The Trophy Exchange (27 page)

Thirty

Back at the justice center, Lucinda headed straight for the
d
istrict
a
ttorney
’
s
o
ffice, only to find out that he was in court. She went down to her floor and popped her head into the conference room where Ted was digging through a stack of papers.
“
Hey, Ted!
”
she said,
“y
ou want to go down to the basement and see what we can pry out of Dr Sam?
”

They found the coroner in the autopsy suite bent over a body on a stainless steel table. When he saw them, he pulled off his gloves, lowered his face mask and told his tech to sew up for him.
“
What do you want now, Lieutenant?
”

“
Stopped by to check my autopsies from last night
’
s homicides.
”

“
There were three of them, Lieutenant.
”

“
Yes, Doc, did you get them all done?
”

He toddled toward his office and they followed in his wake.
“
Awful presumptuous of her to expect me to have them all done by now, don
’
t you think so, Branson?
”

Ted kept his mouth shut. He didn
’
t want to be caught between these two when they squabbled. He could rarely tell the difference between their serious talk and their silly banter.

“
Humpf,
”
the coroner said.
“
She
’
s got you cowed, doesn
’
t she, Branson? Can
’
t say that I blame you. The woman scares me, too.
”

“
Doc, did you finish the three autopsies or not?
”
Lucinda asked.

“
Of course I did, Lieutenant. I might be old, but I
’
m not feeble yet.
”
He walked into his office and plopped down on the chair behind his desk.

“
What can you tell me about their deaths, Doc?
”
Lucinda asked.

“
The manner in death for all three of them is homicide.
”

“
Cut the crap, Doc. You told Cummings more than that at the crime scene.
”

“
So why are you here bothering me? Where
’
s Cummings?
”

“
It
’
s my case now.
”

“
Just my luck,
”
he grumbled and winked at Ted.

Ted covered his mouth with his hand to hide his grin from Lucinda.

“
Come on, you old curmudgeon, give,
”
Lucinda said.

“
Like I told Cummings, the manner of death in the two adults was ligature strangulation. The little girl was blunt force trauma to the skull. I don
’
t like it, Lieutenant, when you make me autopsy the bodies of little girls.
”

“
And I don
’
t like it when nasty perps kill them, Doc. What else can you tell me?
”

“
I sent scrapings from all the fingernails down to the lab early this morning. That redheaded Ringo witch might have something for you by now.
”

“
Anything else?
”

“
I
’
ve got a blunt trauma expert coming in to take a look at the injury to the little girl
’
s skull. Pretty sure it was caused by the skillet, but I want another opinion.
”

“
Thanks Doc.
”
Lucinda turned to leave.

“
Lieutenant, you gonna get that bastard?
”

“
You betcha, Doc.
”

“
Hurry up. I
’
m tired of doing all these autopsies just to make you happy.
”

Lucinda laughed.
“
You can
’
t fool me, you old buzzard.
”
Then she made a hasty retreat before he could respond.

“
Doctor Ringo,
”
Lucinda said.

Audrey spun around from the lab bench with a pipette balanced on one ear and sticking out from her red hair giving Audrey the look of the absent-minded professor. Lucinda and Ted exchanged a glance and bit their lips hard to keep from laughing out loud.

“
What do you do want?
”
Audrey asked.

“
Dr Sam said you might have preliminary information about the fingernails
’
scraping.
”

Her face squeezed tight in distaste.
“
That old fart doesn
’
t know anything about forensic lab work, but this time, he
’
s right, I do. We found more of the course fibers that seemed to be from a pair of heavy work gloves in the woman
’
s scrapings. The man
’
s, on the other hand, look like nothing more than common debris.
”

“
The little girl?
”
Lucinda asked.

“
Ah-hah, Lieutenant,
”
Audrey
said with a
grin.
“
That
’
s where I have something interesting for you. It appears as if she had latex residue and skin cells under her fingernails. I
’
d say she scratched the back of her perp
’
s hand while he was wearing latex gloves.
”

“
Her perp? You think two perps are involved here?
”

“
I wouldn
’
t bet my life on two perps but with two different kinds of gloves being used at the scene, it sounds like two perps to me. However, I have no scientific basis for drawing that conclusion.
”

“
You said you found skin cells, too?
”

“
Yes.
”

“
DNA profile?
”

“
Lieutenant, you are aware, aren
’
t you, that DNA is not magic?
”

“
Yes, Audrey. I certainly am.
”

“
Good, Lieutenant. It would be so nice if we could just wave a magic wand over the test tube and have a profile for you instantly. The analysis of DNA however, is a science and since it is a science we get our results by using scientific procedures. And scientific procedures take time.
”

Lucinda rolled her eye.
“
Yes, Audrey, how much time?
”

Audrey ignored her and busied herself with something on the lab bench.

Lucinda sighed. She thought about not giving into Audrey
’
s unspoken demand but did it anyway.
“
Dr Ringo, when do you think you
’
ll know something about the DNA?
”

“
We
’
ll have a preliminary profile in two days. Do you have a sample for comparison?
”

“
Not yet.
”

“
It would be very useful if you could make that a priority.
”

Back in the conference room, Lucinda asked Ted,
“
What do you think about Audrey
’
s two perps theory?
”

“
Not many serials work in pairs. And, do you see any evidence of two perps in any of these other crime scenes?
”
he asked sweeping his arm past all the photos arrayed around the room.

“
But just because I don
’
t see it, doesn
’
t mean it
’
s not there. If it were two perps and Spencer is one of them, could Rita be the other one?
”

“
Just who is Rita?
”

“
That
’
s the big question, isn
’
t it?
”

Thirty-One

The moment Lucinda parked the car in front of the Spencer house, she opened the door and stepped outside. She bent down to talk to Ted.
“
Wait here, I
’
ll be back in a minute.
”

“
Where
’
re you going?
”

“
You don
’
t want to know. Just keep an eye out for Kara.
”

“
What does Kara look like?
”

“
I don
’
t know.
”

“
But how will I know if it is Kara or Rita?
”

“
Ask Charley. Back in a flash.
”
Lucinda straightened up and walked to the front gate. Ted rolled down the car window.
“
Where are you going?
”

She waved but didn
’
t say a word. At the back of the house, she found what she wanted
–
a trash
can. She pulled on a pair of gloves and lifted out the top plastic bag. Opening it, she shifted the trash from side to side until she spotted an empty bottle of Fat Tire Beer. She pulled it out and bagged it. She rummaged around until she saw a second bottle and bagged that, too.

She returned the contents she
’
d removed back into the receptacle, took off her gloves and dropped them in with the rest of the trash. She put the lid back on top and returned to the car where she placed the two evidence bags
i
n the f
ootwell of the back seat
.

“
What
’
s that?
”
Ted asked.

“
Beer bottles.
”
Lucinda slid into the front seat.

“
Spencer
’
s?
”

“
Not sure. But it
’
s highly likely. I doubt that Charley or Ruby are drinking beer.
”

“
It could be Rita or a neighbor or anyone.
”

“
Yeah, but it could be Spencer. I
’
ll give them to Audrey, and we
’
ll see what shakes out.
”

“
You
’
re planning on letting Audrey believe these are legitimately obtained, bonafide samples from your suspect, aren
’
t you?
”

“
Sure. Why not?
”

“
You
’
re dancing on the edge, Lucinda.
”

“
Yeah, it
’
s fun. Isn
’
t it?
”

Ted laughed and shook his head.
“
You haven
’
t changed a bit.
”

Lucinda pointed to the damaged side of her face.
“
Wanna bet?
”

“
So your face has more character. So what?
”

Lucinda snorted.
“
Character? Yeah, right.
”

A petite woman with dark curly hair crossed the street in front of their car. She approached the gate to the Spencer yard looking right at them with the squinted eyes of a suspicious woman.

Ted reacted first. He opened the car door, stepped out and said,
“
Kara?
”

She spun around to face him and walked backwards away from him with her hands held out in front of her body.

Ted pulled out his ID and flipped it open.
“
Police, Kara.
”

Her shoulders slumped as she exhaled her relief.
“
Yes, officer, can I help you?
”

“
Can we go inside and talk?
”

“
Sure,
”
she said turning around and heading up the stairs.

As they walked up the sidewalk Lucinda whispered to Ted,
“
You take the lead on this one.
”

Ted nodded in agreement.

They all sat down in the living room.
“
Charley will be home in a minute,
”
Kara said.

“
We
’
ll make this quick, Kara,
”
Ted reassured her.
“
We just need to know when Dr Spencer got home last night.
“

“B
etween
five
and
five fifteen
.
”

That can’t be right
, Lucinda thought.
“
Are you sure?
”
she asked, casting Ted a grimace of apology for the intrusion.

“
Oh yes, absolutely. I
’
d only been home about half an hour when he called.
”

“
He called?
”
Ted asked.
“
Dr Spencer called last night?
”

She nodded.
“
He said something had come up and wanted to know if I could come over and watch both of the girls for a couple of hours.
”

Lucinda looked at Ted and raised an eyebrow.

“
When did he get back home?
”
Ted asked.

“
It was after
ten
. I
’
d already put both the girls to bed.
”

“
When he came back to the house, was he alone?
”

“
No,
”
she said pursing her lips.

“
Who was with him?
”

“
Some woman.
”

“
Did you recognize her?
”

“
Never saw her in my life.
”

Lucinda interjected again.
“
What did you think when you saw her, Kara?
”

Before that moment, Kara had focused all of her attention on Ted. Now she turned and had her first good look at Lucinda. Her blue eyes widened as she took in the ravages of Lucinda
’
s face. She swallowed hard.
“
I thought it was far too soon for him to be having a woman visitor at that time of night. And besides, she looked cheap.
”

“
Did you catch her name?
”
Ted asked.

“
No. She rushed down the hall and into the kitchen without even saying hello. Dr Spencer hustled me out the front door. If it wasn
’
t for Charley and Ruby, I wouldn
’
t come back here at all.
”

“
If you see her again, will you give me a call?
”
Ted said, handing her his card.

“
No problem,
”
she said.

Ted and Lucinda stepped out on the front porch just as Charley open
ed
the gate at the sidewalk. Her somber demeanor transformed into all smiles.
‘
Lucy! Lucy!
’
she said as she ran up the sidewalk.

Lucinda sat down on the top step and held out her arms. Charley threw herself into them.

“
I
”
ll wait in the car,
”
Ted said.

Lucinda patted the step next to her.
“
Sit down a minute, Charley.
”

“
Is Aunt Rita here? Did you talk to her?
”
Charley asked.

“
She
”
s not here now. And I came over here right after I talked to you but no one was at home.
”

“
Oh.
”

“
But I
”
ve not given up on the Aunt Rita thing. I
”
ll find out what the deal is with her,
okay
?
”

“Okay.”

Lucinda pulled out a business card and said,
‘
I
”
m writing my cellphone number on the back of this card, Charley. Can you put it in a safe place?
’

Charley nodded and slipped it into the pocket of her jeans.
“
I
”
ll put it right here with my mommy and I won
’
t lose it.
”

“
If Rita shows up again or you need me for any reason, call my cellphone, all right?
”