“Don’t know. We’ve just started notifying the next of kin.” He motioned toward the still-circling news’copters.” Although some may have found out already.” Poole turned to Dean. “What about you? Are you with the media? Who are you again?”
Dean extended his hand. “Dean Halley. History professor. Just along for the ride.”
Poole looked at Kendra.
“He doesn’t have anything to do with this,” she added quickly. “Blind date.”
Poole glanced from one to the other. “Huh. And how’s it going?”
“Pretty good, I think,” Kendra said.
Dean nodded. “Except for the dead bodies. Could have done without that.”
Poole stared at Kendra. “Then why in the hell are you here, Dr. Michaels?”
“I didn’t want evidence compromised. I’m sure your medical examiner will tell you this later tonight or tomorrow, but these people didn’t die here.”
Poole gazed at her for another long moment. “What makes you say that?”
“There would be a lot more blood if they had hit this windshield with enough force to kill them. They both have identical bruising on their necks, as if they were strangled by the same patterned belt or cord.”
Poole examined the corpses in the BMW more closely. “And how did you know you would find this?”
“I didn’t. But like I said, I could see this accident wasn’t what it seemed to be.” She pointed to the long skid mark behind the overturned minivan. “This was meant to look like it came from that van, but I don’t think it did. If you skid on antilock brakes, the mark looks like a series of dashes, not an unbroken line. Another thing I spotted from the news helicopter.”
Pool walked over to the unbroken skid mark and squatted to look at it.
Kendra followed him. “The van burned quickly. There was a Toluene-based accelerant used.”
“Toluene?” One of the investigators, whom Kendra had just seen draw a chalk line around a severed hand next to the van, looked up at the word. “As in a solvent for paint?”
“Or for model-airplane glue.”
“How do you figure that?”
Kendra grimaced. “I smell it. It’s a lot like benzene.”
The investigator, a slender man with short gray hair, stood up and sniffed the air. “I’m smelling a lot of things right now, but that isn’t one of them.”
“Trust me. Take samples and run your tests. These cars were burned intentionally.”
The investigator looked at her skeptically. “Trust you? Pardon me for asking, but who the hell are you?”
“Someone you should listen to, Johnson,” Poole said. He took Kendra by the arm and guided her away. “Look,” he said in a low voice, “I’m going to call in Homicide. Stick around for a few, and I’ll have you—”
“No.”
“What?”
“I’m not sticking around. This has taken up enough of my evening already. I just wanted to give you a heads-up. Your forensics people can take it from here.”
He stared at her in shock. “You can’t be serious. You came out here just to—”
“Just to keep you from mistaking a murder scene for an accident. Though I guess I shouldn’t blame you too much. It’s probably one of the most unusual murder scenes any of you have ever seen.” She glanced back. “Although, like I said, I doubt whether any of these people actually died here.”
“And this doesn’t pique your curiosity just a little bit?”
“Sure. I’ll keep up with it in the newspaper. Good luck with your investigation.”
Poole frowned. “I can make you stay, you know.”
Kendra smiled. “On what grounds? Failure to perform police work on command?”
“What about civic duty?”
“I just did it. I told you everything I know. Good night, Poole.”
Kendra turned and moved around the forensics techs crouched behind the BMW.
Dean cast another look at the scene as they walked away. “I know you were just trying to impress me back there.”
“Did it work?”
“Of course, but it was totally unnecessary. You had me at ‘prison.’ You still owe me an explanation for that, you know.”
She took a quick look over her shoulder. Poole was still glaring at her. “Later. Right now, we’d better get to your car before Poole has it towed. He isn’t very happy with me at the moment.”
* * *
THEY DROVE BACK TO KENDRA’S condominium complex in less than fifteen minutes.
“You were amazing,” Dean said, as he walked her to the building’s front door. “The cops thought so, too. You could see it on their faces.”