Page 39 of So Deadly
The blood was gone after about nine strides, rubbed off by the dirt and grass, but the footprints were easily discernible to the back fence where scuffs and clods of dirt in the chainlink indicated where she had vaulted the fence and fled.Faith climbed the fence and saw Turk about a hundred feet in front of her, trotting fast, nose to the ground.He stopped and buried it in a clump of bushes, then barked and loped back.
Faith picked up her pace and jogged toward her dog.After a few strides, he saw her and reversed direction, jogging back to the bushes and stopping, head fixed on whatever he’d discovered.
A few yards away, Faith saw a streak of red buried in the green of the bushes.The green and brown from the plant and dirt behind it almost tricked Faith’s eyes into seeing another body and believing the Rotty had claimed his victim as well.
Up close, she could see it was only another plastic poncho, stained, torn, and bloody.The killer had cast it off as she fled just like she had at the other two scenes.
Faith jogged past the bushes, looking for any sign of the killer’s trail, but the dirt was hard packed here, and she couldn’t see any footprints.“Turk, go get her,” Faith said.“Find her.”
Turk trotted to Faith but then put his nose to the ground and sniffed.He snorted with disappointment after a few seconds.The scent of blood overpowered the killer’s scent, and he couldn’t track her past the poncho.
Faith sighed, trying to hide her disappointment.She pressed forward another hundred feet or so, but when she reached another residential street and saw no evidence of the killer, she gave up and headed back to the house.
Jessica and Jenkins met her halfway.“There’s a poncho in those bushes back there,” she said.“It matches the previous two scenes.”
“I’ll have CSI pick it up,” Jenkins said.“Trail goes cold after that?”
“So far,” Faith admitted reluctantly.“See if you can piece together what happened at the farmer’s market.It’s likely our killer was there.”
“I think they might have been waiting for Robert at home,” Jessica suggested.“We should still interview the farmer’s market guests who interacted with him, but I have a feeling she knew his habits.She probably slipped in while he was out and waited.”
“Maybe,” Faith relented.“She didn’t count on the Rottweiler, though.”
“He’s a good boy,” Jenkins agreed.“He saved his human’s life.”
“He did,” Faith agreed.“In the meantime, we should have a talk with Jennifer Suleiman.”
Jessica’s brow furrowed.Faith waited for the argument, but she didn’t offer one, instead only nodding and telling Jenkins, “Call us with any updates.”
“Yeah, you two.Hey, why the long faces?This is a good outcome.The victim’s alive, the dog chased them off, and you guys have a suspect.If this Suleiman girl is our killer, then she probably hasn’t had time to clean up.We could have this wrapped up without any more loss of life.”
“Yes,” Jessica agreed.“If.”
That “if” hung over their heads as they left Crawford’s house and drove to Suleiman’s house a few miles away.Faith was grasping at a straw right now.Suleiman was connected to these victims by the thinnest of threads, and if Faith’s hunch didn’t work out, then the real killer would have time to escape and scrub the evidence before the investigators found them.
But they were so close.If Faith was right, then like Jenkins said, this could end before Suleiman had a chance to kill anyone else.
If.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Suleiman’s home was modest but well-maintained.The driveway was bright and clean, almost as though it had never been driven on.The grass was flawlessly cut in a pleasing checkered pattern, and the lone tree was pruned delicately.Even the windows were spotless.
There was something off about the place, though.Faith couldn’t quite put her finger on it.Maybe it was the absence of any kind of decoration.There were no flowers in the brick planter ringing the house, no flag extending from the holder above the porch.The porch itself was spotless, the pine planks swept utterly free of dust, but there was no furniture, no plants or decorative statuettes, not even a welcome mat.Nothing to make the house look lived in or personal.It was almost like someone had planted a stock photo of “house” in the middle of the neighborhood.
Turk seemed on edge too, and like Faith, he didn’t seem to know what it was that had him on edge.He just looked around and snorted, tail switching back and forth, head lowered as though he was preparing for a fight.
Jessica knocked on the door firmly and called, “Jennifer Suleiman?FBI.”
No answer.
Jessica shared a look with Faith and lifted her hand to knock again but stopped when the curtains in front of the window—plain gray with no adornments, stitching, or embroidery of any kind—moved out of the way and a small, anxious face looked through.The eyes fell on Turk and widened.The owner of the face called through the window, “Is your dog a legitimate certified K9 unit?”
“Yes, he is,” Faith said.“We’re real FBI agents, and we need to talk to you.”
She looked up and to the right, like she was trying to remember something really important.For several seconds, she didn’t speak.Then, just as Faith was about to repeat her request, Jennifer said, “Can you please hold your ID up to the window?I just need to verify it.I’ve had bad experiences with fake service animals, but if I can verify your ID, I’ll believe you.”
She seemed just apologetic enough that Faith decided to comply.She still suspected that Suleiman was their killer, but she remained by the window and looked up Faith’s ID with her cell phone, so Faith didn’t think she was stalling for time.
