“I doubt it because that would make it even more embarrassing.”
“So, chances are, hedidn’ttell anybody, and that won’t help.”
“But that doesn’t mean other people didn’t know,” Smidge suggested, “especially the other girlfriend.”
“And, therefore, the other girlfriend’s husband,” she muttered, with a nod.
“That’s quite possible, isn’t it?”
“I would think so.”
“Hell, who knows? Maybe he had nothing to do with it.”
“Maybe not,” Kate agreed. “Did you find anything forensically?”
“Well, we’ve got the rope—your general average yellow poly, which is probably why they had trouble getting it tight enough.”
“They?” Kate repeated.
“I don’t have proof of two killers,” Smidge quickly added, “but these were two very healthy, very fit females.”
“Yes, but they were also blindsided,” she noted, “as in running full-out, until they came headfirst against something.”
“Yes, and that does line up with the facts, with the injuries,” he said. “Did you happen to find a tree branch?”
“You’re thinking a tree branch?”
“I’m thinking that maybe it was suspended, like pulled back, then came out of nowhere and hit them together. The second woman may well have been hit again separately, in order to knock her down. Because, if one was ever-so-slightly ahead of the other, the blow would have impacted the first one much harder.”
“Right,” she agreed. “Any proof of that theory?”
“There’s definitely branch and bark particles in one, Jenna, so she was hit by a tree branch. The other one, Robin, was the same, but to a lesser extent. Then an additional minor blow just to knock her out maybe or to finish the job,” Smidge suggested.“Honestly, they both died from the garrote, but, at that point in time, I suspect they may have been unconscious already. So, it was literally just to finish them off. It’s actually very hard to strangle a person with your hands and especially with two people tied together with a nylon rope like that. He might have panicked and realized it was taking too long.”
“Right, so I wonder, how he didn’t think about that, yet how did he just happen to have a garrote on him too?”
“Well, the thing is, anything can be used, like if he had used wire or something to help hold back the tree branch.”
“But that would more than likely be the rope.”
“Hey, I’m just telling you what was used to kill them,” he retorted. “It’s up to you to find it.”
“Got it. So any fingerprints, DNA, or anything like that?”
“No.”
“Were they sexually assaulted?”
“No, although the one, Robin, did have semen, probably from a sexual encounter with her partner that morning.”
“And not the other one?”
“No.”
“Good enough,” she said, “I’ll have to check with forensics and see if they’ve come up with anything.”
“I’m sure there’ll be a little bit of blood splattered all around. There’ll be footprints, but that doesn’t mean it will be anything other than your garden-variety runner.”
“Wow, you’re being really positive, aren’t you?”