Claw Back by P. J. Parrish

Author:P. J. Parrish [Parrish, P. J.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Crime, Fiction, Mystery, Suspense, Thriller
Publisher: Panther Books
Published: 2013-01-14T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

For the third time in the last twenty minutes, Louis checked his watch, this time even tapping it to make sure it was running. Almost eight.

Where the hell was Katy?

“Everything okay here?”

He looked up at the waitress. “What? Oh, yeah.”

“Top you off?” she asked, holding up the coffee pot.

Louis nodded absently and she refilled his mug.

Yesterday, after their visit to the reservation, Louis had asked Katy to meet him for breakfast this morning. The forensic report from Grace’s crime scene was due back today and he hoped to be able to show it to Katy to boost her mood. When he went to pick it up the tech said he would bring it over to the IHop when he came over to get his takeout coffee.

Louis looked out the window for Katy’s FWC Bronco. No sign of it on the morning crawl along Tamiami Trail. He glanced at the pay phone out by the entrance, but he had already called her apartment and gotten the machine. A second call to her office got him a secretary who told him she hadn’t come in yet.

The guy from the forensic unit came in the entrance, spotted Louis and came over to his booth.

“Here’s your prelim,” he said, tossing a manila envelope on the table.

“Thanks,” Louis said. “Tell the cashier to add your coffee to my bill.”

After the man left, Louis put on his reading glasses and took out the report. He skipped over the tire tread part, focusing in the boot prints that had been found. They were for a men’s size ten Timberland Flume, a common hiking boot.

He zeroed in on the cigarette pack. The lab had been able to lift two clean prints from the cellophane but there was no match to anyone in the system.

He turned the page, scanning quickly, then stopped. The techs had found human hairs tangled in some brush. The analysis read: natural black, from the head, straight with circular cross sections, medium-sized pigment granules, and a thicker cuticle, consistent with Mongoloid pattern.

Louis took off his glasses. “Mongoloid” meant someone of Asian or Native-American descent. But he knew this wasn’t going to be enough to convince Katy.

He glanced out to the parking lot. Still no sign of her truck. He put his glasses back on and went back to the report.

One hair had its bulb intact, which meant they could test for DNA. But Louis knew there was no point. He had read enough about the new technology to know that a test would take months to come back. Besides, they had no one –- and nothing -– to compare it to. That wasn’t really true, he thought. They had the cigarette butt from the hunting camp but what would that prove? Besides, he had promised Gary Trujillo not to involve him in the case and there was no way Mobley would foot the bill for the high cost of a DNA test.

Louis took a drink of his coffee but it had gone cold.

So would this case if he didn’t think of something.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.