“Of course it was,” she groaned. “I’m at the office, going over the evidence now. I’ll talk to you later.”
With that, she hung up.
Chapter 11
Kate stared ather phone. Then she sent the picture to her email and, from there, printed off the picture that Simon had sent her. She returned to her desk to find several detectives standing around the whiteboard. “Simon just sent me this.” They looked at the photo, frowned, and shrugged. “My reaction too. However, he says that”—and she held up her fingers in quote marks—“somehow he could see what the woman saw through an open door and caught a glimpse of that window.”
“That’s like a church,” Rodney replied.
She nodded. “That was his take on it too. So she would have to be inside an apartment or a house somewhere across from one of those big windows.”
“And how many of those are in this city?” Rodney asked.
“Probably hundreds. But how many buildings will have that window shape of a size large enough and have housing across from it?”
“Quite a few,” Rodney noted, “but let me get the IT techs to help on this. They could access data and search this out pretty fast. Faster than us anyway.” And, with that, he took off.
She sat down at her desk and sighed.
Lilliana looked over at her. “You doing okay?”
Kate looked at her, smiled, and answered, “As well as I can be, considering we are operating on the theory that a woman is being tortured somewhere, while an asshole drinks himself to sleep on a couch, and we’re stuck not knowing who and what.”
“No, but we’ve got actual breaks on the case now,” Lilliana reminded her. “And, if this is the same killer as these other two cases…” She let her voice trail away.
“True enough, I guess we do have the reports now.” Kate hopped up and walked over.
Lilliana got up. “I actually made up a packet for you.” She handed it to Kate. “I know how much you prefer print.”
“I do,” she agreed. “It’s too much to be on the computer all the time.” She leaned against her desk, as she flipped through the file. “Same MO.”
“Yeah, and that’s what we thought, with very little for evidence.”
“Nothing on motive and no suspects,great,” muttered Kate. “That’s not helpful. Now it’s also interesting that these were a couple years apart.”
“A couple years?” Lilliana asked.
“No.” Kate shook her head. “A couple days, sorry. Which would fit with what we’ve got right now. We’re about a week apart with these two current cases. So, if just two there and now two more here, that’s a pattern. But, after killing the kid’s sister fifteen years ago here, why is the guy back again? Same town, same place?”
“I don’t know,” Lilliana admitted. “Maybe he figured it was unfinished business, or maybe it was because the original guy convicted is now out of jail, providing another fall guy.”
“And nobody was targeted as a suspect in those others?” Kate asked.
“No, not that we’re seeing,” Lilliana replied. “I’ve got a phone call into the detective who handled the two Alberta Province cases. I’ll see if he’s got any more insights.”
“We need to talk to him,” Kate agreed, with a nod. “Even if it’s not in the report, he’ll have some idea.”
“Maybe not. Do you?” Owen asked, turning to look at her.
She winced. “Touché. I guess I don’t. I wish I did, but I don’t have squat.”
He smiled and said, “And that’s what some of these cases do. They blow up in our face, and then, before you know it, we don’t have anything to go on. They run cold, and we’re stuck looking like idiots, and the cases end up being something that we can’t work anymore because there’s no direction to work in.”
“I’m tired of those,” Kate stated, rotating her neck. “And this is too recent. We’ve got a killer and actually have a missing person on the hook right now. So, whoever has this woman, you know…” She let her voice trail off. She reached up, rubbed her face. “I need to grab some shuteye.”
“Good. I’m really glad to hear that,” Owen cried out. “I thought you would never quit.”
“I’m not quitting,” she argued, “but I definitely need some sleep and some food.” She thought about their current scenario again. “I just hate to leave when a woman is suffering out there.”