“But for now,” Josie said, “we’ve got no proof that any of those people owned a gun the same caliber as the one that killed Beverly.”
“Unfortunately,” Noah agreed. “I also checked to see if Vera ever purchased a firearm. Found nothing.”
“What about Ambrose McNeil’s inmate records? Can we get those? Check and see if he had tattoos?”
“Already did,” Gretchen said. “He’s listed as having several tattoos but nothing described as a skull or skulls.”
Josie plopped into her chair and slouched down. Fatigue weighed down every inch of her body. She closed her eyes for a moment, trying to still the whirling thoughts and brimming frustration inside. Gretchen said, “You okay, boss?”
Josie’s eyes snapped open. “I’m fine. I do have a couple of leads.”
Gretchen and Noah stared at her expectantly. She told them about the salon and then started to tell them about the call from Alice, but the sight of Amber behind them stopped her. Alice kept saying that it wasn’t safe to meet at the police department. She was obviously worried about being followed. She hadn’t trusted Josie and Gretchen to come to the meet alone that morning. Under normal circumstances, Josie could be absolutely certain that no one on the police force was a threat to Alice—or anyone else—but the circumstances were not normal. In fact, the only difference in the last two days was the addition of Amber to the staff.
“What did she say?” Noah asked. “Will she meet again?”
“Yes. She’ll meet with us. Tomorrow,” Josie said. “But I’ve got to wait for her to call back with the place and time.”
She’d tell Gretchen the real details of the call later. For now, if Alice was that paranoid about the police, Josie had to take that concern seriously.
Before either Gretchen or Noah could ask any more questions, the stairwell door flew open and Officer Hummel walked in, carrying a document in one hand and a paper bag in the other. He walked over to the desks. Ignoring Amber, he placed a fingerprint report in front of Josie.
“Boss,” he said. “This is the report from the prints we were able to get from the tarp and the duct tape. We got multiple unidentified prints from the tarps.”
Her heart gave an excited little patter, which quickly died as she looked over the report.
“As well as Vera’s prints and Ambrose McNeil’s prints on the tarps—”
“But not on the tape,” Hummel finished for her.
Noah said, “Did you get any prints from the tape?”
“One print that was still usable,” Hummel said. “But it didn’t get a hit on AFIS. So whoever left that print has never been arrested or charged with a crime.”
Gretchen noted, “The tarps were probably hanging up in the house or laid out to cover something if there was ongoing work happening. I’m not surprised that some of the prints were from Vera or this Ambrose guy. I think the print on the tape is the killer’s though.”
“Which does us no good now,” Noah complained. “We don’t have a match.”
“But we’ll get one,” Josie said. She smiled at Hummel. “Thank you. Great work.”
Hummel nodded. “I also had a look at the inside sleeve of the jacket, and it was torn and resewn just as suspected. Also, there was this.” He reached into the paper bag and pulled out an old piece of paper encased in plastic. He held it out for them to see. “This was in one of the jacket pockets.”
Josie said, “It’s a receipt from the Wellspring Clinic.”
“What’s that?” Noah asked.
“It was a doctors’ office geared toward low-income people,” Josie said. “Or people who didn’t have insurance—or didn’t have good insurance. They charged on a sliding scale based on your family income. I was a patient there until I left for college. It used to be in central Denton, in the historic district, but it closed years ago.”
“Makes sense that Beverly would go there,” Gretchen said, “from what we know about her and Vera’s financial situation. What else does the receipt say?”
The print on it had faded. Even with her reading glasses, Gretchen had to squint to see it. “Looks like she was charged for an exam of some kind.”
Noah said, “We can use the copier to darken that up, you know.”
Hummel gave it to Noah. “I wanted you to see this before we dust it for prints so wear gloves and be very careful.”
“You got it,” Noah said.
From where she sat several feet away, Josie noticed Amber watching them with interest, her fingers frozen over the keyboard. They watched Noah don gloves, remove the receipt from the bag, place it face down on the copier glass, and then punch some buttons. A few moments later, he had darkened copies of the receipt for each of them. Josie looked at the date. May 28, 2004. Only a few weeks before school had ended that year. “There’s no possible way to get records from this visit,” Josie said. “Wellspring is gone and even if it wasn’t, medical providers aren’t required to keep records this far back.”
Noah said, “Hummel, was there anything else in the pockets of the jacket or her jeans?”
Hummel shrugged. “Couple of dollars, a lip gloss. That was it.”
Gretchen sighed. “So until we meet with Alice or get the list of clients from Vera’s old employer—assuming they are able to compile one at all—we’ve really got no leads.”
No one responded.
From the other side of the room, Amber cleared her throat. “Maybe now is the time to release Beverly’s identity. We could ask the public for help in locating Vera as well. The Chief mentioned to me the possibility of rolling out a tip line since this case is quite old. I’ve already laid the groundwork during the press conference earlier today. All I would have to do is release a statement with some photos. The press will run with it on broadcasts and social media. I’m happy to answer the tip line.”
Josie looked at Noah and then Gretchen and saw from their expressions that neither of them had any objections. Josie said, “If you get the Chief’s approval, it’s fine with us.”
Gretchen said, “Come on, Watts. I’ll go with you to talk to him. We need to work out what information we want to tell the public and what we want to hold back.”
Josie and Noah watched them walk into the Chief’s office. They waited a long moment, expecting to hear the Chief holler, but there were only the sounds of hushed voices and the tap of Amber’s fingers over her tablet keyboard.
Noah said, “You ready to go home? Misty said she’s making paella. Patrick’s supposed to come over too. Bringing his new girlfriend, I hear.”
Josie smiled. She hadn’t seen her younger brother in a few weeks. He was a student at Denton University. Josie usually enticed him into coming over to visit by offering the use of her washer and dryer. Also, he had told her he was dating someone, but she hadn’t yet met the woman. “That sounds wonderful,” she said. “But I need to talk to Gretchen before I leave. You go ahead. I’ll meet you there.”
With no one else in the room, Noah walked over, leaned down, and kissed her. “Don’t be long.”
Gretchen and Amber emerged from the Chief’s office a few minutes later. Amber sat down at one of the desks and started typing away. “I’ll have this statement ready for your review in a few minutes, Detective Palmer,” she said.