Faith did think that the same killer killed both Sarah and Matthew, but Trevor’s documented conflict was with Sarah, so she didn’t want to dismiss Trevor entirely as a suspect.Still, without more evidence, they couldn’t prove that he was involved.
“Do you have any travel plans, Mr.Walsh”
Trevor laughed.“No.I’ll be right here if you feel like talking again.Or at the FedEx Shipping Center in Fort Worth.Until they fire me when they figure out about this, at least.”
Jessica stepped closer.Faith looked at her partner, and she nodded.“He was there.Clocked out at seven, chatted with coworkers for fifteen minutes or so, then headed home.He wouldn’t have gotten to the Doghouse until eight, and Matthew was already dead by then.”
Faith sighed.“We’ll be in touch if we need anything else, Mr.Walsh.Thank you for your time.”
“I mean, you didn’t really give me a choice.”
Faith met his eyes, and something in her expression caused him to pale.“If you killed Sarah Garrett, we will find out, and we will make sure you receive justice.If you didn’t kill her, then do your nephew a favor: quit smoking weed, clean this place up, get your hair cut, and help your sister adopt a dog.Youdohave a chance at a better life, but you have to put effort into it.”
Trevor swallowed.“Okay.I will.”
Faith wasn’t confident that Trevor meant that and wasn’t just saying what he thought she wanted to hear.She also wasn’t confident at all that he was their suspect anymore.
On their way out, Jessica told the police officers to keep an eye on Trevor and note any unusual comings and goings.They promised to do so, but it was clear they didn’t think he was the killer either.They had wasted their time.
On the drive back to the hotel, Jessica asked, “So what next?”
“We go back to basics,” Faith replied.“We got lucky with that lead right off the bat.It didn’t pan out, so we look where we would normally look: coworkers, friends, family, acquaintances, anyone else who might have had a reason to want them dead.”
Jessica nodded.“Yeah.I was afraid you’d say that.”
Faith glanced at her.“Why afraid?”
“Because Matthew was well-liked too.According to Carl, he was always helping people around the shelter, picking up shifts, assisting with difficult dogs, bringing nice Christmas gifts… We’re dealing with two goody-two-shoes.”
“Maybe that made someone jealous,” Faith suggested.
“Do you really think that’s what it is?”Jessica asked in a tone that suggested she really didn’t.
Faith didn’t either.She sighed and admitted, “No.But we’re going to look into it anyway.Leave no stone unturned.”
Jessica looked through the windshield and voiced the fear Faith hadn’t.“I’m just worried that while we’re looking behind rocks, our killer’s going to murder someone else.”
Faith’s grip on the steering wheel tightened as she contemplated the speed with which this killer was moving.Two people within twelve hours at the very start of the case.Whoever they were, the rage that had built inside of them was all coming out at once.Faith feared that they were going to encounter a few more handwritten notes before this was all over.
CHAPTER EIGHT
David’s phone buzzed.A text from Rogers.Going to the food court.Want anything?He texted back,No thank you.
Suit yourself.
That conversation over, David turned his attention back to the screen.His stomach growled.He reallywashungry, but he didn’t want to stop right now.
His conversation with Anneliese Kowalski had spurred him on.This project had been going on for years now, and while the 93rdTesting Brigade was clearly doing what they could to obfuscate records, they couldn’t hide everything.There were other dogs out there like Sierra and like Champ, and David had a suspicion that there were records of them somewhere.If he could find them and trace their movements, he might have a better idea of the scope of this operation and maybe an idea of where to go from here.
It was tedious work.It was two in the afternoon now.He’d spent the past four hours looking for military working dogs and law enforcement K9s reported as missing or inexplicably reassigned with no further information.He’d come up with thirteen different candidates after checking hundreds of different records.
Champ was one of the thirteen as was a dog named Hunter, a former Army working dog listed as transferred to the Marine Corps.There was no record of the Corps receiving him, but there was a record of Asset Hotel-4 received by the 93rdTesting Brigade.Hotel-4’s vital statistics matched those of Hunter, making him the best candidate in David’s opinion.
The others all shared some pieces of the puzzle.There were three Marine Corps dogs listed as designated for assignment to the Testing Brigade but only their names were available.All other information: height, weight, and medical history, were gone.A few others were subjected to a number of tests checking things like cognitive flexibility, memory retention and recall, plasticity, and something called resistance.Results were given on a simple scale from poor (two results), fair (five results) and good (one result).If there were any other results possible, these dogs hadn’t reached them.
He was trying to figure out what those tests were and what the results meant, but he couldn’t find protocols for any of them.The FBI tested cognitive ability related to a dog’s ability to remember scents and follow commands, but their tests weren’t nearly involved as these seemed to be.
Seemed to be.That was the problem.It was impossible to tell what exactly any of this meant.He knew it was real because these were Marine Corps records, but he didn’t know what precisely was going on.Like with Sierra, there were signs that something was amiss, but nothing definite.Nothing that told him exactly what the 93rdTesting Brigade hoped to do with these dogs.
