"I've been thinking about the anonymous tip," Kari said slowly. "The one that sent us after Jasper Reid."
"What about it?"
"There's been a lot of misdirection in this case, most notably with Hatathli. I'm wondering if the killer, maybe worried that Hatathli wouldn't go down for the murders, decided to try to throw Reid under the bus as well. Maybe the killer is getting scared and trying to get us looking at anyone but them."
"If that's the case," Maria said, "I'm not sure how much good it does us. That tip came from a burner phone, didn't it? No way to trace it directly to a person without specialized analysis."
"But surely, with the right expertise…?"
Maria chewed her lip thoughtfully. "There's a tech specialist with the FBI who does cell phone forensics—triangulation, tower data, metadata analysis. If the phone was used more than once, or if there's any pattern to when and where it was activated, he might be able to narrow down a user profile." Maria looked skeptical. "But that's a long shot, and it'll take time."
"Can you reach out to him? Get him started on analyzing that burner number?" Kari felt strongly that the anonymous tip was important. "Someone wanted us looking at Jasper Reid. Maybe they just thought Reid had information that could help our investigation, or maybe they wanted us to view him as a suspect. Either way, it wouldn't hurt to know who tipped us off."
"I'll make the call tomorrow morning. But Kari, even if we prove Diana sent the tip, that's not proof she committed murder. It's just more circumstantial evidence."
"It's another piece of the pattern. Diana positions herself to frame Hatathli, then sends an anonymous tip to create another suspect when that's not enough." Kari thought about thecareful, controlled way Diana had conducted herself during the interview. "She's smart, but she's also getting desperate. She's worried the investigation isn't going the direction she wants."
They both fell silent. This was something Kari appreciated about Maria—her willingness to let the silence stretch. In Kari's experience, sometimes that was the very thing you needed: silence, space, the opportunity for your mind to wander, for unexpected connections to form.
A murder investigation was like a piece of abstract art: sometimes you had to sense the meaning more than see it. But, also like abstract art, you didn't always know whether the meaning was there or whether you were projecting your own ideas onto the canvas.
"What about Tessa Crane?" Kari asked. "No word?"
Maria shook her head grimly. "The apartment's still empty, the phone's been ditched."
Kari pulled up the case file on her laptop. "She could be the key to this whole thing. She was at Victor's house that night. She called it in, which means she cared enough to report it despite the risk to herself. And she ran because she was scared. She's not our killer—she wouldn't have called 911 if she was. But she might have seen something."
"We've tried everything to find her. Phone tracking, known associates, financial records. She's gone completely dark." Maria sounded frustrated. "Unless she decides to come forward on her own, I don't know how we locate her."
Kari stared at her laptop screen, thinking. Presumably, Tessa had run because she was scared of being arrested, scared of how the police would treat her given her profession and the solicitation charge on her record. She'd called 911 because she wanted Victor found and investigated, but she'd fled before identifying herself because she'd realized the cost of cooperation.
"What if we give her a reason to feel safe coming forward?" Kari said slowly.
"Like what? Promise we won't charge her? We already put that out through channels—"
"No, I mean really safe. Make it public." Kari was thinking it through as she spoke. "Right now, Tessa's hiding because she thinks coming forward means arrest, interrogation, her life getting destroyed in the media. She thinks we see her as either a suspect or a problem. What if we made it very clear, very publicly, that we don't?"
Maria caught on. "Use the media. Make a statement that we're looking for a witness—not a suspect—who called in Victor Sheridan's murder. That we believe she has information that could help solve the case."
"Exactly. But make it even more specific." Kari pulled up news coverage of the case. "We do a press conference. You as the lead detective from Phoenix PD, me as the consulting detective. We announce that we've identified a witness who called 911 the night of Victor Sheridan's murder, and we need her to come forward. We emphasize that she's not a suspect, that she's in no danger of arrest, that she did the right thing by reporting the crime."
"And we offer protection," Maria added, warming to the idea. "Say we're concerned for her safety, that the real killer might target witnesses, and we want to help keep her safe."
"Right. Make it clear that coming forward is the safer choice than staying hidden." Kari thought about how Tessa had sounded on the 911 call—scared but trying to do the right thing. "She wanted to help. She called it in. She just got scared when she realized the consequences. If we can remove that fear..."
"She might actually come in." Maria was already pulling up contacts. "I can set up a press conference for tomorrow morning. Get the chief on board by emphasizing that this could break thecase open, that we're close to proving Hatathli's innocence which would save the department from a wrongful conviction lawsuit."
"Will the chief go for it? Admitting publicly that we need a witness who fled the scene?"
"If I position it right, yeah. We frame it as good police work—identifying a crucial witness and using smart tactics to bring her in safely. Better optics than 'we let our only witness escape and can't find her.'" Maria made notes. "Plus, if our killer is as desperate as you say, this might cause them to do something rash. I just hope they don't run."
"If Diana runs, that's basically an admission of guilt." Kari closed her laptop. "Set up the press conference for tomorrow morning. Make it clear we're actively looking for this witness, that we're treating her as someone who tried to help, not someone we're hunting down."
"What about the anonymous tip investigation? Still want me to reach out to the FBI tech specialist?"
"Yes. That's a longer-term play, but it's worth pursuing. If we can prove Diana sent that tip to misdirect us, it's another piece of the pattern." Kari stood, stretching. "For now, focus on the press conference. That's our best shot at getting Tessa Crane to come forward."
Maria checked her watch—almost eight PM. "I'll call the chief tonight, get approval. We can do the conference at ten AM tomorrow, give it time to hit the news cycles." She looked at Kari. "Let's hope this works."
