She nodded slowly. “In that case, I’ll need a warrant. I shouldn’t have to do that.”
“Send him an email and remind him that you want full access or you’ll bring in a warrant.”
She quickly sent off an email to Dr. Agress. She hated to, but, if he wouldn’t be cooperative, it would just cost valuable time. “And that’s only part of it. I don’t know that these kids, the bullying gang, have anything to do with these murders at all.”
“Murders?” He frowned. “Are we talking plural now?”
She nodded. “Yes, plural.”
“Interesting, so you have a serial killer.”
“I don’t know that the definition of a serial killer would apply in this case. We have two deaths, both with similarities, and I’m really hoping we won’t have any more victims.”
“But didn’t you also say you had another murder on the campus?”
“Well, fine, okay, so I have three murders. And you’re right. I do, and this one, I… I can’t see that theyaren’tconnected, but I haven’t figured out how they are yet either.”
“Which is very typical anyway, so that’s hardly the issue.”
“I’m still running comparisons, and it’s taking so long.”
“Comparisons of what?”
“It’s a long shot,” she explained, sitting up, grabbing her coffee, and pacing her living room. “But there have been a lot of accidents in that block over the last ten years.”
“Similar?”
“Very similar, too similar for comfort.”
“As in what similarity?”
“Running down cyclists.”
“Well”—he stopped and shrugged—“that’s a hard one because, with those kinds of accidents, there’s only so much similarity possible. Cyclists are hit by vehicles all the time, unfortunately.”
“I know, and that’s the problem.”
“Are these fatalities?”
“In all cases, yes.”
“Did you check the relatives?”
“That’s in progress. There are still about a good dozen people, depending on which case we’re looking at, to be contacted. So far everybody we’ve contacted has talked about how horrible it was and how much it affected their lives, but I didn’t get any ring of leftover anger or need for revenge or anything. To them it was just a straight-up accident. Something that was terrible and that people should be punished for, but there wasn’t anything that anybody could do.”
“Got it,” he said.
She watched as he checked the rice, and then, adding the olive oil in the preheated cast-iron skillet, he tossed in the two big steaks. She was amazed that they even fit. He had cut off the edges of fat and had sprinkled some spices all over the top. “Where did you get the spices from?”
“I bought them.” With a wave of his hand, he said, “Go back to the case.”
“Well, and then, when we had a fatality at the intersection, it wasn’t supposed to be my case, but a projectile penetrated the back of the cyclist’s head, right above the ear.”
He turned, looked at her. “So it was murder.”
She nodded. “Yes, but whether the projectile was some kid on the golf course with an errant golf ball or someone on purpose with an ice bullet, we don’t know yet. However, she managed to move forward after that hit to her head. The blow would have been stunning, but… I don’t know. I get the feeling that the projectile angle just kept pushing her into the intersection. It was timed very well, right at the intersection.”
“So afterward she was hit by a car?”