Dead Certain - Mariah Stewart [95]
“It was a clear match. The striations on the bullets are identical.”
“Son of a bitch,” Sean muttered thoughtfully.
“You have any suspects?”
“None. We have nothing. The only thing we have is another homicide that we believe is connected.” Sean filled him in on Marian’s murder and explained the connection that Marian and Derek had with Amanda.
“So you’ve got two vics who were threatened by a guy who is serving time for stalking a woman who just happened to be a close friend of both victims.” Benson seemed to be contemplating this. “And you’ve got a con who doesn’t appear to have any contact with anyone except his mother.”
“That’s about all I’ve got.”
“She a good shot, the mother?”
“My guess is the closest she ever comes to firearms is watching Law and Order.”
“Just thought I’d ask.”
“Yeah, we looked into her and into the sister who visited him a few times, but there’s just nothing there. I don’t think the sister gives a damn about the brother. She made it real clear that she thought he was a creep and a sicko. Pretty sure those were the words she used.”
“Sounds like a charming family,” Bob Benson said dryly. “Your shooting victim, he was shot clean, right? No other wounds? No robbery?”
“Right. At one point early on I thought there might have been a connection to a piece of pottery the victim had bought on the black market in Europe recently. Thought maybe someone had trailed him to steal it, but that just seems like a dead end. And yeah, it was one clean hit through the head.”
“Same with our hairdresser. One shot to the head. Anything missing from the scene?”
“Nothing that we know of. The victim’s wallet was still in his pocket with a substantial amount of cash in it.”
“Our hairdresser’s cash register was cleaned out except for checks.”
“Nothing personal stolen off the body?” Sean asked.
“A ring her business partner says she never took off is missing. Yours?”
“Nothing at all for the shooting victim, but there was a pendant stolen from the other victim. The woman dealer who was killed in her shop.”
“That the woman who was stabbed?”
“Yes.”
“Seems to me the MO for mine and your first are the same. But the MO for the woman there, there don’t seem to be any similarity at the scene.”
“Except the taking of the jewelry, apparently as souvenirs. Derek England was wearing a ring on each hand and an expensive watch, but they weren’t touched. Why not?” Sean tapped his fingers on the desktop. “Can you fax over a copy of everything you have on this, let me take a look? Maybe something will occur to me.”
“Whatever you need. In turn, maybe you can fax me a copy of your reports. Maybe between the two of us, we can catch this son of a bitch.”
“Maybe we can. I’ll get those reports over to you this afternoon.”
“Mine is on its way. Should start coming through your machine any minute now.”
“I’ll watch for it. And thanks, Bob, for the heads-up.”
Sean went immediately to the small reception area, where, as Benson had promised, the fax machine was already starting to hum. He waited patiently as page after page came through, then, when the signal flashed to indicate that the send was complete, he scooped them up and returned to his office.
Straightening the papers into a neat stack in the center of his desk, Sean began to read the Carleton police reports detailing the investigation into the murder of Connie Paschall.
“Oh, Vinnie, I feel like I’m going to die.” Dolores sobbed into his shirt. “Connie was the best friend I ever had. How could anyone have done such a terrible thing to such a good, sweet person?”
Actually, it had been pretty easy. He suppressed a grin as he held her and patted her back in what he felt was a comforting gesture.
“She was the sweetest person I ever knew.” Dolores hiccupped. “She never did a thing that hurt anyone.”
Well, not yet maybe, but she had plans to hurt me big-time. Vince continued patting.
“The bastard even took the ring right off her finger. Can you imagine being so cold? So heartless?” Dolores wiped her face on his shirt and began