Stolen(43)

She looked away, her breath accelerating from just that small touch from Spense. “We both will.”

“Agreed.” He dropped his hand and sat back in his chair. “But Caity, don’t get too attached to Angelina. We gotta stay objective. Look at all sides.”

“That’s exactly what I’m talking about. I don’t think anyone looked at this case from her side at all. I don’t think it was handled objectively.”

“People did get a little carried away by the Chaucer family being so prominent in the community.”

“Exactly. Between the talk shows and the obsessed bloggers, there were a million crazy theories. But you and I both know most crimes are simple and motivated by common human themes. Usually one of the big three . . .”

“Money. Sex. Power.”

She wagged her foot, thinking. “Let’s make it the big four. I wouldn’t count out revenge. But look at all the resources that went into chasing down false leads, like Chaucer’s business partner who’d never even left Tokyo for goodness’ sake.”

“Agreed. With all the wild ideas being thrown around, the cops got distracted from the basics. A young woman was murdered, and no one really cared, because Whit Chaucer’s daughter was kidnapped. And even though Angelina was never tried or convicted for her involvement in that kidnapping, she was presumed guilty,” Spense said.

“What evidence is there that she was really an accomplice?”

“According to the experts, the handwriting in the ransom note—and its phrasing resembled hers.”

If Caitlin’s mother hadn’t raised her better, she would’ve spit. Handwriting analysis was soft science at best. “Even if a good attorney manages to get his handwriting expert on the stand, most judges won’t allow that expert to present a conclusion as to the author’s identity. They can only state whether certain characteristics do or don’t resemble supplied samples. It’s nuts that one thinly supported hypothesis—Angelina might have written the ransom note—changed the course of the entire investigation.”

“You make some mean points.” Spense stood and stretched, then resumed his seat and began to study Angelina’s autopsy photos. “So you think Angelina was an innocent victim.”

“I think the cops should’ve considered the possibility.”

He brought one of the photographs closer to his face. Laid it down. Slid a magnifying viewer over it. “Stab wounds on the torso and genitalia. Like our Jane Doe in the wilderness. Wonder if they were postmortem, too.”

“According to Angelina’s autopsy report, they were inflicted after death. Despite the number of wounds, there was very little blood. And Angelina’s hyoid bone was broken—cause of death: asphyxiation due to strangulation. Sound familiar?”

“Yeah. And very personal. Overkill.” Spense steepled his fingers and rested them beneath his chin. “That could support the accomplice theory. What if Angelina turned on her partner? Let’s say she wanted the money all to herself.”

“Or she had second thoughts and wanted to let Laura go.”

“Either way. Then her partner kills her in a fit of rage.”

“Maybe.” But it didn’t feel right. It didn’t explain their Jane Doe being found in the same area where Angelina had been found, practically on the anniversary of her murder. “What if Angelina’s death was a sexual homicide? Strangulation. Stabbing. That definitely fits with a predator. No semen, but our UNSUB could’ve used a condom,” she said.

“Or the stabbing, itself, is what turns him on. He doesn’t need to complete the act to get sexual gratification. In any case, he left no trace DNA. We have a very clever UNSUB on our hands.”

“More like diabolical.” Caitlin leaned forward, certain she was onto something. She could feel it in her bones. “We know our UNSUB had access to GHB because it was found in Laura’s system. If Angelina was also drugged, she could’ve been raped, and we wouldn’t see clear evidence of it, since she was, presumably a sexually active female.”

“Like today’s Jane Doe, Angelina showed no defensive wounds. Both women were strangled and stabbed but didn’t fight back. Our first ME screwed up.”

She slammed the file down. “Dammit. He should’ve run a more complete toxicology screen on Angelina. What if it was Laura, not Angelina, who was the collateral damage? What if Angelina was abducted for the purpose of sexual gratification, but somehow, Laura got in the way . . .”

“So the UNSUB grabbed her, too?”

“Laura has always maintained that Angelina would never have hurt her. That she couldn’t have been part of a kidnapping scheme. If Laura was right, then the UNSUB forged the note to make it look as though Angelina were in on it.” No one seemed to have listened to Laura, and that made Caitlin want to pull out her boxing gloves.