This, at least, was a sentiment that Zoecould agree with. There were very few pleasant ways to go, and burning to deathwas not one of them. “How about her? Could she have had a target on hersomehow?”
“The local cops haven’t finished lookinginto it. She was just found yesterday, only managed to get the ID early thismorning. They’ve managed to inform the next of kin, and that’s it.”
Zoe reached out for the photographs.This body was less burnt, even if only by degrees. It was still possible tomake out that she was a woman, and there were shreds of flesh on the body thatshone red and raw through the blackened mess.
“Are you getting anything from theimages?” Shelley asked.
Zoe looked up to realize that she wasbeing watched intently. “Not yet. I do not see anything that I can use. Thefire, it corrupts things and distorts them. I could not even reliably telltheir height and weight if we did not have their medical files.”
“Both healthy young people. Maybe thiswill just be a crime of passion. They have a mutual friend, or ex-friend, wholost it and decided to set the world on fire.”
“We can hope.” Zoe sighed and settledher head back against the chair. Why did airplanes always have to be souncomfortable? She’d read that premier class passengers had beds. Not that theBureau was ever going to swing for something like that.
“How are things, anyway?” Shelley asked.She tucked the files back away into her carry-on and settled back into her seatwith a conspiratorial air. “Did you see John again yesterday?”
It was Friday night, and John hadseemingly been happy with the habitual way that Zoe ran her life. The samethings at the same time. The only difference was the venue. “Yes, I did.”
“Well?” Shelley asked impatiently. “Details,Z. It’s going well with you two, isn’t it?”
Zoe shrugged, turning her head towardthe window again. “Well enough, I suppose.”
Shelley sighed with exasperation. “Wellenough? What does that mean? Do you like him or not?”
“Of course I like him.” Zoe frowned. “Whyelse would I go on so many dates with him?”
Shelley hesitated, her reflectiontipping its head to one side behind her. “I guess that’s fair. Although somepeople just carry right on even when something doesn’t really appeal to them.But you know what I mean. Are the dates getting serious?”
Zoe let her eyes slip shut. MaybeShelley would take the hint and think she was trying to get some rest. “I donot know what that means, and I do not think I want to answer it anyway.”
Shelley paused, saying nothing for along moment. Then, quietly: “You know, you don’t have to keep pushing me away.You know you can trust me. I’m not going to tell anyone about anything. I didn’tspill your secret, did I?”
There was the small matter of the timewhen Shelley had mentioned to their superior, Maitland, that Zoe was “good withmath”; Zoe, however, didn’t see any use in bringing that up.
She didn’t answer, at least not atfirst. What could she say? It was true that she kept herself to herself, andthat was the way she had always been. Did she even need to justify it? FirstDr. Monk and now Shelley were talking like she had a problem. Like it wasunreasonable to want to keep one’s private life private.
“I don’t even know why you still keep ita secret,” Shelley carried on. “You could do serious good.”
“How?”
“Putting your skills to use. Catchingkillers.”
“I already catch killers.”
Shelley sighed. “You know what I mean.”
“No, I really do not,” Zoe replied, moreready than ever to move on from this conversation. “How long is left on thisflight?” She started jabbing at the screen in front of her, changing it to showtheir flight path and progress, even though she knew full well exactly wherethey would be and how much longer they would fly for.
“It’s something to think about, anyway,”Shelley said. “It feels like you’re happier when you’re around the people whoknow. You get tense, bottle things up, when you think it’s not safe. Maybe youwould have a more comfortable life overall if everyone knew.”
“Fifty-six minutes,” Zoe said, as if shehadn’t heard her. “We should prepare. We will want to go straight to the mostrecent crime scene from the airport. Have you got the address?”
Shelley said nothing, only giving her along and searching look before returning to the files and searching for thedetails that they needed.
CHAPTER FIVE
Zoe squinted, looking both ways up anddown the alleyway, into the sky. It was a crisp, clear day. A small strip ofpale blue ran above them, narrowing off into the distance, hemmed in by grimybricks on apartment blocks and warehouse storage facilities on either side.
It was a far cry from the luxury andwaving palm trees of Beverly Hills. The streets and sidewalks were cracked andfaded, and the nearest building at the end of the alley was a homeless shelter.Still, the studio apartments rising tall on the other side probably cost morethan her childhood home in rural Vermont.
There was still something lingering inthe air, despite the removal of the body. Zoe could still smell it. It probablywouldn’t go away for a long time. The stench of burning human flesh and hairtended to stick around.
Zoe returned her attention to theground, and the patch of scorched markings that ran across the tarmac of thestreet and littered bricks, garbage bags, and needles. Most of them were burnedand twisted up themselves now, made into unrecognizable black plastic shapesthat only added to the eyewatering aroma. The killer, it seemed, hadn’t caredso much about the presentation.
Or maybe they had, and they were makinga statement about this young woman—this Callie Everard—being just another pieceof trash.
Shelley was talking to a local policeofficer nearby, while the others were all but packing up. The forensics teamhad been over the site already, and the body had been taken for testing. Allthat remained was to pick up all of the little pieces of evidence left behindin the debris of the murder. A female officer with short-cropped hair and asmall stature was gingerly placing them, one by one, into plastic evidencebags.
Zoe watched her
