If She Heard (Kate Wise Mystery #7) - Blake Pierce Page 0,53

carefully unwrapped the cap, wanting to respect the owners. When she had it free of its wrapping, she held it up and watched the tassels fall and bounce in the air, attacked by a thin black nylon rope. She set the cap on the table and stretched the tassels out, taking all of the slack out of their decorative frayed ends and the rope that held them to the cap. She guessed it to be right at a foot in length—maybe fourteen inches. It may not wrap completely around a woman’s neck, but it would be more than enough to choke her.

Kate ran her fingers along the tassels, thinking. She then took the crime scene photos from Kayla Peterson’s death out of her file, as they showed the clearest strangulation marks. Kate leaned in and squinted at the marks and saw some irritation around the bruises, almost like a rubbed sort of mark.

The size and shape of the abrasion was almost a perfect match for the tassels.

With her heart hammering, she picked up her phone again. She tried DeMarco one more time, her excitement overruling the worry that her partner had not answered before. The phone started ringing as Kate continued to look at those tassels which, she had to admit, looked a lot less pretty and celebratory when she pictured them wrapped around a woman’s neck.

***

DeMarco was feeling extremely guilty when she and Kate returned to the hotel. In all the time she had known Kate, she could not remember a time where she had ever been this frustrated with her. She knew Kate had not let the little glimpse of fame from being the Miracle Mom go to her head, but she found herself questioning her partner’s commitment to her job.

She had never doubted Kate’s instincts. The woman had the sort of intuition that could nearly be called supernatural at times. But something was off with Kate now and whatever it might be, it was frustrating the hell out of DeMarco. There was no denying it, but she did not feel like going deep into the issue with Kate.

Instead, almost as soon as DeMarco stepped into her motel room, she turned right back around and stepped back out. She wasn’t sure if it was the stress or all of the talk about alcohol, but she found herself in need of a drink. Of course, without a partner to have a drink with, that meant drinking alone in an establishment like Esther’s Place, and DeMarco was not quite that desperate.

She knew there was a Quick Stop about a quarter of a mile away from the motel. She knew she couldn’t knock a six-pack off by herself, but she’d leave the remnants in her fridge for whoever had the room next. She walked to the car and paused. She was wired with anxious energy and the store was only a quarter of a mile away. She felt a little foolish for making the decision, but she decided to walk. Hell, it might even give her an opportunity to see what the roads looked like after hours—a glimpse into the non-existent night life their killer would be experiencing as he went out to end lives.

DeMarco pulled her collar up, buttoned her jacket, and walked. It was cold, but the chill was almost pleasant. It made her think of Thanksgiving and what it would look like this year. She was single again, which would please her parents, neither of whom had exactly warmed to the fact that she was gay. They were supportive of her sexuality up until she started dating and then that changed everything. Yes, it would suck to be single around the holidays, but a drama-free Thanksgiving with her parents did not seem so bad.

Of course, she and Kate would have to wrap this case in the next day or two in order for either of them to enjoy anything resembling a normal Thanksgiving. She thought of what the holiday might be like for Kate this year—a new baby to go along with her still relatively new grandkid. It really was sort of funny, looking at it as an outsider.

Her thoughts were still on Kate when she arrived at the Quick Stop. Maybe she was being too judgmental. If Kate was going through something, shouldn’t DeMarco, as her partner, do her best to support her?

No way I’m finishing a six-pack tonight, she reminded herself. Might as well have some help.

She reached into her pocket for her phone and found