Bianca puffs out her chest. “Let the rest of your sentence die valiantly in the back of your throat, sunshine.”
This is one of the many reasons I’m never having kids. I can’t deal with bickering like this unless I’m doing it with my cookie.
Then again, I’d have kids with Lila if she wanted them.
Stepping between Bianca and Grant, I clap my hands once. “That’s enough, children. Let’s recap what we know. Shall we?”
Their posture loosens, and they retreat to their corners.
I don’t wait for a response, lest they continue their foreplay. “The female sub in the home invasions remains unknown, although Troy Hartley was definitely themaleassailant. Not much help to us since we aren’t charging a dead man. However, it clears Riddick and Silas from committing those crimes, which sucks a little.”
“All correct,” Hemsley says, shifting to study the clue board. “On the bright side, Riddick is in jail for Hartley’s murder, and that evidence is ironclad thanks to the recording from the airvent cam. And while the cam confirms a second person was present at the murder, we still don’t know who that is.”
Head nods all around.
I throw out a few more assumptions to ensure I’m not missing anything. “Now, when we factor in the dye found in the vent at Hartley’s house and assume it matches with Lila’s rings, we have proof Hartley was involved in the card marking. Thus, it’s a definitive link between the home invasions and the casino crime ring.”
Carson chimes in, continuing with my line of thought. “Since Riddick and the unsub tortured Hartley for the location of the dye and then took it when they left, we can link them to the card marking as well.”
With a little more evidence in that regard, we can officially charge Riddick for more than just murder.
“Okay, let’s move on to the new stuff.” Hemsley reaches for paperwork off the table behind us. “We’ve got the ERT findings from the Hartley murder scene.”
I shift on my feet, looking away from the clue wall to give him my full focus. “Hit me.”
“They got DNA off the glass from under the couch. We asked for the results to be expedited, but you know that takes some time.”
Mention of the glass reminds me of something else I’ve been chewing on, so I cut him off.
“Hold up. The whiskey glass had two sets of fingerprints, right? One matched the victim, but the other was a partial print belonging to someone other than Riddick. Most likely, Hartley carried the glass into the room or held it when pouring the booze, then gave it to the unknown person. We assume it was the second murderer, but it could be the girlfriend. They were going to do more analysis of the prints at the lab. Does the report say where they are with that?”
He nods, then finds it in the report. “Still a dead end. The partial prints yielded far too many possibilities to be helpful. They can use them to rule people out. Not identify new suspects. As for the girlfriend, we don’t know yet. Ginny Lawrence’s prints aren’t in the database.”
My head cricks to the side. “We had her drink out of a water bottle last night to get her prints and DNA.”
“Yeah, but we only sent it to the lab late last night,” McBride explains. “I’d bet we hear back on it today.”
Hemsley huffs, tossing the unhelpful report back on the table. “Well, other than that, nothing in there we didn’t already know. It was mostly a bust for us. Thankfully, we got that video from the vent, or we’d be fucked.”
“ERT’s getting another go at it, though.” McBride cracks his knuckles and looks from the clue wall to me. “We’re sending them back to Hartley’s house when the updated warrant comes back.”
Hemsley notices my confused expression and explains. “Now that we know he was the home invasion perp and not only a murder victim, we need them to make another pass. Maybe they’ll find something to either lock in Ginny as the female unsub or point to a different woman.”
I nod, my eyes searching the wall for anything else. “Ah. I see.”
Carson crushes her empty water bottle, then tosses it into the can. “Warrant came back a half hour ago. I already sent ERT. I also emailed the team leader photos of the clothes, shoes, masks, and gloves so they know what they’re looking for.”
In response to a few befuddled glances, she clarifies, “Janet Ross, the Tampa victim, sent us pictures she found on the web that she felt matched the attire of both perps.”
Shockingly, Hemsley doesn’t have a quippy retort for her. Probably still butt-hurt after the way she’s handled him thus far today.
I snap my fingers as a memory hits. “Speaking of Janet Ross, she said the assailants had a Bonnie and Clyde dynamic. Like they were lovers.” I turn to Carson. “Any chance that warrant includes Ginny Lawrence’s vehicle?”
Smirking, Bianca winks at me. “Not my first rodeo, Hayes.”
“If Hartley’sgrievinggirlfriend is the female unsub, that means we only have one other key suspect to ID. The second murderer.” Hemsley edges to the table, folds his laptop, and tucks it under his arm. “Hopefully Reed’s shiny new CI can help us ID him or lead us to someone who can.”
Luke falls in behind Hemsley, both of them moving toward the conference room. “Time to meet this little card-marking ray of sunshine.” Pausing, the cowboy gives me one more welt-causing whack across my back. “Come on, rook. Introduce us to your lady.”
