parking lot overnight Monday,” Allison said. “It was logged by the security officer on duty.”
“Didn’t anyone think that was unusual?” Kendra said.
Allison shrugged. “It was an older car. The officer thought it probably had engine trouble and Ronald just caught another ride home.”
Kendra sniffed the air as they walked. Gardenias. Mr. Kim based his planting on scents as much as visual aesthetics, so the sightless students always knew where they were on campus. Even after all these years, Kendra knew she’d soon be smelling roses, followed by a wisp of honeysuckle.
“The security officers’ shift change came at seven A.M.,” Allison said as they approached the rose garden. “That’s when Ronald’s body was discovered, when the daytime officer made his first patrol around campus.”
Metcalf shone his flashlight toward a large stone wall at the far end of the lawn. “His body was found there, on the ground at the base of the trellis.”
Kendra slowed as they approached the scene. The grass had been matted by the dress shoes of more than a dozen cops, FBI agents, and evidence teams, along with the thin wheel marks of the gurney used to cart away Ronald Kim’s body.
Griffin directed his flashlight beam along the ground in front of them. “He was here, mostly covered by these trellis vines down to almost his knees. He was killed by a single nine-millimeter shot to the back of the head.”
Kendra pulled out her phone, activated its flashlight, and studied the scene. “Were these drag marks here or did the M.E. make these removing the body?”
“They were there already,” Metcalf said. “He was moved just a few feet, enough to hide the body. He appears to have been murdered here at close range. A silencer was used to muffle the sound.”
“So no one heard the shot?”
“No one,” Allison said. “And in the dormitory, we have dozens of children with highly developed senses of hearing, as I’m sure you can imagine. Stray cats a hundred yards away are known to cause a disturbance around here.”
Holding her phone flashlight in front of her, Kendra walked down the length of the stone wall.
“What are you looking for?” Griffin said. “We searched this entire area.”
“I’m sure you did.” Kendra didn’t look up as she continued her scan of the area. She had no idea what she was looking for, but a lawn and garden this pristine would make it easier for her to spot something, anything, that could give them a lead.
Or it could give them nothing.
She’d definitely have to come back the next day when the sun would light up the area far better than her phone. In this respect, Allison and the agents had been right to question her wisdom in visiting the scene in the dead of—
She stopped.
She turned her head and took half a step back.
“See something?” Metcalf called out.
“No.”
Metcalf, Griffin, and Allison joined her next to a clump of tall bushes. “What is it?”
“Ronald Kim stood here.” She looked over the wall, which was about four feet tall at this point. “He was here for quite a while, probably looking at the access road leading to the Pacific Coast Highway.”
Griffin squinted at the ground. “I don’t see how you can tell that.”
“I couldn’t if I was only using my sight.” She grabbed a branch from the nearest bush, leaned in, and took a deep whiff. “Try it.”
Only Metcalf moved closer and sniffed the bush.
“Smell that?” she asked.
“I’m…not sure.”
“You’d probably be surer if you’d been paying attention to what the others smelled like.”
“How is this one different?” Griffin said.
“It’s been bathed in cigarette smoke. And not just a few puffs. Probably several entire cigarettes. The smell wouldn’t linger this long otherwise. Which means he was standing here for quite a while.”
“How do you know it was Ronald Kim and not someone else?”
“The scent of this tobacco is sharp, very distinctive. It’s a Korean-made cigarette brand, Raison. The odor was always on Mr. Kim’s clothes. A young woman in your office also smokes this brand, by the way.”
“What woman?” Griffin asked.
“The forensic accounting specialist two cubicles down from Metcalf. Special Agent Park.”
“Huh.” Griffin’s forehead creased in surprise. “I didn’t even know she smoked.”
“Me neither,” Metcalf said.
Kendra turned back toward the wall. “Something here interested him. He stood here for a reason.”
“Maybe he just came here for his smoke breaks.”
“No,” Allison said. “No staff member is allowed to smoke anywhere a student may see them. There’s only one smoking area, and it’s near the garbage dumpsters behind the dining hall.”