Parted by Death (Ellie Matthews Novels Book 4) by Caroline Fardig

Author:Caroline Fardig [Fardig, Caroline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Severn River Publishing
Published: 2023-02-13T16:00:00+00:00

20

Back at the station, I went to the lab to make a 3D model of Aurora’s fingerprint to unlock her second phone. Shane went to find a computer to look through the flash drive Iris had given us.

I pulled up an image of Aurora’s right index finger that Dr. Berg had collected during the autopsy and sent it to our 3D printer. While I waited for the printer to fashion my fingerprint, I texted Vic.

I hope my students didn’t eat you alive.

His reply came almost instantly. More like they were eating out of my hands.

So next time I need a substitute teacher, I should ask you?

There was a hesitation this time before his response. I think I’ll stick with my day job. After a moment, he sent another message. One kid—IDK his name, the one with the stupid haircut—asked me out for coffee so he could learn ‘literally everything there is to know about the FBI.’

I’d called that one. I can’t think of anything worse than alone time with that fool. I hope you said no.

I did, but I let him down easy.

Good. Gotta go. Talk soon.

I removed the 3D image of the fingerprint from the printer and placed it against the button on Aurora’s cheater phone. Nothing happened. I repositioned it and only had to wait a moment before the phone came to life. I went straight for the text app.

There were three numbers she texted with fairly often. Her last text, from the day before she died, was her reply, Can’t wait. I clicked on that thread and found that she was responding to the message, See you at 2 today?

As I started scrolling back through the conversation, I noticed the bulk of their exchanges over the past week were similar, like Aurora and whoever had the phone number ending in 2583 must have had standing meetups (or hookups) that they checked to make sure were still on. Mostly it was 2583 doing the checking and Aurora confirming. The texts from 2583 kind of reminded me of the reminders I got from my hair stylist on appointment days. But then I read a text that definitely did not remind me of the ones I got from my hair stylist. I texted Shane and insisted he come to the lab to read these with me. The one I saw from last week had me shivering. I can’t wait to see you. Are you sure you’ll be home alone tonight? Knowing where and how she died, that one chilled me to the core.

“What’s up?” Shane asked, taking a seat next to me in the lab office.

I handed him the phone. “I’ve got a bad feeling about whoever’s on the other end of this conversation.”

Shane read aloud, “I can’t wait to see you. Are you sure you’ll be home alone tonight? Her response was, Don’t worry. You’ll have me all to yourself. Lance is working late again. Oh, shit. That sounds murdery.”

“That’s what I thought. Any idea what she was doing at two PM the day she died?”

He thought for a moment.

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