Michaels does not laugh because he is jealous of Jesse’s hair. And then I realize that I also didn’t laugh, and I refuse to be on the same level as Michaels.
“May I continue?” Michaels asks.
“I’m really sorry we were late,” Gabriel says as he sits next to me.
“It’s understandable. You two had quite the eventful night,” Michaels replies. “So far, we don’t have much news on Nadine Gates. We know that she is in critical condition, but she’s very lucky you two found her when you did.”
Gabriel’s shoulders slump. “I just… I wish we’d found her sooner.”
“There are so many variables to everything we do in life. If it was that easy to find out what happened to people, there would be no need for us,” Matthew says. “We do what we can and shouldn’t hate ourselves for not doing it quick enough.”
Jesse slowly nods. “Yeah… what Matthew said.”
And I’m annoyed to admit that Matthew has said something sensible.
“Finding that woman was a fantastic feat; you two have given her a chance to live. Don’t knock yourselves down,” Penny encourages.
Gabriel smiles in acknowledgement, but I’m still not sure he’s convinced.
Michaels goes over a few more things then hands the reins over to the four main detectives who were present.Since I already know everything our group is going over, I’m immediately bored but do pay attention while Jesse talks in case he’s found anything new.
“What I can tell from examining the head is that it was removed with a large, sharp knife, which lines up with the butcher knives that were collected from the zoo. There is bruising on the back of the head, making me question if he fell and hit his head when he died, but nothing severe enough to be the cause of his death. The rest of the body is mostly bones that arrived damaged by the hyenas, but I’ll still be examining them closely.”
“Was the body chopped up or intact when given to the hyenas?” Donna asks.
“It appears like it was intact.”
“So did the person who killed Zach also plan on killing Nadine?” Penny asks.
Gabriel answers, “Our theory is that Zach took Nadine. Everything points to him watching Nadine enough to know that she leaves through that gate, which is why his car was parked near her bus stop. That tells me he’d been watching her for multiple nights. Even if she’d said in passing, ‘I take the bus,’ most people would have assumed she’d use the standard gate leading to the botanical garden and exiting the area from there, not a gate that she’s actually not supposed to use.”
“So he had to have been observing her for a while to know what time she gets on the bus and the route she takes,” Matthew says.
“What if they were just friends and she told him?” Chris asks.
I shake my head. “There are two reasons I don’t believe that’s the case. The first one is the location of his parked car. He could have parked anywhere on the street, especially at that time of night. It’s not a residential area and all the businesses along thatroute are small-owner run, meaning that all of them were closed early, leaving ample places to park.”
I head over to the computer Michaels was using and play the clip we have of them interacting.
“So… they knew each other?” Chris asks.
Of course he doesn’t see it.
“Look at his face,” I say. “Look at his fixation. That right there is a predator seeking his prey. That’s not a man romantically or emotionally interested. That is a man who is hunting.”
Everyone stares at the screen as I play it again, but I’m not quite sure most of them see what I do.
“I… I’m with Liam on this,” Jesse says. “I don’t know for sure, but Nadine’s body language tells me she’s uncomfortable. Her smile is forced. She tips her body away instead of toward him. And see the way her eyes flash over to the left? It’s like she’s looking for someone else… someone to make sure she’s not alone with this man.”
Chris leans forward while staring at the paused screen. “Okay, so if your theory is right… Zach was waiting outside of the zoo for Nadine, waits for her to come out and grabs her. While carrying her to the car or putting her in the vehicle, he proceeds to hurt her, either by accident or on purpose, resulting in a severe head wound. He puts her in the trunk… and then he goes backintothe zoo? Why? Why the hell would he go back into the zoo?”
“I don’t know,” I respond. “There was some reason he took a huge risk by going back into the zoo. My guess is that there was something he was trying to hide. I wonder if she had something or did something that would have shown that he was the one who took her.”
Chris asks, “Have we searched the area around the garden for cameras? Does the garden itself have cameras?”
“It does,” Michaels replies. “The funny thing is that the company Zach worked for fixes things around the zoo, which includes the botanical garden. The camera that was supposed to be installed next to the path was removed during the recent decorating. No one noticed or replaced it. It was just now noted that it was missing.”
“Even more reason to believe that he’d been planning this for a while,” Gabriel says. “We’re going to go back to the zoo and look through Nadine’s things, try to find what it was that Zach was after.”
