Speak No Evil_ A Novel - Allison Brennan [100]
“Ironically, the same day he raped the West LA woman.”
Jim let that sink in before continuing. “So when I ran the DNA we extracted from Becca—”
“Wait,” Carina said, “I thought you said you didn’t have anything from Becca.”
“I should have told you, but I was swamped running DNA myself. I don’t have to tell you how shorthanded we are right now.”
“I’m sorry, it wasn’t an accusation—”
“No, I should have said something. Anyway, I found a hair with a follicle in one of the layers of plastic wrap. One hair, that’s it. There’s some other trace evidence—wool from a blanket, some cotton fibers—but this was the only DNA evidence. So I ran it against the database and it popped up Mitchell Burns. But there’s something else.”
“What?”
“Another commonality to our current murders.”
“Glue?”
“No, but close. Burns gagged his victims with a black bandanna and tied them to the bedposts with white nylon rope.”
“White rope is common,” Nick said.
“But black bandannas aren’t,” Carina added. “So he broke into their house to rape them?” Carina wasn’t surprised. It was common, but her fear that no one was safe even in their own homes was deep-seated.
“Yes. Ground-level apartments in low-security buildings. He was a repeat offender, and had used the bandannas in his previous crimes as well.”
“Any particular reason?”
“None that was in the file.”
“But you said he’s not in prison.”
“He’s still missing. LAPD watched his house for a while, but he never returned.”
“Maybe he realized he’d made a mistake and ran,” Nick said.
“That was my thought.”
“Eight years is a long time to disappear,” Nick said. “Especially a wanted man and repeat offender.”
Carina wrapped her mind around the information Jim had given her. “So the DNA matched a known rapist who has been missing for eight years?”
“No,” Jim said. “Mitchell Burns didn’t rape our three victims. But a close relative did. A brother, first cousin, uncle, son.”
“Son.”
“He has two. According to the police reports, he had two minor sons at the time of his first arrest twelve years ago, twelve and five.”
“That would make them about twenty-four and seventeen,” Carina said. “Names?”
“They’re not in the record, but get this. Burns’s wife moved to San Diego six years ago.” Jim handed her another sheet of paper.
“Here’s the address of Regina Burns. She lives in University City.” University City was between downtown San Diego and La Jolla to the north.
Carina gathered the information and checked her weapon. “Who wants to take a bet that Kyle Burns is the rapist’s son?”
No one took the bet.
“Do you want backup?” Jim asked Carina.
“We’re just going to talk to Kyle Burns first, then Mitchell Burns’s wife,” Carina said. “If Regina Burns confirms what we think we know, we need to put twenty-four/seven surveillance on Kyle Burns and fight for a warrant.”
“It’s going to be next to impossible to get Kyle Burns in with what we have. No attorney will allow him to submit to a DNA test.”
“Then we’ll have to find other evidence to give us probable cause for an arrest. Then we can get his DNA.”
“Don’t you need a warrant for DNA?” Nick asked.
“In California all you need is probable cause for an arrest. Everyone arrested for a felony in California is subject to DNA testing.”
With a solid lead at last, Carina rushed from the room, and Nick followed.
TWENTY-EIGHT
Hi Scout:
I’m so sorry about Felix. How awful! If anything happened to my kitties, I would be so upset.
I’ve been visiting my mother for the last week and haven’t had time to e-mail you. My mom’s been sick and we’ve had a hard time with it. I just hope she gets better. The doctors are afraid the cancer has come back, but I’m praying it’s not that again.
If you want to talk about Felix, go ahead.
By the way, I’m really struggling in one of my classes. You really helped me with