The Last Straw (The Jigsaw Files #4) - Sharon Sala Page 0,9

seems focused on her career.”

“We’re going to do a walk-through,” Floyd said. “If we need anything else, we’ll call.”

“What about locking up?” Wayne asked.

“Can we lock it from the inside and just pull the door shut?” Mills asked.

“No, sir,” Wayne said. “How about I leave the passkey with you, and when you’ve finished up, just drop it off when you pick up the security footage.”

“Will do,” Mills said, and took the key, then closed the door behind Dyer after he left.

Floyd glanced around the foyer, then into the living room to their right. Nothing was disturbed, or appeared to be out of place.

“Let’s start in the kitchen,” Floyd said. “You know what to look for.”

Mills saw the utility room and checked it first.

“Hey, there’s a load of laundry in the washer that wasn’t ever put in the dryer,” he said as he came back out.

Floyd pointed to the table. “We’ve got a half-eaten bowl of noodle soup, a dead iPad and the cheese on this plate is hard and curling at the edges. This is not breakfast food. This is from last night, for sure.”

Mills nodded. “Looks like she was reading something on her iPad while she ate, and was interrupted.”

“Maybe she got sick and headed to the bathroom?”

“Dyer didn’t mention any signs of that, but we’re about to find out,” Mills said, and followed the sounds of the television all the way down the hall and into her bedroom.

“The bed is made. Doesn’t look like she slept in it last night,” Floyd said.

Mills stood for a moment, eyeing the setup of the room.

“Why would the TV be on, if she was eating her meal in the kitchen? She obviously wasn’t watching TV in bed, because the bed hasn’t been disturbed since it was made, and the remote is all the way across the room by the television. Nobody watches TV like that.”

Floyd’s eyes narrowed. There was no simple explanation for any of this. He stepped into the bathroom, eyeing the perfectly folded towel and washcloth hanging on the towel rack, then felt the soap inside the shower. It was dry. Everything in the room was pristine.

“She didn’t shower in here last night,” he said, and then eyed footsteps in the carpeting that went in and out of the walk-in closet, but there was nothing obvious to be seen in there, either.

“There’s no blood. No sign of a fight. Nothing has been disturbed. But she’s damn sure gone,” Floyd said.

“Maybe that security footage will show something different,” Mills said.

“I want to look at it now,” Floyd said. “Call Dyer and tell him we’re coming down.”

Mills made the call, and was talking to Dyer as they left, locking the door and heading back to the elevator.

Viewing the footage only compounded the puzzle. It showed Wayne letting in a cleaning crew around 10 a.m. yesterday, and then coming back just after 1 p.m. to lock up when they left.

“Do you do this for all of the residents?” Detective Mills asked.

“You mean, letting in cleaning crews and repairmen? Yes. It’s part of my job. Slick Floors is the cleaning service. They have a contract with Detter House, but they never have free access to the rooms. I always let them in and lock up after they’re gone.”

Then they fast-forwarded the footage to the next person to enter her apartment.

“Who’s that?” Floyd asked.

“That’s Rachel. She often works late at her office.”

It was the first time they were seeing the face of the woman who’d gone missing. Pretty, dark curly hair. A little over five feet tall. The time stamp was just before 8 p.m. when she went into her apartment. She never came out again. After that the next person to show up at her door on the footage was Dyer going in for the wellness check this morning.

“This is very disturbing,” Floyd said. “There’s not another way out of her apartment. There’s no back door, and the fire exit is down the hall, so she would have had to come out of her apartment to get out of this building, no matter where she made an exit. I’m calling in our team from the crime lab. They’ll do a sweep of the apartment. If there are answers to be had there, they’ll find them. So for now I’m keeping the passkey until they’re finished.”

Wayne nodded. “If there’s anything I can do to help, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“We’ll be in touch,” Floyd said.

Three

The day at Dodge Investigations was slow, but productive. Charlie was gone