Page 7 of Evidence of Us

“You two okay?” Kevin asks.

“Yeah, we are good. Just going to go over the files,” Zeke says.

“I meant Meghan, but I guess that answers that,” Kevin chuckles.

“She knows she’s always been a second choice,” he says nonchalantly before turning to me. “Ready? We can sit here or go to the conference room.”

“Uh. There is a board in there. I can set it up," I say. “Eight victims in eight months? That’s not a long cooldown. How has this not made it to the news?”

“Homicide hasn’t connected it,” Zeke says. “We recently got all of them because they all have sexual torture and rape.”

“Hmm,” I say. “Yeah. A bigger space would be good.”

“Let’s do it.”

We get the tablets, physical files, and Zeke grabs a few other items before we go to the conference room. Right away, I start lining up the files before finding the license photos and placing them on the whiteboard. I grab each file and put basic info like their name, age, and date of death. I then notice a pattern with their last known location and the location of some of the bodies.

“Where are the crime scene photos?” I ask, flipping through the first victim’s folder.

“Kevin has them. Hold on,” Zeke says. He leaves the room and comes back with Kevin, Geno, and Parker.

“Whoa,” Geno says as they all walk up to inspect what I’ve done.

“What?” I ask, glancing over at them. “Did I overstep? I’m sorry. I just hyperfocused and…”

“This is amazing,” Kevin says.

“She wants the crime scene photos,” Zeke tells him.

“Oh yeah. Here ya go. I haven’t looked through them. Levi is bringing copies of the autopsies. He’s having to get into the city records for them,” Kevin tells me. I match the folders up with the others and open the first. I find a naked body that is clean and has been cleanly cut at the knees, hips, ankles, wrists, elbows, shoulders, and neck. Their heads are shaved, and everything is neatly wrapped in plastic wrap.

“Need a map,” I say. “And colored pens.”

“Do you see something?” Zeke says.

“Yeah. I don’t know how you all didn't,” I say bluntly as I start putting each crime scene photo up. Next, Kevin brings in a map of the city on a large corkboard and colored pushpins. They all watch me as I mark each spot. When I get done, I step back and look over it all.

“Wow,” Levi says as he walks in. “I don’t know if I've ever seen y’all so organized.”

“Mariska, this is Caleb Walker. He is our forensic lab tech,” Kevin says.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I say sweetly.

“Likewise,” he says kindly.

“Want to present?” Kevin asks.

“Me?” I ask.

“Yep,” he says with a nod.

“Well, eight victims in eight months,” I say. “This is absolutely a serial killer.”

“Elaborate,” he says.

“Isabella Cruz, age thirty-one. Her job is a corporate defense attorney. Her address is 412 Park Row, Apt 19B. Her physical description is five feet two inches. She has an hourglass figure, thick dark brown curls down to her mid-back, and brown eyes. At the time of her death, she was recently engaged to Daniel Jameson.

“Danielle Whitmore, age thirty-seven. She was a Tech Startup Founder & CEO. Her address is 88 Hawthorne Terrace. Her physical description is five feet three inches, full-figured, and with long auburn curls. She was also recently divorced.”