Page 14 of In Her Memory

Nolan’s tone turned more defensive as he continued, “No one had access to Donna’s condo. The place was locked up tight when I used my key to check on her.”

Jake kept his expression neutral, but the superintendent had just confirmed what he’d been thinking—Nolan had a key, which meant he had access, contrary to his own statement that “no one” could get in.

Before Jake could press further, Officer Delgado called out from the far corner of the room. “Deputy, I’ve got something here.”

Jake moved to join her, crouching down beside her. Nolan hovered uncomfortably in the background.

“What is it?” Jake asked.

Delgado pointed to a faint reddish smudge on the white tile floor, several feet away from where Donna’s body had been found. “It looks like someone tried to clean something up in a hurry,” she said, her voice low. “Blood, possibly. Fresh.”

Jake leaned closer. The smudge was subtle—easily missed on a cursory examination. Most of it had been wiped away, but traces remained in the grout lines between tiles.

“Good catch,” he said, rising to his feet. “Can you get enough to have it tested?”

“I don’t think so,” Delgado said. “But we could test the spot with luminol. That would tell us whether it’s really blood or not.”

“Good. Order a kit from forensics.”

As Delgado made the call, Jake considered the implications. The original theory—that Donna had fallen from the step ladder while changing a lightbulb and struck her head on the table’s edge—was looking increasingly questionable if that was her blood elsewhere in the room.

“What’s going on?” Nolan asked, his hands now shoved deep in his pockets.

Jake turned to face him. “It appears there might be more that we need to review here.”

“What are you talking about?” Nolan stepped further into the room, but Jake subtly moved to block his view of Delgado’s work.

“Based on what we’re seeing,” Jake said carefully, “there’s more to investigate. It’s still possible that someone might have attacked Ms. Marsh, killed her, then staged the scene to look like an accident with the stepladder and fallen lightbulb.”

Nolan’s face paled. “That’s—that’s crazy. Who would do that?”

“That’s what we need to find out.” Jake walked back to the table where Donna had supposedly hit her head. The other bloodstain there caught his attention in a new light. He bent closer, examining it.

That stain had seemed wrong to him before. As he looked at it closely, he understood why. The bloodstain seemed too neat, too contained for a genuine impact wound. When someone hit their head hard enough to die, blood typically spattered, spread in patterns dictated by physics and the movement of the body. This stain looked more like it had been deliberately placed—spread there with care rather than resulting from violent contact.

“This whole thing is ridiculous,” Nolan’s voice was strained. “Donna was alone in her condo. She fell. It was an accident.”

Jake straightened, meeting the superintendent’s agitated gaze. “Mr. Greer, we have reason to think otherwise. The blood smudge over there appears to have been hastily cleaned up, and the bloodstain on this table doesn’t match what we’d expect from an accidental fall.”

“So, what are you saying?” Nolan’s hands clenched at his sides.

“I’m saying this is now a potential homicide investigation.” Jake turned to Delgado. “Officer, mark this room as a crime scene.”

“You can’t do that,” Nolan protested. “The residents will panic. This is a luxury building, not some crime-ridden tenement. Do you have any idea what this will do to property values?”

Jake’s eyes narrowed. “Mr. Greer, a woman is dead. Property values aren’t my primary concern right now.”

Nolan took a step back, something flickering in his eyes that Jake couldn’t quite read. Was it fear? Anger? Or something more troubling?

“I need to inform the residents,” Nolan muttered. “They have a right to know what’s happening in their building.”

“We’ll handle the notifications,” Jake countered firmly. “In the meantime, I’d appreciate it if you’d wait outside. This is now a restricted area.”

As Nolan reluctantly withdrew, Jake pulled out his phone to call Jenna. His eyes tracked the superintendent’s retreat, noting the stiffness in his body, the way his hands trembled slightly as he pushed through the door.

Jake’s suspicions, which had been nebulous before, now crystallized around Nolan Greer. The man had access to every unit in the building. And now he seemed unusually anxious about their investigation—concerned with property values rather than justice for a dead resident. But Jake was a long way from having enough evidence to bring him in for questioning, let alone make an arrest.

As he dialed Jenna’s number, Jake watched Delgado carefully photographing the blood smudge. What had started as a routine death investigation was becoming something far more sinister. And the superintendent of Calloway House had just moved to the top of his list of persons of interest.