TWENTY-SEVEN
“We need to subpoena for the payment records on this transaction from Pick Me Up,” Amanda said to Trent as they headed to their desks. “See if it can lead us back to Josh Ryder, and if not, the killer—whoever they are.”
“Got it.” Trent went to his cubicle to take care of that, and she dropped in her chair. Swiveled side to side. Deep in thought.
Two people in holding—Ashton Chambers and Josh Ryder. Both had a motive to kill Chloe Somner. Both were supposedly at the state park Monday morning. Only one was denying that.
Josh repeatedly claimed someone was setting him up but still hadn’t provided them with a name. Not even a theoretical one. Was it just a shallow defense that he was trying on in hopes it would remove him from suspicion? Or was he genuinely innocent and grasping to understand how the evidence was leading back to him?
She listened to Trent tapping away on his keyboard, working on the subpoena request, and felt stumped. Though stalled was probably a better word. They were in a holding pattern, waiting on Josh’s lawyer to arrive, and who knew when that would happen. Sometimes it took attorneys a long time to show up. Josh could be spending the night in a holding cell. But if he killed Chloe, that was the least of what he deserved.
She turned on her monitor and brought up some pictures from the crime scene. She stopped on the one of Chloe with the black orchid. Such care had been taken to stage her the way the killer had intended. In a way, the scene itself represented duality, just like the symbolism for the flower. The girl pale, white. The flower dark, black.
Chloe had embodied the positive aspects of the flower. The strength, virility, and success. She was certainly popular. Intelligent, pretty. That combination could be intimidating to some people, as Josh had pointed out—and it was true. She had contributed to society and wanted to better the world.
Had the killer stripped her and cleansed her to signify Chloe’s innocence? Or to emphasize they hadn’t viewed her that way in life? Was the black orchid simply picked for its macabre symbolisms of evil and death? Maybe even to imply that Chloe had brought her fate upon herself?
While they waited on Josh’s lawyer, she and Trent needed to figure out the clues and burrow through the riddles. What could they find out that would implicate him so they could build a case against him? Did more telling evidence exist?
Chloe’s car. They needed answers from it. Now. When Malone had told her about the car being found, he’d also shared that Chloe’s clothing, backpack, laptop, and phone had not been recovered. So where were they? If the killer was smart, they would have disposed of these items.
She got up and went to Malone’s office. Just as she was stepping away from her cubicle, Trent’s phone rang, and he answered. She kept moving.
Malone was at his desk, and she filled him in on their interrogation results.
“A lawyer,” he mumbled.
“Well, it is his constitutional right,” she kicked back with a subtle smirk as she dropped into the chair across from him.
“Suppose it is. What can I do for ya?” Ruffled and irritated, like she’d interrupted something important.
“I just want to make sure Chloe’s car is being processed as a priority.”
“It is.”
“Good to hear.”
“Is there something else, Detective?” He raised his brows, and she was tempted to ask what was going on with him these days, but she had an inkling he wouldn’t be receptive to the probing.
She’d bench her personal inquiry for now. “I think we should hold Ashton Chambers at least until we’ve had a chance to question Josh Ryder about him… That being whenever his lawyer gets here.”
“All right. Fine.”
Amanda dipped her head and left his office. She grabbed a coffee from the lunchroom. Her plan was to return to her desk and dig into Josh’s online presence some more, see what he posted about, not just on Snap VidPic but on other popular social media sites he might have been on.
Her phone rang, and caller ID told her it was CSI Blair. “Detective Steele.”
“There’s something you might be interested in knowing.”
No one could accuse the investigator of not getting to the point. “Which is?” Amanda headed to her desk, talking as she walked.
“The blood on that snail at the crime scene came back with two blood types.”
“Two contributors. Chloe’s and her killer’s?”
“One is a match for Chloe based on blood type. It still needs to be run for DNA and comparisons made, but as you know that takes much longer. As for whether the other blood type belongs to the killer, I believe that would be most likely.”
“What blood type?” Amanda chose to ignore Blair’s snide tone.
“A-positive.”
Amanda was going to respond with a thank-you or follow-up on Chloe’s car, but Blair had already hung up. She probably didn’t want to have a conversation about Amanda’s father and their affair any more than Amanda did. Not that now would have been a good time—if one even existed.
“There you are.” Trent stood in his cubicle, walked around and followed her into hers.
“Was I missing?” she joked. “I just went to see Malone for a minute. I wanted to make sure Chloe’s car is being rushed with Forensics. And speaking of, the blood from that snail had two donors. One was Chloe. The other is presumably the killer, whoever that may be.”
“I assume based on type only? It’s too early for DNA.”
“That’s right. We’ll need to find out what blood type Josh Ryder is.”
“And the jackpot winner is…?”
“A-positive.”
He nodded. “As soon as his lawyer gets here, which I’ve heard isn’t going to be until tomorrow morning, we’ll ask.”
“Tomorrow?” she parroted, then snapped her mouth shut, frustrated. She just wanted to move on with questioning him and getting some answers. “The subpoena for the car service app?”
“Submitted for approval. Now we wait.”
“Name of the game lately.”
“Oh, I did hear from Metro PD.”