“Why?”
“I’ll find out.”
She brings her camera to her face. “You will.”
I go around the scene again, directing the CSU, and go back to the symbols written on the wall in blood. The way a pentagram is drawn can change the meaning of it. Starting it from the bottom left is associated with the element earth. This pentagram was started at the top and wasn’t drawn in a continuous line.
Hello, mistake number one.
Once Tiffany takes pictures of the body, I put on clean gloves and carefully uncross his arms. He’s wearing a watch, and there’s a bloody fingerprint on the large face.
And hello to you too, mistake number two.
Turning away from the body, I see the manager who found the body sitting in the corner farthest from the counter, tears running down her face. She’s pale, looking like she’s going to puke and then pass out.
“Hi, Betty,” I start, sitting down across from her. “I’m Detective Bisset. Is it all right if I ask you a few questions?”
“Yeah,” she says and rapidly nods.
“Let’s get started with the basics. Why were you here this morning?”
“I opened the store.”
“It was pretty early.”
“I needed to do inventory and make a new schedule. It takes about an hour and a half to do both.”
“Were you here yesterday?”
She nods again. “I opened in the morning and left around three-thirty.”
“Was Josh here when you left?”
“Yeah. He started at three.”
“When was he supposed to work until?”
“Close. Which is ten-ish. I say ‘ish’ because we close a little early if we’re slow and stay open a little later if we still have customers.”
“Was he by himself?”
“He wasn’t supposed to be.”
“Who else was working?”
Betty blinks and more tears run down her face. “I…I don’t remember. I can’t think right now.”
“It’s okay. Do you have a schedule or a way to check who clocked in and out?”
“Yeah, I do.” She wipes away her tears and gets her phone, hands shaking, and opens an app. “Rachel Jameson worked with him. She clocked out at ten-seventeen. And he never…he…” She breaks down, and I take the phone from her, writing down names.
“Do you have Rachel’s number in here?”
Betty moves her head up and down and brings up her contact list. Using my own phone, I call Rachel. The call goes to voicemail.
“Oh my god, you don’t think she—”
“I don’t make assumptions. Is the address listed for Rachel up to date?”
