Page 49 of Lost Hours
“Is that a problem for forensics?” Mina asked.
“Problem.” Sierra shook her head hard. “Not at all. In fact it’s a good thing. Remember when I mentioned getting DNA samples from the air in the escape room? The same can be true in a home, but due to the large size of rooms open to one another, it makes it more difficult. However, we can find DNA on the surfaces of the air conditioner units for the usual users of a room as well as visitors.”
“So if the killer came in the house to verify the mayor was dead and take his body, then his DNA might be on that AC unit?” Nolan clarified.
Sierra smiled. “Exactly. We’ll still take air samples as they most likely denote the more recent occupants, where the air conditioning unit will more likely represent previous occupants.”
Nolan shook his head. “It still surprises me where DNA can be located these days.”
Her eyes lit up. “There are a number of research projects going on now, and it’s an exciting time in environmental DNA. Seems like there’s a new development every day. eDNA—environmental DNA shed from sources like skin and saliva—can be detected in so many places in the environment. That includes water, ice, air, soil. Even dust.”
“A word of caution, though.” Blake took a wide stance. “As of now, some of it’s too experimental to use as evidence in a court of law, but it’s enough information to give you a suspect to pursue.”
“We’ll take any help we can get,” Mina said.
“Okay, so we’ll process this entire room, plus the outside, making sure we get that shoe into evidence. Do you want us to handle the rest of the house too?”
“No,” Mina said. “We gave it a thorough search and didn’t see any indication of a disturbance or struggle. If that changes, I’ll let you know.”
Sierra closed her notepad and shoved it in her pocket. “The next stop is the mayor’s house. It doesn’t sound like you’ve found any forensics in his house at all. Am I right?”
“That’s right,” Mina said. “Since we can’t yet prove that this was the murder scene for the mayor, Becca could’ve been killed here as far as we know. I was hoping you could use your special lights to search for blood that someone might have tried to clean up in his house.”
“That we can do.” Sierra clapped her hands, the sharp sound reverberating off the high ceiling. “So this is what we’ll do. I, along with Ainslie and Jeremiah, will go to the escape room. I’ll take air samples and process the fixtures in the room. This is where the work is more complicated, so I’ll handle that. Then since there’s so much in the room to be taken into evidence, and it isn’t a very complicated task, I’ll have Jeremiah package the evidence after Ainslie photographs it.”
“That sounds like a good plan,” Nolan said. “What about this scene and the mayor’s house?”
“Chad is a very skilled forensic technician, so I’ll have him process this house and have Chelsea take photographs. Since that’s the entire staff I brought with me assigned to duties, once I complete my work at the escape room, I’ll go to the mayor’s house and search for blood evidence.”
“And of course, she’ll oversee everything to make sure it’s done correctly,” Blake said. “Our team is quite capable of doing their jobs, but that’s just who Sierra is.”
“Aside from lives depending on us to do everything correctly, we also have to maintain our reputation as a premiere agency,” Sierra said. “That means making sure our work is above reproach.”
Blake nodded. “I’ll see that Grady does the bullet trajectory along with removing the slug from this wall. He won’t begin work until Chad has finished the forensics in the area so he doesn’t disturb the evidence. I can notify you when he begins, if you like, so you can ask any questions you might have.”
“That would be great.” Mina smiled at Blake.
“From what you’ve told us,” Blake said. “There’s a computer at the mayor’s office, his home, and one here that Dylan will need to image. Is that correct?”
“Image?” Nolan asked. “Does that mean making a copy of the computer’s hard drive?”
Blake nodded. “Exactly. We need to do that to maintain the state of the computers for evidence. Any searches Dylan conducts, he’ll do on the image.”
“How long does that take?” Mina asked.
“Depends on the size of the hard drive and the complexity of it,” Blake said. “Would you like me to get Dylan on the phone to give you more details?”
“That would be great,” Mina said. “I was hoping once he took the computers into evidence that he might have time to search for information that I’m sure he could locate far faster than my one-man IT staff.”
Blake got out his phone and made a video call. After Dylan answered, Blake held the phone out so Mina and Nolan could see the screen. “We have three computers to take into evidence and as far as I know no cell phones.”
“That’s right,” Nolan said. “We haven’t located any cell phones.”
“How long would it take you to image the three computers?” Blake asked.
“We talking laptops or desktops?”
“Two laptops and one desktop,” Mina said.
