Milo turned away and glanced across the street where three minivans were lined up. Like the rental behemoth, white. But not anonymous. Blue letters proclaimingPoliceran along the bottom. In case you missed that, up above near the roofline,Crime Scene Unitwas painted in black.
Behind all that were two sedans with fat black-wall tires, both maligned by paint hues guaranteed to gag a private buyer. Wet Cement Gray, Swamp Mud Brown. Behind the brown car, a dented blue late-model Mustang.
Milo said, “Wonder who scored the cool wheels,” and donned his forensic suit. I did the same and just like the first time, we headed to the back of the murder house.
—
Alicia stood midway between the rear door and the garage, talking to a woman. Both of their suits were dust-streaked. Alicia’s mask was down but the other woman’s wasn’t. Above the seam, her eyes were chocolate brown, her complexion coppery gold. A few feet away on the lawn was a four-wide, four-high stack of assembled boxes, each sealed with crime scene tape.
Alicia said, “Hey, L.T. This is Cheryl Najarian, supervisor at Hertzberg. Lieutenant Sturgis and Dr. Delaware, our psych consultant.”
Cheryl Najarian said, “Assistant supervisor. Nice to meet you, Lieutenant.” The mask canted toward me. “Psych? Makes sense, from what I’ve been hearing the whole case is kind of crazy.”
Milo turned to Alicia. “How’d you find the money?”
“Wish I could say it was a brilliant deduction, L.T. I’m rifling through piles and piles of old magazines, had been doing it for an hour-plus and boom, this bag just falls into my hot little hands. When I saw what was inside, I brought it out here and Cheryl phone-filmed as I counted.”
Najarian walked behind the stack of boxes and brought over a sealed, padded envelope that she tapped.
“Ten thousand. It’s not a record, not even close with the dope money we get. But hiding behind junk? That’s a first.”
She turned to me, eyebrows arching.
Even without seeing the bottom of her face, I knew the look.
Give me a diagnosis.
Time to disappoint someone I’d never met. I said, “Different.”
The eyebrows dropped. “Ya think?”Who needs this guy?
Alicia said, “That kind of money sure firms up a motive. Martha kept serious cash around and someone was aware of it. Maybe at the time of the murder they found some dough but didn’t realize there was more.”
Milo said, “Someone who knew her well enough to find it.”
“That’s what I’m thinking, L.T. As in crazy daughter. Who I still can’t find any info on.”
“Moe and Sean are inside searching?”
“Along with two of Cheryl’s techs. We were all doing it, stepped out to get some fresh air.”
Najarian said, “Emphasis on fresh.” She lowered her mask on a pleasant oval face.
Milo said, “Who scored the Mustang?”
Alicia grinned. “Only thing that was available in the impound lot today. Poor, poor pitiful me.”
Najarian said, “Great song.”
Milo turned to her and smiled. “You didn’t want to drive the moving van?”
Cheryl Najarian said, “When we heard about the situation from the team who got here the first day, we figured we might have to bring the house’s total contents for analysis. The only vehicles we have with that capacity are the big motor vehicle transports and they’re all tied up. So I authorized a company we sometimes use. I’ll personally follow them back to make sure the evidence chain stays intact.”
“Appreciate it, thanks,” said Milo. “Not sure you’ll need to analyze every scrap, though.”
“Fine with me, Lieutenant. What criteria should we use?”
“The likelihood of something evidentiary coming up. What do you have so far, Alicia?”
