Chapter 30
Six o'clock. The lab had emptied out over the last hour of the day-shifters, as the night shifters were currently in a meeting in the conference room upstairs. It was quieter than normal tonight.
Dani wasn't going anywhere. Not yet.
The requests she'd sent that afternoon were still pending.
Kentucky had promised the Owensboro file by end of business, but that deadline had come and gone an hour ago.
Brandenburg was stuck in records limbo—the detective she'd spoken to that morning couldn't even confirm which storage facility held the case files, and he'd passed her off to a clerk who hadn't called back. Illinois hadn't responded at all.
She'd give them until noon tomorrow. Then she'd start calling supervisors. Dani was going to get mean, if she had to. Time for people to do their jobs. The sooner this guy was caught, maybe they’d keep him from hurting someone else.
For now, she was ‘family-treeing’ the Gibsons. People crossed paths with others in so many ways, especially in smaller towns. Now, she was looking for those seven-degrees-of-separation.
Hailey’s name was on her board. Her best friend that had died had the same last name as the landlord Hailey’s father had rented from. Cruz’s teacher the year before had also been a Stenson. That was an easy place to start.
The pastor of the Hope Life Church they all attended was a Graves. The associate pastor was, ironically enough, a Brandon Talley. Dani just placed a name on her board every time her computer program shot one out to her. She was still working on that when someone cleared their throat behind her.
She spun around—her chair was awesome at quick turns—and looked at the person standing there. Thankfully, it was not Ian Ward. That guy was just everywhere lately.
It was one of the biologicals supervisors, instead.
Kelly Compton held a folder in her hand.
She was tall and thin, with green eyes and strawberry blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail.
The purple streaks she'd worn for years were gone now, grown out and cut away, but Dani still half-expected to see them every time Kelly came through the door.
"This came through for you," Kelly said. "Case out of Owensboro. I printed everything myself—I had a case coming through behind it."
"Thanks." Dani took the folder. "I've been waiting on this one all day."
"You staying late?"
"Probably another hour or so. I’m following connections of our victims’ family."
"Illinois called while you were on your video conference earlier. They're processing your request but it has to go through their legal department before they can release anything. Lawrenceville was a major case for them—media coverage, the whole thing. They're being careful."
"Did they give you a timeline?"
"Tomorrow afternoon at the earliest. Maybe the next. They were a bit reluctant to turn it over. Still open state case. They are wanting the glory, I think. Shayna's in the bio lab if your peeps need anything processed," Kelly said. "I'm heading out, but she'll be here until eight."
"I'll let her know if something comes up."