“I’d say that we’ve had just about enough surprises for one day,” he told Toni. And then he looked at Krys. “You have anything you want to ask?”
Krys paused for a moment, as if thinking. And then she answered, “I’ve got just one question for you,” she told the examiner.
“Go ahead,” Toni encouraged.
Krys took in a breath, as if to steel herself. “Was it quick?”
The medical examiner looked at her sympathetically, impressed that Krys should care this much about a woman who was, from what she had gathered, in essence a virtual stranger to her.
“I’d say she never knew what hit her,” the other woman told her.
Krys blew out the breath she had taken in. “I guess at least that’s something,” she said. “Thank you for answering my question.”
Toni offered her a quick smile. “Don’t mention it.” She glanced toward Morgan. “It’s nice meeting someone who cares and doesn’t view this whole thing impersonally.” As Krys began to leave with Morgan, Toni called after her, “Nice meeting you, Krys. I just wish it was under better circumstances.”
“That makes two of us,” Krys replied.
“Do you want to go somewhere for coffee?” Morgan asked Krys the moment they walked out of the morgue and into the corridor.
Krys shook her head. “Not unless that coffee comes with a side order of answers,” she told the detective.
“In my business,” Morgan replied, “those take time.” He paused for a moment as a thought occurred to him. “Since we’re down here, why don’t we stop by the computer lab?” he suggested.
She thought of the puzzle they had dropped in Valri’s lap the last time they had stopped there. She doubted if the woman had come up with any answers, but since Morgan had suggested it, she thought they should check. She had already called ahead to reschedule her appointment at Gerry’s.
“Sure,” Krys agreed gamely. “Might as well get all my disappointments over with at once,” she told Morgan.
“I didn’t peg you for someone who just gave up,” he commented as they went down the opposite direction in the hall.
“I’m not giving up,” Krys protested. “I’m just taking your advice and preparing myself for the worst.”
“I also said, hope for the best,” he reminded her as they went toward the lab.
“Sorry, right now my optimism is in rather low supply.” And then she realized how that had to have sounded to him. “But don’t worry, I’ll rally soon,” she promised. “It’s just that at the moment, I feel a little beaten down—although not nearly as badly beaten down as Claire is—was,” she corrected herself.
Morgan thought it was safer not to comment on what she’d just said.
However, as he walked into the computer lab, he looked at Valri. He found it impossible to gauge her mood. This could be good or bad.
“Listen,” he told his cousin, “if you have anything hopeful to tell us, now would be the time to do it.”
“All right,” she agreed. “But this might be one of those things that qualifies as a bad news/good news situation,” Valri told him.
“We’ve already had one of those today, but go ahead,” he encouraged. “Tell us.”
“You said you wanted me to find out who Bluebeard was,” she reminded the two people at her desk.
“We did,” Morgan confirmed. His breath felt as if it was sticking in his throat as he never took his eyes off her face, waiting to hear what he was almost certain that he was going to hear.
Valri smiled. “Well, I did.”
Chapter 14
Krys stared at the police department’s main computer expert. “You actually found out Bluebeard’s real name?” she asked Valri, hardly able to believe what she was hearing.
Valri was obviously pleased with this unexpected development. “It took a bit of doing,” she admitted to the two people standing at her desk, “but yes, I managed to track down his identity.”
“How?” Morgan asked, stunned. “I mean, I know you’re good, Valri,” he freely admitted, “but this is way beyond good since no one else was ever able to find out just who this diabolical killer is. Ever since he first surfaced, this guy’s been like an ever-changing chameleon.”
Valri merely smiled. She was obviously proud of herself. “Well, it seems that very early in his career, before he began killing his blushing brides, ‘Bluebeard’ was arrested and fingerprinted because his extremely unhappy ‘lady love’ had him brought up on charges. Your guy did manage to give the arresting officers the slip, but not before they got his fingerprints on file,” Valri informed them. “See, here he is almost a dozen years ago, just when he was starting out.”
Valri scrolled down to show them the only mug shot, an early one, that she was able to find on file. He looked almost like an innocent teenager, except for his eyes. His age listed him as being older than he looked.
“So, what is his name?” Morgan asked, looking over Valri’s shoulder.
She scrolled down further. “Well, the name ‘Bluebeard’ gave the arresting officer at the time was Chris Hunter, but as you can guess, that wasn’t his real name,” Valri said.
Krys frowned. “Big surprise,” she murmured to Morgan.
“After he escaped, the arresting detectives were incensed, and they took it upon themselves to try to track him. They eventually found out that his real name was—get this—” she prefaced because the name was so anticlimactically mundane “—Elmer Smith.”
Somehow, the name seemed almost like a letdown. Krys looked at the computer tech. “You’re kidding.”
Valri shook her head as she smiled. “No, I’m very, very serious.”
Krys nodded her head. This was an important step forward. “I guess we go looking for this Elmer Smith,” she said, glancing at Morgan. And then her mouth curved. “I can’t even say that with a straight face.”
“Spoiler alert. You don’t have to go looking for Elmer Smith,” Valri told them when they stared at her in confusion.
Morgan didn’t understand. “Why not?” he asked. “Did he do another disappearing act? Because if he did,” he
