plus for us. Were you really serious about a DNA lab? You think Garnett will go for it?”
“I’m not sure, but I may ask accounting to crunch some numbers for me. It may pay the museum to have a DNA lab that’s dedicated to forensics and not research. We can bypass the local government.”
“Jin’ll like that even better. He already tells everyone he works for the museum.” David started to rise off the sofa.
“Tell me about Cipriano first,” said Diane. “We still have other cases.”
David dropped to a seated position again. “I didn’t get much from the scene,” he said. “I’ve been running the fingerprints through AFIS. Most, as you expect, are hers. There are a few of her ex-husband in the kitchen and bathroom. One of her neighbors said he usually did the cooking. His prints were on the books that he said were his—the biographies and history books. I’ve got three unknown prints, but I have to collect some more exemplars. She had a repairman in to fix the dishwasher a couple of months ago. She’s had friends in and I have to get their prints. Her mother visited a couple of weeks ago and I have to get her prints. That’s going to be difficult for the poor woman. I’m glad I’m not going to be the one doing it. She lives in Maryland. The authorities there are going to do it for me.”
“We have nothing?” said Diane.
“Not nothing. I have foreign carpet fibers from the area rug in her living room and from the carpet in her bedroom. Gray, beige, turquoise, red, and cobalt blue. Jin has identified them as carpet fibers coming from a Saturn, a Chevrolet, two high-end floor coverings, and a cheap floor covering. Again, we need to check exemplars. I did check the husband’s car. He has a 2002 Saturn with gray interior. Jin is matching the fibers now. The cobalt blue is from a 1999 Chevrolet Impala. So far, neither her mother or any of her friends have a Chevrolet Impala with a cobalt blue interior carpet. Her mother does have an expensive beige carpet throughout her house. The Maryland authorities will take a sample of her carpet, too.”
“That’s something. Anything else?”
“Neva sat down with Jere Bowden and has a sketch of the man she saw. It was from the back, so I don’t know how much good it will be, but Mrs. Bowden said it is accurate. The police are canvassing the neighborhood and put the picture on the news. I’m sure that drew a lot of laughs from viewers—the back of a man. Right now the detectives are asking the public about the stranger and a 1999 Chevrolet Impala.”
“How about the books?”
“I’ve looked through a number of them, and so far nothing jumps out. It would help if I had some idea what I am looking for.”
“If we had the solution, we’d have the solution, wouldn’t we?” said Diane.
“Cute. I’ll keep you informed on all the cases,” said David.
“I’ll take the Cipriano case, and you three work on the rest. Garnett will probably tell you what the GBI finds at the McNair crime scene if you ask him nicely.”
“You think the cases could be linked?” asked David.
Diane shrugged. “Right now I can’t see how. The only commonality between Stanton and McNair is me, unfortunately. And I really can’t see a connection with Cipriano—maybe Stanton and the meth lab, but you can’t get too far with rhyming words.”
David stared at her for several moments. “What? Did I miss something? Was there something in one of the poetry books about the meth lab explosion?”
Diane smiled. “No. I just wondered to myself, What if Jere Bowen heard wrong? She said the voice was muffled and she couldn’t hear exactly what he said.” Diane went over her rhyming list with him, stopping at cook. “It was just a thought.”
“Interesting. Long shot, but could be true.” David looked like he was going to laugh.
“OK, it was crazy, but who knows,” she said. “It will be a while before the GBI processes the trace from McNair, but maybe you can get some of the details of the crime scene from Garnett.”
“I’ll get to work.” David stood up. “We’ll solve this,” he said.
Diane could tell from his voice that he meant it.
“I’m glad you’re confident. I don’t relish people casting wondering glances at me for the rest of my life.”
“Like I said, we have Jin. I tell you, I don’t think you know how you motivated