Chapter 9 #2
El took photographs of each page of the will, then closed the folder and slid it into an evidence bag. “I’ll try to get Sierra to process the scene, but I don’t want to leave valuable evidence behind.”
“You think someone could come looking for it?”
“I think it’s possible.” She retrieved the financial folder and withdrew recent bank statements.
Gabe leaned closer, not surprised to see a balance of only $26.11 in her account. “As you can see, she barely had enough money to live on.”
“No big deposits for sure.” El flipped to the next month, then month after month before she closed the folder. “This doesn’t immediately look like our murder is financially driven. Unless, of course, she’d found an illegal way to make money and it went bad on her.”
“You mean like selling drugs?”
“Or something like that.” She lifted her chin and looked him square in the eye.
He eyed her. “You can’t be thinking of prostitution. No way. And if you are, let it go. I told you how strong of a Christian she was. No way she was prostituting herself.”
“Desperate means often require desperate measures.”
“I’d like to think if she was that desperate for money, she would’ve asked me for some.” He took a long breath. “Who knows, maybe that’s why she was coming to see me.”
“Could be. Hopefully the forensics will provide us with a lead, and we can determine why she needed to see you.” El arched a brow. “Was it common for her to visit you?”
“No. Lucy has a tendency to get carsick so I usually came here. I told you, she visited me last weekend. She claimed it was simply because I’d been so busy and we hadn’t seen each other for a while. But I’ve been thinking about it. She was kind of uneasy. Not afraid. Restless.”
“Maybe Mrs. Z. knows what had Kenna so worried.”
“It’s possible.”
El bagged the file and flipped to the ID file. She withdrew an envelope holding necessary items to identify Lucy if needed. “We’ve got both DNA and fingerprints here.”
“Finally, a break in our favor,” he said.
El bagged the packet then checked the final files before closing the drawer. “You looked through those envelopes on the desk yet?”
He shook his head and picked up the stack. “Bills. None marked past due on the envelope, but a look at the actual statements will tell us if she was struggling to meet her monthly bills.”
“Keep at it. Let me know what you find.” El strode back to the kitchen, a purpose in her steps.
He opened each envelope and examined the statements.
“All of these accounts are current. Doesn’t include her rent, though, but it’ll be easy enough for my team to confirm with her landlord.
She didn’t have a computer. Used a tablet, and I don’t see that here.
Could be on her bedside table, or she could’ve taken it with her. ”
“When you’re finished checking out the desk, we can search her room together.”
“I have an envelope of photographs to look through before I’m done.
” He didn’t expect to find anything unusual in the pictures.
Kenna only printed photographs she wanted to display in the house.
She surely wouldn’t display some super-secret problem that had scared her into adding three locks on her doors and ended with her death.
He reached for the envelope, then paused. Viewing pictures of the two of them would be a tough task. He swallowed and withdrew a thick stack of pictures. The top photo was of Lucy’s last birthday party. Her beaming smile tore at his heart.
Oh, baby girl. Where are you?
He breathed slowly until he could continue. Five more birthday party photos were next in the stack, each labeled on the back with dates. Kenna and Lucy in various positions, both widely smiling. Lucy wearing the bracelet found near the beach.
His heart sank. He was pleased to have the bracelet confirmed as belonging to her.
It told them she might’ve wandered off in the woods, and they would find her.
On the other hand, it cut him to the quick to know that she’d really been present and something forceful enough had happened to cause her bracelet to fall off.
Or maybe she took it off and left it as a clue for them. She was waiting somewhere for him to find her. Terrified. Counting on him.
He forced himself to continue and turned over the next photo.
“What?” He sat forward, searching every detail of the photo. “You have to see this picture of Kenna with a man in front of a glass-fronted building. I can’t make out the guy’s face, but he’s wearing an old green army jacket and a black baseball cap.”
El rushed in, and he held out the picture.
She squinted at it. “Can’t see a logo on the cap.”
“If it’s a logo cap, several sports teams in the area have them. Like the Portland Winterhawks or the Hillsboro Hops.”
She frowned. “Either way, the picture doesn’t have enough to ID this man.”
Gabe flipped it over. To check for a date. “She took it only three weeks ago, and wrote, Our second chance.”
“Is it Kenna’s handwriting?”
He nodded. “But what in the world did she mean by that?”
Gabe flipped the photograph back over.
“She’s looking at him like he could be her boyfriend.” El continued to stare at the picture. “Maybe she saw the boyfriend as a second chance at life with a dad for Lucy?”
“Yeah, maybe. She clearly feels something for him. My gut says I know him from somewhere. It’s his stance that seems familiar to me.”
She drew an evidence bag from a large cargo pocket. “I’ll bag the photos to take as evidence.”
“Maybe Hayden or a Veritas expert can somehow use that picture to identify the guy.”
“We can hope.” She gently placed the pictures in a bag and looked at him. “Hey, hey, don’t look so discouraged. We’ll find her. I promise.”
He held up his little finger. “Pinky swear?”
She gave him a funny look.
“Oh, right, you don’t know about that,” he said, feeling embarrassed for revealing something so personal when this search should be all business. “It’s my thing with Lucy.”
She gave him a tender look and held out her little finger. “Pinky swear.”
They twisted fingers, but only for the briefest of moments.
She immediately jerked free. “Finish up here, and we’ll move to the bedroom.”
Yeah, he should’ve kept things all business. Oh well. It was over, and despite her tender look, he shoved the interaction into the recesses of his mind and went back to reviewing items on the desk. Unfortunately, nothing else provided a lead.
“I’m done.” He stood.
El met him in the hallway leading to the only bedroom.
“I always wished Kenna could afford a two-bedroom place,” he said as he stepped into the room. “But that wasn’t in her budget.”
She’d placed a double bed in one corner and a small child’s bed in the other. He’d never forget the Saturday morning when he took them to a thrift store and Lucy spotted the worn Bluey comforter now covering her mattress. The simple joy of a child. Something he hadn’t experienced much in his life.
El went straight to the shabby nightstand holding only a single vintage lamp. She pulled out the drawer. “No tablet.”
“Like I thought, she probably took it with her. I didn’t see it in her van, though.”
“If it’s in there, Sierra will find it.”
He opened slatted bifold doors to her closet. Hanging on a hook, he found a green US field jacket. “Found the army jacket in that picture.”
She left the nightstand drawer open and joined him at the closet. She snapped several pictures, then took the jacket out. “Could be the connection to a military attacker we’re looking for.”
“Or if you believe what she wrote on the back of the picture, it belongs to the boyfriend.” He pointed at the shoulder, his heart thumping with excitement. “A few short dark hairs. Color matches the guy’s hair in the picture. Could give us DNA and most importantly, the name of Kenna’s killer.”