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"Could be," Sheila murmured, staring thoughtfully at the ground. "Could be taking revenge, too. It's not a very intimate form of killing, though. Not like strangling."
"Maybe it's less personal, then. Maybe it wasn't about these two women in particular—maybe they represent something to the killer."
"Either way, I'd say it's pretty clear we're dealing with the same murderer."
They both fell silent, considering the possibilities.
Just then, something caught Finn's eye. There, half-hidden in the shadows of the alley, was a small, glinting object. He moved closer, crouching down to examine it.
"What is it?" Sheila asked.
"A cuff link." He frowned, holding it up to the glow of the nearby street light. "It has initials on it, too. TB. Who do you think that is?"
"The person who killed Sophie Tournay, more than likely."
***
Back at the station, the buzz of fluorescent lights and the hum of computers filled the air as Sheila and Finn hunched over their desks, deep into their investigation of the mysterious cufflink. The small, silver object sat in an evidence bag between them, its engraved initials "TB" seeming to mock their efforts.
There's gotta be a way to track these down,Finn thought.But how?
"Bingo," Sheila said, slapping her phone down on the table. She'd been talking on the phone for the past ten minutes or so, but Finn had tuned her out, focused on his own work.
Finn regarded her skeptically. "Care to share what that was about?"
"Elbridge Jewelers—well, someone who used to work there."
"How'd you get them to talk to you at two in the morning?"
"There's an ex-employee who got busted for pawning jewelry on the side. He's on parole, so all I had to do was reach out to his parole officer—Ed Buckley, he works the graveyard shift—and he was able to get through to him."
Finn nodded, impressed. "Go on. What'd you find?"
"Apparently these cuff links are high-end, custom-made. They're part of a limited edition set created by Elbridge Jewelers. Only ten were ever made."
"So our mystery man has money," Finn said.
"And has the initials TB."
"We have to narrow it down further," Finn murmured. "We can't exactly go through the phone book, looking up everyone with those initials."
The room lapsed into silence.
Finn snapped his fingers suddenly. "Wait a minute. Remember what Irene said at the bar? She thought the guy looked like a politician."
Sheila's eyes lit up. "You're right. That narrows it down considerably. Let's look into local politicians with the initials T.B."
Tapping away at his computer, Finn pulled up a list of current and former politicians in Coldwater County and thesurrounding areas. The list was longer than they expected, a testament to the political engagement of their community.
"Timothy Barrow," Finn said, reading aloud. "He's on the school board."
Sheila shook her head. "Too old. Irene said the man looked to be in his forties or early fifties."
"Okay, how about Terry Benson? He's a state representative."
"No, he's been in Washington for the past month. Doesn't fit our timeline."
Finn continued scanning, unwilling to give up. "Tanner Briggs?" he suggested, stifling a yawn.
