“It is,” Jim said. “Whoever made this incision did it once-and hesitated twice here and here-then cut into the flesh again in an attempt to make the mark appear uniform. But the knife pulled off another layer of skin. If the medical examiner had been sharp, he would have seen something was off and further investigated the anomaly, and I think he’d have been able to tell the body had been cut postmortem. But it would be hard to prove in court because these cuts happened shortly after death.”
No one said anything for a moment. “Why?” Will asked.
“Whoever killed Anna didn’t want her to suffer,” Hans said quietly. “They killed her right there in the foyer, as soon as she came home. I think the killer surprised Anna, and was also surprised by her. He may not have known he hadn’t killed Robin until after Anna was dead.”
“But then she didn’t call Will?” Robin said. “That means the killer called Will. Why?”
The killer-instead of Anna-contacting Will gave him pause. Did he know the killer personally? If they were right about what had happened, it was most likely someone he worked with, someone he socialized with after work, who had killed Anna Clark, then planted evidence to implicate Glenn, showing not only a calm cold-bloodedness but premeditation.
“I don’t think we have enough information to know why at this point,” Hans said.
“You’re a profiler,” Will said, feeling the pressure. “Based on this evidence, what type of person killed Anna?”
“I think we need to approach this differently than a traditional crime scene,” Hans said. “Because evidence was planted at the scene that implicated Theodore Glenn. That means that the killer had access to evidence that only those directly involved in the investigation could access. The killer knew Glenn used an X-ACTO knife-and the exact
“And the bleach,” Will said. “We didn’t say a word about the bleach until trial.”
Jim ran a hand over his head. “There were probably thirtysome people involved in the investigation who knew Glenn’s M.O., not including the D.A.’s office.”
“But they didn’t know about the patterns,” Will said. “They assumed-as we did-that Glenn was randomly cutting his victims as a method of torture.”
Jim said, “Because the marks in Anna’s case were made so soon after death, scientifically there isn’t much distinction between the cuts. And it would have been difficult to prove in court if we had reason to suspect another killer.”
“I agree,” Will said. “Jim, we’re not looking only at the crime lab-”
“Yes,” Jim said quietly, “you are. And now, so am I. Because your average cop isn’t going to have access to Glenn’s hair samples, nor know how to place them in a hand to make it appear that they were pulled out of the head in a fight.”
Hans said, “According to the reports, you took a DNA swab when Glenn was first arrested after Brandi Bell was murdered.”
“Yes,” Jim said. “We had a warrant.”
“And you searched his house.”
Will said, “We had a warrant to search the premises for any personal effects of the victims, an X-ACTO knife, blood evidence, among other things. It was extensive and thorough.”
“It would have been easy to remove hairs from his brush or comb,” Hans said. “Never logged it in.”
“It couldn’t have been logged,” Jim agreed. “I personally checked all the evidence after Will called me this morning. Nothing is missing.”
“If someone removed hair from Glenn’s house after the Brandi Bell murder,” Will said, “that means that he planned to kill all along, just waiting for the right time.”
“We need a list of everyone involved in the execution of the warrant,” Hans said.
“It’s right here.” Will flipped through the report and pointed to a sheet in his own handwriting. “I logged everyone who came in and out of Glenn’s house.”
Hans looked at the list. “You’re not here, Jim.”
“I had another case.”
“There’re only seven people on this list, plus detectives Hooper and Sturgeon.”
“What about Frank?” Jim asked. “He was an alcoholic-no offense, Will, but you know it was true. Maybe he was feeling guilty because he fell asleep the night of the Suarez homicide.”
“Frank didn’t have the wherewithal to pull something like this off,” Will admitted. “And we searched Glenn’s house
“This is an organized killer,” Hans said. “The crime was planned well in advance. The killer was likely waiting in the apartment for Robin to return home after her shift. The killer was surprised by Anna, who wasn’t supposed to be home that night. Sliced her throat, laid her on the floor. Had to act fast. Put the hairs in Anna’s hand, closed it. Cut the body. Half as many times as Glenn. Because the killer knew he hadn’t gone deep enough, recut along the same lines to try to reach the same depth as Glenn. Same type of knife, same length of marks, but a little off. After, he poured bleach over the body to destroy evidence as well as mimic Glenn’s M.O.”
“And there was no pattern,” Will said. “If the killer surprised Anna, then the killer had to have paged me. Why?”
“That is the million-dollar question,” Hans said. “And I don’t have a good answer for it, not yet.”
“Does this mean I had two stalkers?” Robin asked, incredulous. “First Glenn, who seems like he was obsessed with me all along and not just a lunatic? Then someone in the police department?” She rose from the table, shaking her head.
“Robin,” Hans said, “you were in the public eye.”
“So it’s my fault…” she began defensively.
“It’s not your fault.”
“I should have seen something. Why didn’t I know something weird was going on?”
“
“Anna wasn’t supposed to die. I was.” She glanced from one man to another, her eyes resting on Will. She was trying hard to keep up her game face. “I need a minute.” Robin left the room and they heard the bathroom door, the only door in the loft, quietly shut.
“She’ll be okay,” Will said, though he wished she didn’t have to go through this particular hell.
“There are four cops and three crime scene technicians on this list who were in Glenn’s house,” Hans said. He read the names.
Jim shook his head. “I can’t believe-why?”
“I think this is one of the rare cases of we won’t know why until we have the individual in custody,” Hans said.
“Joseph Miller is no longer in my department,” Jim said. “He transferred three years ago to Los Angeles.”
“My office can investigate him,” Hans said. “It will be easier that way, if you agree.”
Will nodded. “And Officer Janice Bernstein moved up north. San Carlos, I believe. Near San Francisco.”
“And the other three cops?”
“Patrick Kincaid-I almost forgot he was a beat cop back then. I was his training officer, before I made detective.” Will smiled wanly. “I’ll personally vouch for Patrick. And it’s not like we’ll be able to question him, he’s in a coma.”
“Is he related to your partner?”
“Brother,” Will said.
“Officers Doug Holmes and Roger Supan-they’re still on the force,” Will said. “Supan may have made detective last year, I don’t remember. Neither are in my precinct.”
“Stu Hansen and Diana Cresson are both still in the lab,” Jim said.
“I suggest we move cautiously on this.”
“There’s no motive,” Jim said.
“That we know about,” Will clarified.
