Her Silent Cry (Detective Josie Quinn #6)- Lisa Regan Page 0,38

the front door, noting the overhead camera at the entryway. Inside, she went down a short hallway and then turned left. At the end of the hall was another agent with a clipboard. Beside him was a female agent doling out protective equipment. Josie donned a Tyvek suit, skull cap, booties and gloves and stepped through the door. She counted three agents processing the scene—taking photos, vacuuming for fibers and dusting for prints. The apartment was small, it’s living area only big enough for a loveseat across from a small table with a television on top of it. Behind the television, gauzy curtains swayed. Beyond them, Josie could see Mettner standing outside. She stepped closer and saw that the sliding glass doors had been left partially open. Next to that was the kitchen which was barely large enough for the table and chairs crammed into it. She turned away from the kitchen and walked down a small hallway. There was the bathroom on her left and a bedroom with a desk and several bookshelves in it across from that. At the end of the hall Oaks stood in what Josie assumed was the doorway to Jaclyn’s bedroom. He turned when he heard her approaching. “How did you know?” he asked.

“Know what?”

“That it would be the kidnapper calling?”

“I didn’t,” Josie said. “I was just going by what the note said. Right before the call came in, Amy told me she felt badly for not having talked with Jaclyn. She told me about the college courses, by the way.”

“That’s good,” Oaks said. “She trusts you.”

He turned his body in the doorway so Josie could slip past. She stayed on the edge of the room. One of the FBI agents was photographing Jaclyn Underwood’s body which lay face-up on her bed, a stab wound roughly two-inches long near her solar plexus. From what Josie could see, she had been a striking young woman with deep olive skin and long, dark hair. Her face was frozen in an expression of surprise, her brown eyes wide and glassy. Blood darkened the form-fitting, yellow cotton shirt she’d been wearing and the purple bedspread below her. Next to her body was a discarded cell phone.

“He came here and used her phone to call the parents,” Oaks said. “Then he killed her.”

“He called Amy,” Josie said. “He wanted to torture her. Now in addition to taking Lucy, he’s killed someone she was close to—Amy cared for this girl a great deal.”

Oaks shook his head. “Amy Ross barely has a life outside of her home. We couldn’t find any evidence that anyone would want to harm her. No evidence that she’s feuding with anyone. We went through her phone records and emails. We talked with her neighbors and other parents at school. They say she’s distant, but no one has anything bad to say. She would have to socialize to develop enough of a personal relationship with someone that they’d want to hurt her this badly.”

“Then we’re missing something,” Josie said.

Oaks said, “Maybe we need to take a closer look at the husband. Maybe this person is trying to hurt her and Lucy to get to him.”

“He seems a more likely target,” Josie said. “He’s built up some wealth working for Quarmark and there have been lots of death threats against him. This could be related to the drug pricing. Think about it—family members have to stand by and watch their loved ones suffer and die because they can’t afford the treatment they need.”

“And this guy is torturing Colin by making him watch his wife suffer, by making him wonder if his daughter is okay or not. He has to watch the slow death of his family.”

Josie nodded. “Did you find the murder weapon?”

“No,” Oaks said. “We believe he took it with him.”

“He came in through the sliding glass doors?” Josie asked.

“Looks that way,” Oaks said. “There are some droplets of blood on the floor inside and out the glass doors, so we know he went out that way.”

“There’s a camera at the main entrance. We should check the footage.”

“There’s a rear entrance, too,” Oaks said.

“I can go talk to the building manager, get whatever footage they have,” Josie offered.

“That would be great. I’m going to have a couple of agents canvass the other tenants and the neighbors.”

Josie took a last look around the room. On the floor beside the bed, Jaclyn’s suitcase lay thrown open. On top of the folded clothes was a hair dryer and an open