But maybe it was a tattoo that she tried to remove.
Callie forwarded the information on to Jag, along with her thoughts about Carol having a relationship with her roommate. She pulled up police reports from the murder, and not a single person mentioned a potential love affair.
So, why did Carol kill women who also looked like her and her stepmother? Wait. In Carol’s picture that her father had given them she had dark hair. And it wasn’t as long. Not to mention she wore less makeup and wasn’t as glitzy as the Carol at college.
No. Carol as a teenager was more like the Kara that Callie knew. Down-to-earth and very little maintenance. But Kara had a type. She liked her women to be girly-girls.
Ivy was a blond. With long hair, though she didn’t style it the way…fuck. It didn’t matter because the killer styled some victims the way she wanted.
“Oh no,” Callie whispered. Ivy could be next.
But the other thing that bothered her was Carol’s stepmother, Tina. She looked young. Really young.
Callie tapped her cell, pulling up Jag’s number. “Pick up,” she whispered.
“Hey, babe,” he answered on the second ring. “Everything okay?”
“Yes, I’m fine. But no. Things are not okay. I think I have something,” she said.
“I just got your email, but I’m out of the office and hard to see much on my cell.”
“Just more evidence that points to Carol and Kara being the same person, but I have another hunch.”
“Lay it on me,” Jag said.
“Didn’t you think Tina looked young?”
“I’d say she was a trophy wife, why?”
“Would you say she could be close to Kara’s age, which is forty-two?” Callie said as she tried to swallow, but her pounding heart lurching up to her throat made it impossible.
“That would make her a really young mom.”
“But it’s possible,” Callie said. “What if Carol, Kara, or whoever the fuck we’re dealing with knew Tina first. Introduced her to her father and then boom, no more friend or lover, and Carol goes off the deep end and starts killing people who look like her stepmother.”
“That’s an interesting theory,” Jag said.
“I want to go talk with the stepmother.”
“No. No. No,” Jag said. “I don’t want you leaving my house, much less the island.”
She was about to say that Kara wasn’t even here, but if she was the killer, she certainly was close, and maybe watching.
Jag had a point. But she couldn’t sit idle.
“What if I could get Tina to come to me?”
“I could live with that, but how are you going to get her to come out to the island?”
“You forget, I used to be a manipulative reporter who was used to getting whatever I wanted.”
“Oh, dear Lord, I’m terrified,” he said with a laugh. “Do me a favor; let me know when and where so I can have someone watching, Promise?”
“Absolutely. Thanks, Jag.”
“For what?”
“For believing in me.”
“What are good boyfriends for?”
“Christ, did I really just agree to be your girlfriend?” she asked, tongue-in-cheek. “Don’t answer that. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Love you, babe.”
“Right back at you.”
Chapter 16
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Jag slammed his fist down on the steering wheel as he swerved his patrol car to the side of the road.
“I’m sorry,” Matt said. “I wish it wasn’t true.”
“You’re sure it was Ivy Thompkins body we found in Beverly Beach.”
“All the medical records prove it,” Matt said. “And the medical examiner pins the time of death at three in the morning the night of Levi’s party.”
“Callie and Kara blew into town the day before.”
“And supposedly Kara rolled right out of town the next day,” Matt said. “When was the last time Callie saw either of them?”
“We both saw Kara the day the Trinket Killer left a note for Callie at the Langley Inn, but I only got a glimpse of Kara the night of the party, and I believe that was the last time she’s seen Ivy, but she’s spoken to Kara on the phone numerous times.”
“But not Ivy,” Matt interjected.
“Seeing as though she’s dead, no. It’s always just been Kara or Carol.”
“Yeah. Armstrong. That’s a fucking blow, man. If what you and Callie are saying is true, Armstrong has been covering for her daughter for years.”
“I’m thinking you might want to have someone take a closer look at her suicide.” Jag glanced in his rearview mirror as a four-door sedan came barreling down the road.
“Already on it.”
“Fuck. I’ve got to go. Some asshole is doing like eighty in a forty and coming up on a school zone.”
“One more thing you need to know.”
Jag kept his gaze on the approaching vehicle that didn’t bother to slow down, even when Jag hit his siren and flashed his lights. “What’s that?”
“We got a call from John Armstrong last night. His wife didn’t come home. I pushed the missing person through even though it hasn’t been twenty-four hours. I’ve put out a person of interest bulletin for Kara, and I’ve contacted the locals in the town you mentioned she and Ivy were supposed to be staying at, just to see if they even went there at all, but I’m sure it’s a dead end.”
“Well, we have to cover our bases.” Jag gripped the steering wheel, ready to punch the gas. He’d call Callie after he dealt with this motherfucker.
At least he didn’t have to worry about Callie leaving the house and meeting with Tina anymore.
Nope. He just had to worry about fucking Kara walking onto his island, if she wasn’t already there.
“Can you order a checkpoint at the ferry?”
“Done,” Matt said.
“All right. Stay in touch.” Jag tapped his cell and peeled out onto the street in hot pursuit. He lifted the mic. “Isabelle, this is the chief. I’m pulling over
