the address. ‘‘I’m sorry to do this to you.’’
‘‘No problem.’’ Jin sounded wide awake. Diane turned to the chief. ‘‘I’d like to ride out to
the Mayberry house.’’
He gave her a curt nod, and she climbed into his
Lexus and buckled herself in.
‘‘These murders . . .’’ Garnett paused a moment.
‘‘It’s going to be a test of our new crime scene unit.
I don’t need to tell you how important it is to get
it right.’’
Several ways of answering him flitted through Diane’s
mind. Sarcastic was right up front, considering that it
was he and the mayor who had virtually blackmailed
her into housing the new crime lab and heading it up.
But when she opened her mouth, it was her good friend
Gregory’s wisdom that tempered her tongue. ‘‘It’s a good unit with good people. We’ll find all
the evidence that’s there to find.’’
That seemed to satisfy him. He said nothing for the
remainder of the trip. Instead, he tapped the steering
wheel with his fingers as he drove. Diane was glad it
wasn’t a long ride.
As they rounded a corner and turned into a drive
leading to the trailer park, Diane saw a police car
parked out front. The single trailer was lit, revealing
silhouettes of two uniformed officers moving through
the length of it.
As Diane and the sheriff stepped out of the car, the
two uniforms emerged. One was Janice Warrick.
they came face-to-face. Warrick held her chin high and
jaw clenched and addressed the chief of detectives. ‘‘He’s not here.’’
‘‘How’s it look inside?’’
‘‘A mess,’’ said Janice Warrick. ‘‘Chairs overturned,
drawers pulled out and emptied. We’re looking for
Mayberry now. Officer Wallace is calling his parents
and friends, and we have an APB out for his car.’’ ‘‘Did you see any blood, drug paraphernalia...?’’
Garnett asked.
Janice shook her head. ‘‘Nothing but the mess. We
only did a casual look through. That’s all we could
do.’’ Her eyes darted in Diane’s direction and back
to Garnett.
‘‘Stay here and see if he shows up. We need to
find him,’’ said Garnett. He turned to step back into
his car.
There was nothing for Diane to do but go back to
the crime scene. With three people working, perhaps
it wouldn’t take the entire night.
‘‘Sorry, guys,’’ Diane said to her crew.
‘‘No problem. Who needs sleep?’’ said David. The warrant had arrived in her absence, and Jin and
David, clad in head and shoe coverings, had already started. David was photographing the body, and Jin had begun a fingerprint search, starting at the front entryway and following a path to the bedroom. Whit stood just outside the bedroom door watching David. Garnett stopped beside the body. Whit wore gloves and shoe coverings. Garnett did not.
On the porch, Diane had donned a hair cap and fresh shoe coverings. Now she slipped on a pair of gloves and
