Chapter 25

When I got to my desk, I wasn’t expecting to see the lovely Delilah Rodriguez standing there again. I rubbed my hands back and forth over my scalp. I was frustrated, but Officer Rodriguez forced a smile to appear on my face and lightened my mood slightly.

“I have a surprise for you, Detective,” Rodriguez whispered.

“What’s that?”

She held up a clear plastic evidence bag with several strands of hair in it.

“What is that?” I was curious, but wasn’t in the mood for anyone’s jokes. I had work to do. I was sick of this case being open. I, or rather we, should have been able to get this closed by now. Or at least I thought that we would’ve. I’m sure Sarge thought so, too. Speaking of him, I had to go let him know we still didn’t have anything worth a shit.

“Remember you said you needed a DNA sample from that woman? Well, when I saw her walk into the bathroom I went in, too. She was brushing her hair. She threw some of the strands in the trash and there were several hairs lying around the sink.” She kept her voice to a whisper.

“How do you know it isn’t anyone else’s?”

“The cleaning people had just left before she went in there. Nothing else was in the trash can, and you know they clean like they’re eating off the counter tops.”

“Very sneaky.”

She propped her hand on her curvy hip and twisted her mouth. “Anyway, do you want them or should I just toss them in the trash?”

“I definitely want them. Thank you. I’ll run them over to the lab right now.”

“You’re welcome. You know you owe me,” she said.

“Name your price. But not until after this case is solved.”

“All right. Get going. We can talk later.”

I wanted to jump as high as I could, thrust my fist into the air, and high five everyone in the precinct. They’d surely all think I’d gone mad, though. Instead I rushed over to Johnson and let him know what Rodriguez had gotten. The smile on his face said it all. That was exactly how I’d felt.

“Come on,” Johnson said.

The smiles seemed like they’d become permanently fixed on our faces. I felt relieved that we’d be able to eliminate Ms. MacDonald and turn our focus on Ms. Green, if indeed her DNA matched. I didn’t understand Ms. MacDonald’s hesitation to provide the sample when we asked, but I’d take the strands of discarded hair any day.

We made our way into the lab and looked around for Skip. He was nowhere to be found. As we were explaining what we had to one of the other technicians, Skip came back into the lab from outside.

“Ah, my dynamic duo. How are you guys?” Skip asked.

“We’ll be doing great when you run a DNA comparison with these hairs and the blood on the knife.” I reached out my hand to give him the bag. “Any word on the little co-ed yet?”

“Nothing yet. You’ll be the first to know as soon as we get everything back.” He held the bag up to the light and inspected the contents. “I take it these came from another one of your other suspects?”

“Yeah, we lucked into them,” I said.

“Hopefully at least one has a root. Looking at them without my scope, it doesn’t look like any do. That woman desperately needs a conditioning treatment to stop her hair breakage.” He laughed. He was the only one laughing. “Come on, fellas, that was funny and you know it.”

“What wasn’t funny is you saying they might be no good,” Johnson said.

“That’s just a quick glance. We’ll get them under the scope and examine them more closely. Did you need anything else?”

“Anything on the shoes?”

“Thank you for reminding me, I almost forgot. This hair sample was a distraction from what I had for you. You won’t believe it, but there’s a pair of size eleven New Balance sneakers in there. And nearly all Effridge’s shoes are size eleven except one. There’s a pair of dress shoes that’s a size twelve. Maybe they ran small.”

“Anything significant about the sneakers?”

“I’ll let you know that, too. We’re looking at them. They had dark spots on the sole that at first we thought was mud, but remembered the footprint in his blood.”

“Thanks, man. It sounds like you’re going to have a lot of information for us in the very near future,” I said.

“That I will. I’ll give you a call as soon as I have some answers.”

“Thanks.”

We left a little disappointed, but hopeful. If the hairs didn’t pan out, we were screwed.

****

First thing the next morning, I received a call from Skip. He had all the results back and requested we stop in.

“Well, if it isn’t my two favorite detectives,” Skip said when we walked through the doors of the lab.

“You probably say that to everyone,” Johnson said.

“Wait. Did you just wink at me?” Skip laughed. “You did, didn’t you?”

“Hell no. You’re ridiculous,” Johnson scoffed.

“Whatever. I know you did.”

“Keep dreaming, Skippy.”

“Only my closest and favorites get to call me Skippy. Watch yourself Detective, or you’ll be on that list.” Skip winked at Johnson and I couldn’t hold my laughter in. Johnson hit my arm.

“I’ll work hard to stay off that list. And you should work hard to avoid sexual harassment charges, Skip.” Johnson placed a lot of emphasis on his name. His face was flushed.

“Yes, sir, Detective. Please don’t cuff me,” Skip said. When he laughed, I joined in. After a few seconds Johnson did, too. This was Skip’s way of having fun. He didn’t mean anything by it, but every now and then he’d get all wound up and was difficult to stop. No one ever filed complaints against him because we all knew he was in a committed relationship and loved his boyfriend dearly. Plus, we knew he wasn’t the type of person to overstep into unwanted territory. But that didn’t stop him from having a good time every now and then.

I turned slightly to face Johnson. “That’s enough, you two. Everyone knows you aren’t leaving your wife,” I said, then turned my attention back to Skip. “So, back to business. What do you have for us?”

“You don’t know that,” Johnson said through a smile.

“I’m pretty sure there’s only one woman in the world who would put up with you, so I’d take the bet on you not ever leaving her. Now her leaving you, that’s a different story.” I tilted my head and raised my eyebrows.

“Never. I keep my woman happy.”

“Ahem, gentle ducks. Stop all that quacking. I have the results from everything. I have the DNA results and match you were hoping to get, too. I’ve got the results from the sneakers. I’ve got it all, gentlemen. Today is your lucky day.”