Reid was well familiar with the FBI’s Violent Criminal Apprehension Program, a database used to track information on unsolved violent crimes, especially murder. Law enforcement officers entered information into the system to compare their details to other cases in hopes of matching possible connections.
Trent tipped his head at the device. “If you don’t have any other questions, I should get to it. You’ll receive a copy of my report, which I hope to complete by end of day. When Andi finishes with the air samples, our forensic tech who came along—she’s inside getting coffee right now—will process the vehicle for prints and trace evidence.”
“No other questions.” Thankfully no one was hurt, but Reid was disappointed that these items weren’t intended to cause damage, so the feds wouldn’t likely get involved. Meant he was stuck with the locals investigating and the limits placed on them by being small potatoes compared to the feds.
The driver’s door opened, and a petite blond woman with a square jaw slipped out. She held several tubes and the air pump Reid had seen earlier. She didn’t stop to talk to him but went straight to their company van and wrote on the tubes. After storing them, she stripped off her gloves and breathing apparatus and turned to Reid.
“Dr. Andi Clarke.” She held out her hand.
“Reid Maddox.” He gripped the petite fingers, hoping she might have something positive to report.
“Emory mentioned you. Said you worked a few cases together in the past, and she was sorry to see you leave the FBI.”
He nodded as he and Dr. Emory Jenkins, head of the Veritas Center’s DNA department, had indeed worked together. “All good things, I hope.”
Andi nodded, a slip of hair escaping the rubber band holding it back. She shoved it behind her ear, and Reid noted that she didn’t wear a wedding ring. Didn’t mean anything. She might not wear it in the field.
“So were you able to collect DNA?” he asked.
“I’m sure I collected something in my filters.” She lifted her shoulders. “As to whether any of it belongs to your suspect, I won’t know until we process it and run the results against the database.”
“No offense, but DNA from the air sounds pretty much like science fiction. How exactly can you find it?”
She smiled, when he suspected she got tired of hearing his questions. “You’re not the first person in law enforcement to say that to me. eDNA can come in various forms of genetic material shed by living organisms. Humans shed pieces of hair, skin, or free-floating, naked DNA. I simply use a pump with a filter to draw air from the space and filter out that genetic material.”
“Not something that I’ve heard of before. But then I’ve been out of law enforcement for a few years now.”
“Forensics is evolving rapidly. Far faster than the courts can keep up with.” She scratched her neck. “There really isn’t any set precedence for this field yet, so they may or may not accept my findings from today.”
“If they don’t, the local police will hopefully acknowledge Fowler was indeed here and finally offer protection for Ms. Cash and her daughter.”
She gave a sharp nod. “Then we’ll finish working this scene and hightail it to the lab so we can get you results as fast as possible. ”
“I suspect getting your findings is one area that hasn’t gotten faster.” He frowned as he remembered the days of waiting for results when a child was missing and in need of his help.
“You’re right there. DNA still takes twenty-four hours at a minimum. Unless you’re doing the rapid tests, but those are only good for Buccal swabs.”
“Right. I forgot about that.” The FBI had taken lead on limiting the use of rapid DNA tests. When the sample came from a person’s swabbed cheek, there were no chances of comingled DNA. But samples recovered elsewhere could contain DNA from someone else, and it needed to be isolated, which meant intervention by a human. “You’ll let me know the minute you have any results?”
“Will do, but don’t start your countdown yet. We’ll likely be here most of the day, then drive home and then the processing.”
He nodded. “Thanks again for coming and thank your associate too when she returns.” He went into the lobby and spotted Russ, dressed in uniform this morning, coming down a hall toward him. Russ was here to aid in a security detail for Ella so she could attend a Santa party in the lounge on her floor, but Reid had no idea where Russ was coming from.
Reid joined his brother near a blowup of a large snowman playing Christmas music. “What’re you up to?”
“Just leaving the security office.”
“They have something for us?”
“Nah. I wanted to review all the footage to make sure they weren’t missing something or covering something up.”
“And?”
“Nothing.”
“I just talked to Ingram and Dr. Clarke.” Reid filled his brother in.
Russ’s phone rang, and he got it out to answer. “Sheriff Maddox.”
