Her Silent Cry (Detective Josie Quinn #6)- Lisa Regan Page 0,39

cosmetics bag. Josie could see cream concealer and powder foundation, mascara and lipstick. “She must have been unpacking,” she said. “He snuck in and surprised her. He didn’t spend much time. He came here with the intention of killing her and using her phone and that was it.”

“We’re dealing with a ruthless individual,” Oaks agreed.

Josie went back out into the hallway. She took another peek inside the bedroom Jaclyn used as a home office. The books on her shelves were a mix of contemporary novels and textbooks, most of which had to do with architecture. Sadness washed over Josie. Jaclyn Underwood wouldn’t be designing any buildings. She would never graduate from college after working so hard to get this far. She would never get married or have her own children. All that life unlived. Young victims almost always pierced her veil of professionalism—not that she ever showed it. Jaclyn Underwood, like so many before her, would visit Josie in her nightmares for years to come. The thought that she would likely be the one to have to tell Amy about Jaclyn’s murder made her heart even heavier. She was about to turn and leave the room when the edge of an object poking out from beneath Jaclyn’s desk caught her eye.

Josie dropped to her hands and knees and peered beneath the desk. It was a compact, similar to the one Jaclyn had in her suitcase except it was a much more expensive brand, and the color was Ivory Nude. Josie stood and took a more careful look around the room. She opened the closet which was packed with exercise equipment—a yoga mat, a portable elliptical machine, exercise bands and small dumbbells. Dresses hung from the rod. On the shelf above the rod were some shoeboxes and a pillow. Josie stood on her tiptoes to confirm that the pillowcase had the same pattern as Jaclyn’s bedclothes. She left everything as it was so it could be photographed and went across the hall into the bathroom. The toothbrush holder sat to the right of the bathroom sink, a shiny chrome cup with four holes in the top. All of them were empty which made sense since Jaclyn had been in Colorado for the weekend. She hadn’t had a chance to remove her toiletries or cosmetics from her suitcase. Josie studied the empty toothbrush holes, seeing exactly what she had expected to see.

“Oaks,” she called. “Can I talk to you a minute?”

Oaks crowded into the bathroom with her.

Josie pointed to the toothbrush holder. “What do you see?”

Oaks raised a brow but studied it. “I see a college kid who hasn’t cleaned her toothbrush holder in months, probably.”

He was right. It took time to build up the whitish-green crust that rimmed the toothbrush hole.

“But there’s two,” he added.

“Exactly,” Josie said.

One of the toothbrush holes was deep in crud while the other had only a thin layer but enough to indicate that someone else had been storing their toothbrush there for a shorter amount of time. Josie said, “In the spare room, under the desk is a compact.”

“Compact?”

“Foundation,” Josie said. “Women’s make-up. You know, it’s a little circular thing that opens. Mirror on one side, skin-colored powder on the other?”

Oaks laughed. “Okay, yeah. I got you. So what?”

“It’s not Jaclyn’s.”

“How do you know?”

“Because Jaclyn’s is in her suitcase.”

“Maybe she had two,” Oaks said. “How many do you have?”

Josie smiled. “I do have two but mine come in the same color and brand. Come with me.”

Oaks let her pass and followed her back into the bedroom. She knelt down over the open suitcase. “Was this photographed?” she asked.

“Yes,” answered the FBI agent on the other side of the room, dusting for prints.

Gingerly, Josie lifted the compact just enough so she could read off the brand and shade from the bottom. “Revlon ColorStay. Medium Deep. This runs maybe ten dollars at your local drug store. Look at Jaclyn’s skin. It’s not fair. It’s olive.”

“I’m listening,” Oaks said.

She led him back to the spare room and pointed to the floor beneath the desk. “You can look but I already read it. It’s Estée Lauder. Ivory Nude. Goes for about forty dollars and is sold at higher end department stores. Jaclyn is a college student. College students don’t spend forty dollars on foundation at Macy’s. They go to the local CVS.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Because I’ve bought make-up—and when I was in college, ten dollars on make-up was a lot. And no matter where you buy your make-up