Page 50 of Final Inning

Dani was waiting for the daily update on all her peeps, now, too. Jac kept getting delayed, and she knew that was upsetting the other woman. The acting district attorney of the county in California where Jac was currently being held captive was on a real power trip, or something. He liked having a woman from the FBI at his beck and call. Jac was beyond frustrated—she’d told Dani a single sworn statement from Jac would have been more than sufficient. Jac was on the very edge of ripping the man’s head off. She was so fierce, that little Jac-creature could be intense when she was angry.

Dani had had an update from Montcrief and Walker. Those two were doing just fine, and would probably wrap up shortly, if they didn't keep threatening to drop each other down the nearest wells first. Those two were becoming as predictable as Knight and Miranda. They’d figure that out eventually.

So cute.

"It's a pretty standard autopsy—for Harper," Ally said, reading her own copies. "But the examiner in Kevin’s case was rather thorough. He did good work. If he’s still practicing, I’ll pass his info on to Jules. She said she’s looking for someone to join the department who has actual forensic experience. But, unfortunately, nothing really stands out. Kevin Adams was most likely bludgeoned to death by a softball or baseball bat—the diameter of the wound patterns match, and there are flecks of paint. Pink and green. We can probably trace the manufacture, which might—long shot, but—it might lead to an actual style or make. The first blow probably incapacitated him. The one that struck here. After that, either of the other blows to the head would've killed him. He was struck three times, so not super excessive.”

Unfortunately, Dani knew what she meant. They had both seen far more excessive numbers of wounds before. It was the nature of the job.

"This one was for our female victim, three months ago. The county sent her body for autopsy. It…would not surprise me if it came back as questionable. The workmanship of the autopsy itself, considering.”

“Does Helery County elect coroners? He might not have the right experience. We could potentially do an exhumation, if needed. If there was gross negligence, certainly.” Ally took a few minutes to go over the report. Her face tightened as she read. When she looked up, Dani knew it wasn’t going to be…good.

"Unfortunately, I see what you mean. This…there is probably grounds for a judge to order an exhumation, if needed. If the family won’t give consent. But we do have photos, at least. Definitely blunt force trauma. From these images here, I’d guess these were fatal. Here and here. She was struck four times. You’ll need one of the actual M.E.’s to go over this to be sure.” Ally was a medical doctor, but not for the medical examiner at PAVAD. She was just helping Dani because she’d had a few minutes free. “There are…similarities. No denying that. Probably a bat, as well. And…there are paint flecks. Also…green. If we have the actual samples we can compre the composition of the paint, but…two cases, eleven years apart, two different medical examiners—that would be stretching it.”

"And there is no way to tell from his injuries whether it’s the same person." Dani knew that for herself. There were similarities, of course, but that wouldn’t necessarily hold up in a courtroom.

Mostly, they could just offer probabilities. It wasn’t like television with instantaneous perfect results.

"Is there anything that stands out enough to say it was the same person?"

Ally was silent for another long moment. Then she looked at Dani and handed her two reports. “These here. Rather striking, for lack of a better word. If you can get me the actual physical hair samples, I can go from there.”

"Hair? What do you mean? We have hair?” Had the goddess of evidence actually shined down favorably on them now? Hair was like the holy grail of evidence.

Allie just looked at her. "Here. Documented. Found in the blood on both bodies, dark brown hair—six samples between the two of them, all between the lengths of one to three inches. Found on both Kevin and Harper. DNA would tell us if they are the same donor. The blond here is different, though. There were three blond hairs, all around twelve inches long, found on your first victim. Two similar shade hairs were found on the most recent victim. But over twice as long. Twenty-five inches and twenty-four. It could be the same blond, with just longer hair now, but…well, we can test it. If you can get that evidence to me as quickly as possible, I’ll handle it myself.”

“We have hair. On both bodies. Blond and brown. On both bodies. Eleven years apart. Possibly from the same donors. Eleven years apart.” Dani raised her hands above her head in celebration. “We did it. We have forensically connected the two cases. Deputy Lindhour was right all along!”

Score one for Deputy Lindhour. Miranda had filled her in last night on what was going on with that poor girl now.

"If you can get me physical samples. I'll run them myself. Have results for you as soon as I can."

"I'm calling Miranda now."

But…Miranda didn’t answer.

So Dani called Knight instead.

Just where exactly was Miranda at right now?

Chapter 39

Valeria had never been so angry in her entire life.

Hagan had told her to shut up and leave her alone, right there in front of everyone in the store. All Valeria had asked was if she’d enjoyed screwing Julian the other night. Maybe she’d been a little too loud, but so what? Hagan deserved it.

Hagan had accused her of spying on her. She’d even said Valeria was a stalker or something. And demanded to know what Valeria drove now.

Hagan was batshit crazy or something. Valeria was going to tell Uncle Ted as soon as she could.

Valeria was so sick of this bullshit—she just wanted everything to go back to the way it was before. Before what had happened to Harper and everything. Everything had been good in Buckbert. Before Harper.

Everyone was talking about the FBI agents now. How…awesome they were, or something. Like Amy at the diner. The girl was so stupid. She thought that one FBI guy with the blue eyes was amazing and had to be a television actor or something.

Valeria agreed—he had been a seriously sexy man to look at. And so was the one with the hideous scar. Except for the scar, of course. A man like that looked cool, and dangerous, and probably knew what to do with a woman.

But Julian was just as beautiful. Julian was nice and he cared about people—he was always doing things to help people. Hagan shouldn’t have seduced him like that. When he was hurting over his dad again. Hagan had no shame. She was such a slut.