Private: #1 Suspect

CHAPTER 5

If you’re not the cops on official business, processing an active crime scene is a felony. It’s not just contaminating evidence and destroying the prosecution’s ability to bring the accused to trial, it’s accessory to the crime.

If we were caught working the scene, I would lose my license, and all four of us could go to jail.

That said, if there was ever a time to break the law, this was it.

Mo said, “Jack, please get out of the frame.”

I stepped into the hallway and Mo’s Nikon flashed.

She took shots from every angle, wide, close-up, extreme close-ups of the wounds in Colleen’s chest.

Sci took Colleen’s and my fingerprints with an electronic reader while Mo-bot ran a latent-print reader over hard surfaces in the room. No fingerprint powder required.

Justine asked, “When did you last see Colleen alive?”

I told her that I’d had lunch with her last Wednesday, before I left for the airport.

“Just lunch?”

“Yes. We just had lunch.”

A shadow crossed Justine’s eyes, like clouds rolling in before a thunderstorm. She didn’t believe me. And I didn’t have the energy to persuade her. I was overtired, scared, heartsick, and nauseated. I wanted to wake up. Find myself still on the plane.

Sci was talking to Mo. He took scrapings from under Colleen’s nails, and Mo sealed the bags. When Sci lifted Colleen’s skirt, swab in hand, I turned away.

I talked to Justine, told her where Colleen and I had eaten lunch on Wednesday, that Colleen had been in good spirits.

“She said she had a boyfriend in Dublin. She said she was falling in love.”

I had a new thought. I spun around and shouted, “Anyone see her purse?”

“No purse, Jack.”

“She was brought here,” I said to Justine. “Someone had her gate key.”

Justine said, “Good thought. Any reason or anyone you can think of who could have done this?”

“Someone hated her. Or hated me. Or hated us both.”

Justine nodded. “Sci? Mo? We have to get out of here. Will you be all right, Jack?”

“I’m not sure,” I said.

“You’re in shock. We all are. Just tell the cops what you know,” she said as Sci and Mo packed up their kits.

“Say you took a very long shower,” Sci said, putting his hand on my shoulder. “Make that a long bath and then a shower. That should soak up some of the timeline.”

“Okay.”

“The only prints I found were yours,” said Mo-bot.

“It’s my house.”

“I know that, Jack. There were no prints other than yours. Check the entry card reader,” she said. “I would do it, but we should leave.”

“Okay. Thanks, Mo.”

Justine squeezed my hand, said she’d call me later, and then, as if I had dreamed them up, they were gone and I was alone with Colleen.