“Anything out there?”
“Nothing at first glance,” she stated. “I’ll take a look, but I think we should probably send forensics up here to have a better look.”
“Sure enough,” he agreed. “They’ll be a bit yet anyway.”
“Has any civilian stopped you down there?”
“A couple people asked what happened, you know, and was it accidental—which, really? You’d think that wouldn’t need to be asked,” he said. “I told them not to run alone, how they should always run in pairs, but even that sounds pretty stupid, considering two women died here together.”
“No, I hear you,” she concurred. “Did you find anything down there?”
“No, not yet. I’ll keep walking farther up though, so, if you don’t hear from me for a bit, that’s why.”
“Good enough,” she replied. “You’re a big guy, so chances are that you’re safe.”
And, with a laugh, she waved at him again and got a thumbs-up in return. It wasn’t anything to laugh about, but making jokes and finding something lighter to think about made the job easier to cope with. She knew the public probably wouldn’t appreciate it if they overheard them, but everybody had to find a way to deal with the stress of these cases. And for her and for many of the police, it was good-natured teasing and laughter.
She studied the area around her again. Just enough potential was here that she wanted to find a way to keep track of anybody who came here. But that was almost impossible, short of setting up cameras, and then what? Would this guy ever use the same spot again? Was this a one-off? Did he have an affair with one of the women and not care about collateral damage and so he took them both out? There was just not enough information to have the slightest idea what was going on here. She sent Rodney a quick text message, asking if the families had been notified.
No, not yet. We can go do that now, if you’re ready.
She looked around at the final spot that she’d chosen as the best—or at least most likely—location and sent back a text.Sure, let’s get that done. We need info and fast, before panic sets in.
Unless there’s a long history of murders on this jogging trail, I doubt anybody will panic.
Shaking her head, she wrote back.The jogging nuts might, when they realize two were killed at one time though. When they find out the buddy system they’ve been using to feel safe all this time isn’t enough, that’s when they’ll panic.
Rodney replied right away.Right, so information first. In order to get that, let’s get to the families.
Kate met him at the parking lot and asked, “Do you want to take one family, and I’ll take the other?”
He nodded. “Sure, looks like they both just live a few blocks away from each other.” Rodney checked his watch. “Chances are people could be at work.”
Kate nodded. “I’m running the one woman, the blonde. Oh, wow, she’s recently divorced and has a DUI charge,” she noted, sounding surprised.
“What?” He turned toward Kate, staring at her, with a confused expression on his face. “What’s so odd about that?”
“Nothing,” she said, “but so often we run these reports, and nothing pops at all.”
He smiled. “Well, in my experience, a recent divorce can cause all kinds of shit.”
“Isn’t that the truth,” she muttered. “I’ll take that one, I guess.”
“Are you expecting anybody to be there?” he asked.
“No, I’m really not,” she replied, “but I’ll give it a try. Let me go get the lay of the land, then I’ll contact the parents.”
“Good enough. I’ll take the other one.”
“Do we know anything about her?” she asked him, as she walked over to her car.
“Nope, not a whole lot. I have an address though, so I’ll go see what I can find out.”
They both drove to the same area. As they got out, he pointed to both townhomes and noted, “They’re neighbors, so chances are good they could be long-term friends with similar fitness goals, and it is nice and convenient to have a running buddy nearby.”
“Yeah, it also gives us good potential to find people who might know their patterns. I mean, if they’ve been here for very long,” she suggested, “then the neighbors will probably all know that they run together, and we can find out whether they were friends before or something.”
He nodded. “Who knows? We don’t want to assume too much. We might get surprised.”