Close Your Eyes by Iris Johansen & Roy Johansen

Author:Iris Johansen & Roy Johansen
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Published: 2012-07-20T19:14:11+00:00

CHAPTER

10

IN LESS THAN HALF AN HOUR, they were in the eighth-floor FBI lab staring at the four-foot-by-eight-foot section of carpet that the forensics team had removed from Jeff Stedler’s apartment after Kendra and Lynch’s visit. Griffin and a ponytailed young forensics specialist named Dustin Freen stood with them at the long worktable.

“First of all, you were right about this being a different batch from the carpet that was in the rest of the apartment, sir,” Freen told Griffin.

Griffin leaned toward the carpet. “Interesting. You’re positive about that?”

“No question.” Freen gestured toward a monitor on the stand behind them. “We took fibers from this piece and from samples taken from the rest of the apartment, then compared them under a microspectrophotometer. It shows us how light interacts with the fibers. It can change with time, environment, and slight differences in the manufacturing process. Even though it’s the same carpet and same manufacturer, there’s no doubt that this piece comes from a completely different run.”

“Pretty much what Kendra’s nose told us,” Lynch said dryly. “Did your people follow up with the building maintenance staff?”

Freen nodded. “They didn’t replace this. They have some scraps in a utility room that they use for repairs, but we cut some samples and it’s all fairly close to the carpet in the rest of his apartment.” He picked up a sheet of paper. “This carpet is made by a company in Dalton, Georgia. It has a gold tint that’s not all that fashionable these days, but someone did purchase forty square yards of it just last week.”

“That’s not much,” Kendra said.

Lynch nodded. “Just about enough to cover a good-sized walk-in closet.” He pointed to the sample in front of them. “Or this piece.”

Freen smiled. “You’re going to like this. The buyer insisted that it be sent out via overnight air freight to San Diego.”

Kendra, Lynch, and Griffin exchanged glances. “Tell me we have a name and delivery address,” Lynch said.

“Just a name, Bill Carthers. It was picked up here at the airport offices of the shipping company, Profit By Air. Whoever he is, he paid much more to ship it out here than he did for the carpet itself.”

“Method of payment?” Griffin asked.

“Cash on delivery. We haven’t gotten anywhere following up on the name. You might follow up at the shipping office for some more details.”

“We’ll do that,” Lynch said as he turned toward the door. “Good work, Freen.”

He shrugged. “Just doing my job.”

“Thanks for the heads-up, Griffin,” Lynch said as they left the lab and walked toward the elevator bank.

Griffin shrugged. “Least I could do. It was Kendra’s catch. Besides, aren’t we still sharing info with each other?”

“We are.”

Griffin gave him a distinctly cool glance. “Then why have you tasked two of my agents to log traffic cams from Rancho Bernardo?”

“We have reason to believe that Jeff Stedler was there shortly before he disappeared, so I have them looking for his car. I figure with the pattern-recognition software, it won’t take too long to find if it pops up.

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