Page 40 of Liar's Point

“So, the nylon fibers, the pills, the ChapStick.” Nicole looked at Ryan. “What about the exterior?”

He smiled. “We’re not done with the inside yet. Tell them about the mirror.”

Nicole looked at Miranda, shocked. Thus far their perp had been meticulous.

“You got prints off the mirror?”

Miranda shook her head. “We’re not that lucky. But we did find something you’re going to like.”

CHAPTER

EIGHT

Nicole strode into the break room with her liquid lunch in hand. The chief had bumped the meeting to eleven, and she hoped it was because he had something new to share.

“Where’s Brady?” she asked Owen, taking an empty seat between him and Adam.

“He and Emmet were meeting with the family,” Owen said.

“Where?”

“They’re staying at a hotel near Aubrey’s apartment.”

Nicole scooted her chair in, not envying Emmet right now. Talking to a victim’s family was the hardest aspect of her job, even worse than observing autopsies.

“Any word on how it went?” she asked.

Owen shook his head.

The chief walked in and dropped a notepad at the head of the table.

“Okay, everyone here?” he asked, taking a seat. His attention landed on Nicole. “How was the crime lab?”

“Good,” she said. “We got some new info.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“You want to start?” She turned to Adam, who looked momentarily panicked. But if he was going to be a detective he needed to get used to briefing the chief.

“We went over the car.” Adam opened his spiral and flipped through a few pages. “The Subaru.” He cleared his throat. “The CSIs recovered some fibers from the trunk that make them think she was put back there.”

Brady frowned. “What kind of fibers?”

Adam flipped through another page, and Brady looked at Nicole.

“Something synthetic. Not carpet,” she said. “We need confirmation from the lab, but it looks like potentially nylon fabric. Miranda thinks the victim may have been placed in a duffel bag and loaded into the trunk.”

Brady’s frown deepened. “When?”

“Based on the video evidence, most likely at the apartment,” Nicole said.

“Walk me through it.”

She glanced at Adam, who looked all too happy to let her do the talking.

“We have surveillance video of her entering her apartment complex around one o’clock the afternoon of the murder. Her roommate left shortly after that, around one forty. Then at three twenty-two her car is captured on video exiting the complex with someone else at the wheel, no sign of Aubrey.”

“Here.” Owen pivoted his computer to face the chief. He had the video footage that they had copied onto a thumb drive pulled up on the screen.

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