“I’ll take on that inquiry,” Paul offered, “put a researcher on data we can still get access to and run the correlation.” He made himself a note and shifted his attention to David. “Do we want to do anything further about Maggie’s fan mail? FBI can take a look at the most troubling ones.”
“I’ll take you up on that,” David said. “I can source you the flagged emails quickly, make arrangements for the physical mail of concern to be sent back here from New York.”
Evie offered an observation that had been simmering during the last few hours. “The three bodies discovered were all smothered, no other signs of trauma or particular physical injuries beyond a bruise or two. Just suffocated and the body dumped somewhere not that far away. Does that seem odd to anyone else?”
“It does seem unusual,” David agreed. “Not violent, not sexual. It’s just . . . Shut up. Be quiet. I want you dead.”
Evie nodded. “It’s both personal and rather abrupt, and . . . it feels somehow female to me. I know men smother women, husbands do it to wives, boyfriends to girlfriends. And we’ve got three victims recovered who died that way, which indicates it’s the killer’s preferred method. But was Jenna’s like that, personal and abrupt? I haven’t been thinking that way for a motive with her, and yet it fits. And now I’m back to this not being a stranger crime, but someone who knew Jenna.”
“Candy’s more the type to take a swing at a rival than smother her,” Ann suggested. “But maybe it was someone of that general type, the don’t-like-Jenna crowd.” A pause, then, “Maybe what drew interest to Jenna was the opposite of what we’ve been assuming—it was dislike, rather than like.”
Evie pondered that idea and slowly nodded. “I’ll come back to that later, as it’s a really interesting idea. Jenna was chosen because someone didn’t like her. But for now, I’m wondering the opposite. Consider the other extreme. I wonder if Jenna opened the door to a friend that night, a girl who had a fight with a roommate, who says, ‘Can I sleep on your couch tonight?’ And in the middle of the night, upset girl walks into Jenna’s room and smothers her to death.”
“Ouch.”
“A bit of crazy going on, ‘Jenna the girl with a perfect life, and I can’t stand the fact my life is the opposite,’ so kill the perfect one.”
“It would have to be a rather strong girl to carry Jenna down a flight of stairs, to a vehicle, and get rid of her body,” David pointed out. “And you would most likely be looking at Jenna as a single crime, because I don’t see a crazy female driving to different states smothering other women—not doing it in a way that doesn’t get her caught.”
“True. Still,” Evie said, “I’m going to let that idea roll around in my mind for a while.”
David closed the case report he’d been reading. “We need tomorrow off, all of us, to get some actual rest.” Sharon was already nodding. “Come Monday we hit this fresh, correlating lists from the five cases, focusing on Milwaukee and the possibility he lives around there. We’re going to find the guy who did these crimes when we start to push in multiple places. He’s been smart, but the pattern is his weakness.”
“For Maggie’s sake alone, we have to nail this down,” Evie agreed. She pushed to her feet. “And on that note, I’m heading out. Thanks again, Ann.” She smiled at Paul. “Nice to have your help today too. David, text me if you think of anything urgent. I’ll plan to bring breakfast Monday morning.”
“Thanks. Night, Evie.”
She took two of the flowers from the vase and headed back to her hotel.
Four and a half hours of sleep was not enough. The phone was ringing into the darkness. With a groan, Evie reached for it, read the caller ID, clicked it on. “Lieutenant Blackwell.” She listened to the state dispatcher, rubbing aching eyes. “Tell him three hours. I’m on my way.”
She punched David’s speed-dial number.
“This can’t be good,” he answered.
She envied his ability to sound fully alert at such an hour. “An arson case with fatalities in Petersburg. I’m now multitasking.”
“Get someone to drive you.”
“Yeah.” She covered a large yawn. “Someone’s been hitting homes this way across the state for the last year. Anything other than this level, I’d be seeing if I could pass it on.”
“We’re going to be doing mostly data analysis for the next few days. I’ll keep you in the loop.”