“He should talk to the detective on the case,” Ford said. “Not chase ghosts.”
“I know. I told him maybe he could talk to you or get the records he needs from you, but he said when he’s ready he’ll call the detective.”
“I don’t like people doing their own police work,” Ford said. “That’s how mistakes happen and people’s lives get in jeopardy. Not to mention messing up cases.”
“Don’t get your panties all twisted. I’ll tell you what he said to me and it makes sense why he’s looking himself. First, you know as well as I do, the detectives are overworked and have little time for cold cases. Nor do they want interfering family members.”
“She’s got you there,” Clay said.
“Doesn’t change the facts,” Ford argued.
“I’m sure he’d be willing to share his stuff if he felt it made a difference. He had a dream.”
“Seriously?” Clay asked with a pained expression.
She pointed her fork at her brother. “See. Right there. That is why he’s doing it on his own first. If he finds something that makes sense or is reasonable, then he’ll contact the detective.Give him some credit for not wasting anyone’s time but his own.”
“I believe in dreams,” Reenie said.
“Me too,” Meredith said. “Get that frown off your face, Clay.”
“You too, Ford,” Reenie said.
Gale laughed. “I love having women power. The sides are even now. But hear me out. He said he had a dream a month ago about this ankle bracelet on his sister’s leg. There were pictures of it, he showed me. But when he woke up he realized in his dream it wasn’t the same.”
“People can manifest those things,” Ford said. “What’s it been, fifteen years?”
“This summer,” her father said. “I’ll never forget it.”
“I don’t think any of us will that were here. He said the ankle bracelet cut off his sister was different than he remembered it when he saw it on her. As if it had been removed and put back on. The knot he remembered is different and there are fewer threads.”
“Like the killer could have taken it off?” Reenie asked. “Why?”
“For a souvenir,” Clay said.
“Or it fell off and he didn’t want it left where it was and tied it back in haste.”
“Lots of reasons, but it’s something. As an attorney, I’d be all over it. I mean, in your detective’s face asking for DNA on it. I bet that never happened.”
“There was no DNA on her body at all. I know,” Ford said. “I’ve seen the file myself. Don’t think I haven’t in all the years I’ve been there.”
“That’s what I thought. And his asking you to test things might get dismissed without having a reason.”
“Not really,” Ford said. “That’s how cold cases get solved. But we also know the murderer most likely had gloves on. There wasa burn mark on her skin as if material had rubbed against her as she was carried.”
Her dinner wasn’t going down so well as she thought of Rene’s murder.
Strangled with her feet hanging off the ground, the guy walked as if she were a limp doll in his hands, her head all but coming off her shoulders as her neck broke, then tossed aside in a bush.
Would the murderer take the time to tie a bracelet back on her ankle if it fell off? She didn’t believe that in her gut.
But would he take a trophy or souvenir? That was another story.
One she hoped wasn’t true because when someone did that, it usually meant there was more than one murder to solve.
The thought that there was a serial killer in this area didn’t sit well with her. Then she had to remind herself there had been no other unsolved murders in the past decade. Nothing even remotely close to what happened to Rene.
“Has anyone ever looked to see if there were any other murders like this in other states?”
