“One of the fibers had residue on it. Looked like some kind of polymer fragment. A lot of work gloves have a nitrile coating. Usually on the palm or the fingertips. Makes it easier to grip stuff. Nitrile is a synthetic polymer.”
“Gardening fits,” Josie said. “With the flowers.”
“Maybe, but there’s something else you should see.”
Hummel flipped his laptop open again and took a few moments to search. When he found what he was looking for, he motioned them over. Josie and Gretchen crowded behind him, studying a photo of a portion of the floor of the Barneses’ glamping tent. Beside a photomicrographic scale was a tiny dark splotch measuring roughly two millimeters.
“This had to be sent out to the lab, too,” Hummel said. “But I took a look at it under the microscope and I’m pretty sure it’s wood putty.”
“Wood putty,” Gretchen said slowly.
Josie had watched Noah and her former fiancé Luke do enough work around the house to have some knowledge of wood putty. “You know when you put up trim or baseboard and after you hammer in the nails, there’s a gap between the head of the nail and the surface of the wood? A hole?”
“No,” Gretchen said. “I draw the line at home repairs.”
Hummel laughed.
“And wood putty is used for what, exactly?” Gretchen asked.
“You use it to fill in or blend imperfections,” said Josie.
“In wood?” Gretchen said.
Hummel rolled his eyes. “Yes, that’s why it’s called wood putty. Come over here.”
He wheeled his chair around the table to one of the counters along the wall. Josie hadn’t even noticed the small canisters and tubes of various wood putties arrayed across the surface. Hummel plucked one from the collection and popped the lid open before handing it to Gretchen. “Stick your finger in there and dig some out.”
Gretchen looked skeptical.
Josie laughed and pinched a small bit of putty from the container. She rolled it between her thumb and forefinger. It was dark brown, almost black.
“That’s red mahogany,” Hummel said. “There are all different kinds and colors. I took stains of a bunch of these so I could compare it to the one from the scene. To match it up to a brand or even a particular color, it would have to undergo much more extensive testing which I can’t do here, but it’s consistent with wood putty.”
Josie handed the soft ball of putty to Gretchen who squished it between her thumb and forefinger, her brow shooting up in surprise. “It’s so soft. Kind of sticky.”
“Which is very likely how it got tracked into the crime scene. That would easily get stuck in the treads of a shoe,” said Hummel.
“This is great,” Josie said. “But it doesn’t help us find this guy. All we can do is try to match up the fibers to gloves and the putty sample to wood putty found in his possession once we’ve located him.”
Hummel took the can of putty from Gretchen and snapped its lid back on. “Like I said, it’s almost nothing. Given the flowers, it’s not really a surprise that he could be a gardener or landscaper—based on my guess that some of the fibers came from work gloves.”
“The wood putty is curious, though,” Gretchen said. “That doesn’t exactly fit with either of those things.”
“Of course it doesn’t,” said Josie. “Did you find anything like this at Dani’s house?”
Hummel shook his head. “Nope. We took some prints and DNA samples from places we think he might have touched—doorknobs, the kitchen table, their phones—but they could be from anyone—the residents, landlord, neighbor, Turner—and unless this guy is already in the CODIS database, it’s not going to matter.”
THIRTY-ONE
It was late afternoon by the time Josie and Gretchen started toward their next destination. The festival traffic hadn’t let up. The hair salon where Maxine’s closest friend worked was only fifteen minutes away, but Josie could already tell by the line of brake lights in front of them and the way Gretchen slowed that it would take twice as long to get there.
Josie tried to ignore the way her stomach felt like it was permanently curled into a white-knuckled fist. The entire department was doing everything they could. Even the Chief had stepped up to take on some of the work, interviewing people and checking some of the tips that continued to come in by phone and email. Still, things just didn’t seem to be moving fast enough.
In her lap, her cell phone chirped with a text from Noah. Since he had been the one to use the bathroom at Dustin Emmer’s house, giving himself a little tour so he could do a plain-view search, Josie had messaged him while they were still with Hummel to see if he’d noticed any evidence of renovations or home repairs. Gretchen glanced over at her as she read it.
“He said he didn’t see anything, but he didn’t see the whole house.” Josie sighed. “Not that it matters. We don’t have enoughprobable cause to get a warrant for Emmer’s house. Or his car, his phone or any other electronic devices.”
“Still, he could have been the guy Cassidy saw.” Gretchen waved to a fellow driver to let him merge into the traffic in front of them.
