He ejected the USB, set it aside, grabbed another.
“How many do you think that is?” asked Beck, eyeing the bin.
“I’d estimate around two hundred,” said Carter. “Based on unit size and container volume.”
“Great,” said Adi, pulling out the second blank drive. “Two down.”
“We’ve got time,” said Sierra. “We can’t risk breaking into the finale room until we’re sure the studio is empty.”
While Adi worked, Beck dug through the racks of costumes, which held everything from silver disco jumpsuits to fringed cowboy vests. “I wish we’d taken pictures of our murder board. Now that we know it isn’t Ranielle—”
“Believeit isn’t Ranielle,” Sierra corrected. “We have no proof either way.”
“Good point. But it would be nice to look at the clues again. I’ve been thinking maybe the murderer had an accomplice. That would explain some of the alibis. What about your old teammates? Elijah and Cruz?”
Sierra looked up from the costume designer’s sketchbook, which she’d found behind the desk. “Maybe. Elijah was quick to point the finger at me.”
“Not everyone had solid alibis,” Adi said. “Vera could have been responding to social media comments anywhere.”
“Right,” Sierra drawled. “Suffocate someone, like a photo. Throw the body in a coffin, heart a comment. That sounds like Vera.”
“Is it possible the police got the time of death wrong?” Carter asked, trying on a cowboy hat.
Adi plugged in another drive. “Forensics isn’t going to screw something like that up.”
“But what if they did?” asked Beck. “There could be a laboratory mix-up. A typo in the paperwork. Simple human error. It’s not so far-fetched.”
“In a high-profile case like this?” said Sierra. “You’d think they’d double-check their work.”
“Is there a drug that can slow a body’s decay?” Carter asked.
Beck considered. “I don’t think she was dead long enough for decomposition. It would more likely have to do with rigor mortis and lividity. Either way, a drug would show up in a toxicology report.”
“Ice?” Carter suggested. “It would slow the settling of blood, wouldn’t it? Being cold.”
“You think someone stuffed the body in a bag of ice?” Adi said.
Carter shot him an annoyed look. “No, a freezer. And I don’t think anything, we’re just throwing out ideas.”
“Actually,” said Beck, “that might delay rigor mortis and make the time of death appear later than it was.”
Adi frowned. “But there’d be signs of . . .”
“Wait,” said Sierra. She slammed the sketchbook shut. “Oh my god!”
Everyone gaped at her.
“You, my team, are brilliant. All of you. All of you!”
“Are you having a stroke?” Adi said.
“Alicia waswet!” Sierra covered her mouth. “The cops thought she was wet because the killer hosed her down to eliminate any DNA. But what if she was wet because she’d beendefrosting?”
At first, Adi was skeptical. But gradually, amazement overshadowed his doubt. That made sense. It would explain why the case had been so difficult to solve.The time of death was wrong.
“That would eliminate almost every alibi,” he said. “It means everyone’s a suspect again.”
“She couldn’t have been killed on the studio premises,” Beck said. “The only freezers they have here are small.”
