Page 90 of Counter Attack

“Haven’t seen it, but I’m juggling five homicides right now, and I could have missed it. Send it again, and I’ll check it out.” He handed Nathan a card. “Email address is under my phone number.”

“Thanks. I’ll get my sergeant to send it right away.” Nathan started to dial Jared.

Madden cleared his throat. “This Gina Norman. Did she look like Alex?”

Nathan stopped with his finger on the send button. For a second he was in Tom Weaver’s rental house staring down at Alexis. No. Not Alexis—Gina. “They looked a lot alike, same build, same color hair, same shape face.”

“Bingo. There was a strong resemblance to Alex with the other victims. Maybe not the total package, but in some way each victim reminded me of Alex. I’ve always believed she’s at the core of this crime, and it’s connected in some way to Phillip Denton.”

“But the killer could’ve gotten to Alexis early on. Why drag it out?”

Madden scratched his jaw. “I’m not a psychologist, but even I can see the killer wants her to feel pain ... and guilt. Maybe because he does?”

“What if Denton had a sibling or a child ... and that relative wanted to get revenge for his death?”

“It’s one theory.”

“Did you request a DNA workup on Denton for familial matches?”

“I don’t know—two and a half years ago it wasn’t standard practice to conduct DNA searches like it is now, so it’s possible we didn’t. I’ll have to check.”

“Do that and give me a call.”

Madden started to walk away and stopped. “You know, I’m certain we would have gotten Denton’s DNA, but an analysis probably wasn’t performed, budgets being stretched and all. After all, he was dead, and we didn’t have enough detectives to cover our caseloads as it was. Still don’t.” He shrugged. “You know how it is—I had at least five new murder cases before he was even buried.”

Nathan nodded sympathetically. He knew exactly what Madden meant even though Pearl Springs didn’t have Chattanooga’s crime rate. It was all about the lack of manpower.

“Tell you what. I’ll submit a request to have that done ...”Madden tapped his jaw. “Or better still, I have a friend who owns a lab here in Chattanooga. He’s been fooling around with finding relatives through DNA, and he’s got a massive database. I could send him Denton’s DNA and see if he has any hits for family members.”

“That would be great. Any idea how much it would cost?”

“He’s trying to build his business, so his prices are good. He might even do it pro bono.”

“That’d be great.”

There had to be a connection between Alexis, the murders, and Denton. Possibly a brother who wanted revenge? Or maybe there was a child who believed Alexis could have avoided killing Denton. But there was no way she could have known the gun he’d pointed at her wasn’t loaded.

48

Alex unhooked her badge as she approached the petite woman who stared at the packages the driver had placed on her Rollator. “Ms. Mattie?” she asked as the car pulled away from the curb.

The silver-haired woman turned to her. “Yes?”

Alex identified herself. “I have a few questions I’d like to ask you.”

The older woman stared gravely at her. “You’re a police officer?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Oh, good. You’ll help me take my package in, won’t you?”

“Yes, ma’am—when they let us in.” She took the bags from the Rollator.

Ms. Mattie plopped in the seat. “I’ve never had a driver that didn’t take my bags to the condo. And I didn’t tip him, either.” Ms. Mattie fanned herself and glanced around. “What did you mean about when they let us in? What’s going on? Why is everyone outside the building?”

Alex explained, and the older woman’s gray eyes widened again. “Oh my. Poor Phillip.”

“So you knew him pretty well?”

---