“None,” he said. “We found no skin under the nails and no marks on the hands.”
Silas went quiet and his eyes softened the way they always did when he reflected on a case he was working on.
“I bet she was terrified at the end,” he said. “Her pupils show dilation that lines up with a fast adrenaline spike.”
“What does that tell you?”
“She didn’t expect the attack,” he said. “Someone stepped into her space, grabbed her, and shot her before she had much time to process what was happening.”
I stared at the folder, at the pictures that offered a chilling representation of the events she endured just before her death.
“There’s something else I want to point out,” he said. “The bruising on her arm wasn’t uniform. At some point the killer either adjusted their hold or let her go and then grabbed her a second time.”
I reached for the folder, riffling through the photos to get a better look. “Maybe the killer grabbed her the first time, and then a second time right before she died, perhaps saying something to her before she was shot.”
“Any idea why someone wanted her dead?”
“After her mother died, Holly found some paperwork that indicated she’d been adopted, which came as a shock. It’s possible her murder is tied to it. I think she was digging into the past, and someone didn’t like it.”
“I know you, Gigi,” he said. “Even on day one of a case, you’re ten steps down the road, and you already have a plan.”
Not a full plan, but one was forming.
“I intend to find her birth parents and figure out why her adoption was kept a secret,” I said.
“I have no doubt you’ll have answers to your questions sooner than later. But if you’re right, and looking into her past got her killed, you’re putting a target on your back.”
I shot him a wink. “Aren’t I always?”
I pushed the folder back in his direction. “Thanks for sharing this with me. I have one last question before I go.”
“Shoot.”
“Is there any chance Celia’s death wasn’t an accident?”
“If you’re asking if she was pushed, I don’t believe so. The trajectory of her fall matched what we see when someone trips on a step and goes down the way she did. She fell from the second step, to be exact.”
“I thought as much, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask.”
“Even though Celia’s death seemed cut and dry, I processed her to the fullest, just like I would anyone else.”
“I have no doubt.”
“I was around when the next-door neighbor told Whitlock that she’d gotten after Celia about repairing those steps in the past. It wasn’t the first time she’d stumbled over them.”
“Maybe not the first, but it was the last.”
“Darn shame. If Celia was still alive, maybe Holly still would be too.”
“If Holly’s discovery of her adoption led to her death, it makes me wonder whether some secrets are better kept hidden.”
He nodded. “We’re still on for our usual Friday morning coffee, right?”
“I wouldn’t miss it.”
I headed for the door, and Silas lifted his hand in a slow wave, leaving me with a parting warning. “I can’t shake the sense that this case has roots, deep ones. Find the roots, and the branches will follow.”
I believed him.
