger than Lorraine, and that means he would have to be a he.”
“So why would Nina argue with us and say that the killer could have been a woman? Why would she be miffed that we assumed it was a man?”
“Because she’s arrogant. And she has an unhealthy obsession with alchemy and probably with the murders. As she would put it, she’s not a pleasant person. But I’m starting to have serious doubts that she’s a murderer.”
Michael frowned at Faith. Then he sighed. “Damn it.”
“You have doubts too,” Faith deduced.
He lowered his head to his hands. “Yes. Damn it.” He lifted his head again and said, “So what do we do? We already arrested Nina. We’re going to bring her up on charges tomorrow.”
“That gives us tonight.”
“Tonight to do what? Damn it, Faith. If it’s not Nina, then the real killer’s probably out there right now.”
“I know. I’m as aware of this as you are and just as pissed off. I just… she looked good. She looked good to you too.”
“She looked really good.”
He tapped his fingers on the table again and stared through the window at the night sky. Turk was standing now. He could sense the tension in the room and was watching both humans closely to see what was wrong.
“It’s that painting. It’s too good. It’s too much to be coincidental. A birthmark? That’s more than just the same body type and hair. You have to see someone naked to know what their birthmark looks like.”
Faith pursed her lips and rubbed her chin. Michael was right. The painting was the most powerful piece of evidence they had that Nina did, in fact, commit the crime.
But now that Faith had thought about the unlikelihood of Nina Verbeck possessing the athleticism to perform the physical feats of the murders, she couldn’t shake the doubts from her head. “The red was missing too,” she said, “but we haven’t found a red victim.”
“You want to talk to her and see if she can tell us where the red victim is?”
Faith crossed her arms. “She’ll just deny that she knows anything about it. Whether she does or not, she’ll say she doesn’t.”
“We could offer her a plea deal again.”
“Not with the lawyer present. The DA isn’t going to go for a plea deal in the case of someone who murdered three people this brutally.”
“He might to ensure we find the other body.”
“I doubt it. If Nina’s the killer, then either there will be no more victims, or we’ll figure out who the fourth is with or without Nina’s help. Finding the body can happen after Nina’s sentenced to multiple life.”
“So no,” Michael said tersely. “You don’t want to ask her.”
“No,” Faith agreed. “I want something concrete, damn it. I want a hair follicle, a fingerprint, DNA, an image on a security camera, fucking anything that can help. That’s the part that really pisses me off. Nina’s right. All we have is circumstantial evidence because that’s the only evidence there. The shoe prints were made as generic as possible, the killer wore gloves and a mask, there’s no security footage or eyewitnesses until after the fact. We have nothingbutcircumstantial evidence.”
“Killers have been caught that way before. I think we have enough to catch Nina. That painting…”
“That painting isn’t enough to make me confident that she’s our guy.”
“It was up until a moment ago,” Michael said. “Not being a dick, just looking for clarification. What changed? Just the fact that Nina’s small?”
“Yes,” Faith said, “and that matters. If our suspect isn’t physically capable of committing the crime, then she didn’t commit it.”
“It’s not like she dropped a boulder on their heads,” Michael countered. “It would be difficult for Nina to commit these crimes, but would it be impossible? She’s not buff, but she’s not obese either. She could scale a fence and climb a fire escape if she was properly motivated.”
“Could, yes,” Faith admitted. “But a lot of things have to go perfect.”
"A lot of things have to go perfectly anyway for these killings to work."
“But Lorraine’s murderwasn’tperfect. The killer didn’t mean to be seen before he caught up to her.”
