She winced at that. “And it could have been any wire?”
“Yes, and garrotes are not hard to make. They just need some handle on either end. They’re damn impossible to get away from, and it would have taken just a matter of minutes to kill bothwomen. Particularly since both were most likely unconscious by then.”
“No defensive wounds then?”
He looked at her and shook his head sadly. “Not a one. They were out cold, but apparently he didn’t want to leave them to be found alive.”
She murmured, “He wanted to be positive they were dead.”
“Yes,” he confirmed. “We’ll need to bring forensics back to take a look at these areas.”
“Okay.” She nodded. “Though I’m not seeing much. No cigarette butts, no trash, nothing’s here.” She tracked around the area. “And I know that I saw forensics over there, when they worked the scene, but I don’t think anybody was thinking of a branch that came out of nowhere.”
Smidge snorted. “If you look at the extended crime scene, very little is here.” Finally he stood, brushed his hands to clean them off. “Well, I’m good. I can go home and smile now.”
“Good for you,” she said, “your job is done.”
He laughed out loud, perhaps the first real genuine laughter she’d heard from him. “Mine is, now the baton passes to you.”
“Wait, what about tests?”
“Not back yet, but I’m not expecting much, and nothing was found in the first round. Both were incredibly healthy, strong individuals,” he repeated. “Now it’s up to you to fill in the blanks.”
*
When his phonerang at home, Simon was surprised to see the front desk of his apartment building calling. “Hello, Harry. What can I do for you?”
“The detective is here.”
“By all means, send her up,” he replied in surprise.
“I already did,” Harry replied, but he hesitated.
“What’s up?”
“She,… uh, she doesn’t look all that great,” he stated in a rush.
“Ah, okay, good enough. Thanks for the heads-up.” And, with that, he hung up the phone and walked over to the elevator.
When it opened, she stepped out, stared at Simon, and asked, “Harry let you know I was here?”
“Yep, he did.” Simon smiled. “It’s his job, you know.”
She nodded. “And he better do it because we don’t want you ever blindsided. If you ever get a new doorman, and then somebody comes, saying it’s me, but it’s not me—”
“Well, generally speaking, I don’t have anybody coming up here trying to take me out,” he noted, with a smirk.
“No, but you did have a lot of girlfriends coming up, using all kinds of different tricks to get into your bed,” she argued, waggling her eyebrows.
“Well, you, my dear, are welcome in my bed anytime.”
She snorted at that. “If only it were that simple.” She gave him half a smile.
“You don’t think it is?”
“Nope, I sure don’t,” she murmured. “An awful lot is going on these days.”
“You want to talk about it?”