Page 40 of Justice for Samara

“Good plan. Talk to you in a bit.” She watched him walk away, thankful that he was there. There was plenty of experience in her past with those types of situations, but she hadn’t been in the department very long. Having someone there on scene with her, someone who’d been with the department for a while, gave her the ability to report back without anyone doubting her.

She opened the door going from the attached garage into the kitchen of the home. The laundry room was directly to the right, but everything there seemed to be in perfect condition. There were a few dishes in the sink, the kind of stuff you’d find for someone who’d been alone for a few days. The kitchen trash can was full, and she pulled out a pair of gloves to go through it, but it yielded nothing important. She did note, however, that there were numerous food containers in it, but only one of each. That told her whatever had been eaten had been a meal for one.

The smell of smoke almost gagged her in the living room. There were a few magazines on the coffee table, just common kinds of things like women’s magazines and a couple of men’s periodicals, a fishing magazine and one for law enforcement. She had a subscription to that one too. Nothing really seemed out of place in the living room. She would most definitely be combing through it, but the initial view was nothing unusual. The dining room was directly behind the living room, and it didn’t look like anyone had eaten in there in months.

The bathroom looked pretty normal, but when she opened the medicine cabinet, she noticed something. There were gaps in a couple of places, like someone had removed a bottle of medication. She took pictures and then noted it. The rest of the bottles had been filled at Pharless Pharmacy, the place where they’d stopped the night before. She made a note to check with them to see what they prescribed for Glenna, and if they’d tell her what they had on file for Alex, she’d take that info too.

Other than that, things looked pretty normal in there as well. She’d be going through and bagging anything she felt was evidence at a later time, but at that moment, all they could really do was secure the scene.

What appeared to be the guest bedroom was across the hallway from the bath, so she looked in. Everything seemed completely in order. Then she opened the closet door.

A wave of panic washed over her as she stared into the opening. Uniforms. All of his KSP uniforms. His heavy winter jacket was in there, an extra lid, a pair of tactical boots, and several handgun cases. One by one she checked them. The empty one was obviously his service weapon. He always carried a Colt M1911, and she knew that had to be its case. Damn thing was really too heavy to be a carry gun, but he felt ten feet tall when he carried it, the arrogant prick.

The rest of the handguns were nestled in their foam cradles inside their boxes until she came to the last one. It was empty. There were no markings on the outside of the case, but under the cutout in the foam she could see some papers, so she pulled the foam cradle out and retrieved them. It was exactly what she thought?a Glock 22 that carried .40 S&W rounds. Another quick look at the foam told her a section had been cut out where the magazine went, and she knew what that was about. Standard issue was a fifteen-round magazine, but the cutout indicated that he’d had two of their twenty-two-round magazines. Between their polymer frames, their Safe Action triggers?no traditional safety that has to be flipped off?and their accuracy, they’d been the standard for law enforcement for years, but she’d heard a lot of departments were moving away from them. Why, she wasn’t sure. So was he carrying it as his backup weapon? Or was it somewhere else?

A voice called from somewhere at the back of the house, “Hey. You’re gonna want to see this.” She was pretty sure it was Michael, so she headed that direction.

She found him standing outside the back door and wearing rubber gloves. “What are you doing?” she asked him, looking at the garbage on the latex.

“Going through the trash. I thought I’d better do that immediately. It’s the easiest thing for suspects to get rid of. And I found something.” She followed him to the refuse bin, and he held open a bag. “What do you see?”

With her service torch pointed into it, she looked at the contents. There were receipts, empty boxes and bags, a bunch of paper bathroom cups, plus some really nasty-smelling food waste. But when she moved some of the paper, she saw it.

A pregnancy test. And it was positive.

All she could squeeze out was, “Holy shit.”

“Yeah. The minute I saw that, dozens of possibilities flew through my head.”

“Give ’em to me,” she said and pulled her notepad and pencil out again.

“She was pregnant. Or he’s been banging somebody else and they’re pregnant. Maybe they brought the pregnancy test over to show him and she saw it. Maybe they brought the pregnancy test over to show to her and she confronted him with it. But somebody is, or was, pregnant. The medical examiner might be able to tell us.”

Samara shrugged. “If it’s in the trash, it’s probably recent. That means she wouldn’t have been very far along?if that’s her.”

“True. I guess we’re at the mercy of the medical examiner. Hopefully they can find something that will indicate her cause of death. I mean, there’s not much left of the body.” Michael glanced at his watch. “I’ve got about an hour before I have to be at the office. I talked to Gray. He’s coming over to babysit, and the guys will take turns on watch to keep the place secure until we know more. So before I go, do you want something to eat? I’ll go get you something if?”

“After looking at all this? I’m not sure I could.”

He frowned. “Maybe some yogurt? Or fruit?”

“I think I could get some yogurt down. That would be good. And a cup of coffee. Thanks. I appreciate it.”

“No problem. Be back shortly. You’re here, so I’m not concerned about security.” Then he stepped up right in front of her and looked down into her face. “I’m so fucking disappointed. I was really hoping to wake up with you in my arms, not to a damn phone ringing.”

“Yeah, it is what it is. Won’t be your last chance.” She stopped and stared at him. “Will it be your last chance?”

“Not unless that’s what you want.”

“I do not want. Sounds good to me too. It’ll happen.”

“I certainly hope so. Back in a flash with that yogurt.” She watched him walk away, but just before he rounded the corner of the garage, he looked back and winked.

There was really nothing left to do except wait for the ambulance to roll away, so she put the garbage bag back, then tore a piece of crime scene tape from the roll she was wearing on her arm like a bracelet and sealed the bin.

Samara gave Michael’s ideas some thought and tried to come up with yet a few more scenarios. She’d admit to herself that if it was someone he’d been screwing around with or someone he’d raped and they’d brought the test to Glenna, that would be hysterically funny. Well, not the murder, if that was her. That wasn’t funny at all. But if the body was him, well, good riddance to bad rubbish. She hated to say that about anyone, but she really couldn’t think of one redeeming quality the asshole had.

Back inside the house, she took a few more pictures. There was a curio cabinet in the living room and inside it were figurines, small trinket boxes, and a bud vase. She took pictures of all of them sitting there on the shelves together.

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