Chapter 14 #2
“No, I’m interested. Was that…what they call…blood spatter?” She knew perfectly well it was. She’d read it in his notes. “What does your analyst tell you? Do you have a blood spatter analyst at the Sheriff’s Office?”
“No, we send the images out. Where’d you ever hear about blood spatter analysis, Mom?”
“I’ve seen Dexter. Also, the girls and I read a lot of mystery novels. You know our friendship began at Rosa’s, with a book club.” She shrugged. “Besides, my son’s a detective. So what did the analyst say?”
“You’re really interested in this stuff.” He didn’t say it like a question.
She sat down with her tea in a comfy chair. “I really am,” she said.
Sam nodded, then he lifted the laptop’s lid up. “Okay, here, pull that chair up closer, I’ll show you what I can, but nothing more.”
“I’d never do anything to harm your career, son.” Besides murder, she supposed, with a rush of guilt. “So, teach me. What does the blood spatter tell us?”
“Well, there was some on the ceiling, and traces on the door and walls, though it had been cleaned up.” He pointed.
“He was standing facing the door, someone hit him with a large blunt object swung at an upward angle, then when they pulled the object back, some of the blood went this way.” He traced the trajectory with his finger.
“There’s spatter from that here on the door.
So the person must’ve been standing right there, and they were quite a bit shorter than he was. ”
She’d been standing exactly there, and she was much shorter, she thought. Yes, that was accurate. She was impressed and proud and terrified all at once.
“The impact drove him this way.” He traced Mr. Terrence’s path with his finger.
“And he slammed his head onto the mantel. That’s direct spatter, straight from the wound, but most of that had been cleaned up, too.
Barely traces left, in the texture of the brick behind it.
The killer tried to cover his tracks, but he didn’t find all the blood.
It’s almost impossible to get every trace out of a crime scene. ”
“Is it?”
“Oh, yeah. Way harder than Dexter made it look.”
“Well, he also used Luminol,” she said.
Sam crooked an eyebrow at her. He clicked off the image and tapped, “Log Out,” leaving just his screen background, a giant badge. Then he closed the lid.
“So…you think he was hurt?”
“Honestly, Mom, I think he’s probably dead. He was attacked in his home. Every trace of him is gone from there, including his car.”
Dangerous Dan must’ve taken it with everything else from Mr. Terrence’s house, or he’d sent some flunky to do so.
“The only clue is probably unrelated,” Sam said. “A woman was seen walking up the road near his house.”
“A woman?” Just one? Did anyone see the girls? Or the car? God, please, let no one have seen Diane’s pretty new crossover.
“Yeah, an old woman, the witness said.”
“Old?” she asked. Then realized she sounded offended, so she went on with a heaping helping of sarcasm, “Shocking! What would an old woman be doing walking? Like I do every single day of my life, so I won’t die.”
“I know, I agree. I already wrote it off. It’s not like a little old lady could bash a young, healthy guy’s brains in. Your Mr. Terrence was in fairly good shape.”
“Right,” she said, while thinking, Wrong.
“My goodness, I know you’ll find better clues soon. You only just got the case, after all. You’re good at your job. I have faith in you.” And she did, but she hoped he’d mess up just this once and not solve the crime.
She sipped her tea. He took a sip of his too. “This is nice,” he said. “I’ve been wanting to move home ever since Dad.”
“I didn’t know that,” she said, surprised.
He nodded. “Yeah, I didn’t want to get your hopes up. I didn’t even tell you when I came in for the interview, in case it didn’t pan out. I’m sorry it took me so long.”
Her heart melted. She’d kind of been feeling like her family didn’t care how alone she’d been since Mark had gone. But she should’ve known Sam wouldn’t be oblivious to her pain. She felt something inside her unclench.
“So how was the house? Have you chosen a favorite?”
“As a matter of fact, we put in an offer on the first one we looked at. It was always our first choice on paper. We just thought we should see all the options in person. And…it’s in the neighborhood.”
“This neighborhood?”
“Yep, five blocks, over near the park. It’s walking distance.”
“That’s wonderful!” She slapped her leg and sloshed tea over the rim of her cup, so she set it down. “Oh, I hope you get it! By the park, you say? Wait, is it that green split-level with the cranberry trim?” And when he nodded, she clapped her hands together. “It has a greenhouse!”
“That it does, Mom. That it does. It also has an adorable little guest house, in case you ever need it.”
She blinked. “What do you mean, need it?” Then looked around her. “Sam, I’m not ever selling this house, you must know that.”
“Oh. No, yeah, I know that. I just thought…just in case.”
“Let the girls use it as a teen hangout. And later, for a first apartment. I don’t need it.”
“Okay, okay. I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“You didn’t.” She blinked. “Well, you did, a little. I’m not that old. But I understand it’s coming from love, and it’s awfully nice to know I’d be welcome.”
“Marina told me not to mention it. She said you wouldn’t need it for at least twenty years, if then, and there’d be time enough to bring it up then.
” He lowered his head. “She’s been trying to get us back here as hard as I have,” he said.
“It’s because of her I had an application in at the sheriff’s office before this job even opened up. ”
Bonnie tipped her head to one side. “Why?”
“She said you needed your family close, and that the girls needed their grandmother. An important link, she said. With her own mother gone, you’re the only one they have.” He shook his head. “She’s so freaking smart.”
Bonnie nodded, then searched her son’s eyes. “Are you okay, hon? A divorce is a lot to go through all by yourself.”
He nodded. “I’m okay, I just…we grew apart. We both agreed it was the best thing, and, to be honest, I think we get along better now than we did before. And that alone is better for the girls.”
Bonnie sighed, then drained the last bit of tea from her cup. “I just want you to be happy. All of you to be happy.”
“We are,” he said. “Especially now that we’re home.”
She smiled, warm from her head to her toes. “I’m heading to bed. Can I take your
cup, hon?”
“I have a little more to go,” he said. “And I need to stare at my notes longer before I go to sleep. Night, Mom.”
“Night, Sam. I’m so glad you’re home.” She kissed his cheek before she got out of her chair and carried her cup to the kitchen. She rinsed it, stacked it, and went upstairs, where she got out her burner phone and texted the girls.
Bonnie: Sam knows exactly how it happened and a witness saw an old lady walking that night!
Diane: Is he trying to find out who it was? Did they see the crossover?
Bonnie: I don’t think so. Seems like he’d have said so if it had been seen.
Christine: We were fast. On the home front, I think Jeff has a second phone where he’s keeping his pedo stuff. I’m going to find it and turn it in.
Diane: It’s the right thing to do. You ok?
Christine: Not yet. I don’t think I’m even feeling it yet. It’s like it’s not real. But I know it is.
Bonnie: You’re the strongest woman I know.
Diane: We’re here for you, babe.
Rosa: I’ll kick his ass for you, say the word.
Bonnie: Night girls.
She turned the phone off, then returned it to the very bottom of her always full
to-bursting yellow and teal beach bag.
The next day, Christine stood beside Bonnie in her lake house’s kitchen with ingredients spread out on the counter. Bonnie had brought them all. Christine did not bake.
“Where’s Jeff?” Bonnie asked.
“Office,” Christine said. “I drove in and searched Brighton House early this morning, before I picked you up, and every inch of this place earlier. There’s no burner phone and no other clue. Not that I’m surprised. Jeff’s a smart guy.”
“He probably keeps his burner with him like we do ours,” Bonnie said.