Fractured by Karin Slaughter Read Free Book Online Page B

she expected the photographer to find fault instead of beauty.
    "Adam David Humphrey," Faith Mitchell said. Like Will, she was wearing a pair of latex gloves. Also like Will, she was holding an open wallet and a driver's license in her hands. This one belonged to the dead man downstairs. "He's got an Oregon State license. No car registered in his name in either state. The principal at the girls' school has never heard of him and he was never a student there." She handed Will the plastic ID card. Will squinted his eyes at the tiny letters. "One of the guys back at the station is trying to get in touch with the local sheriff up there. The address makes it hard."
    He patted his pockets, looking for his glasses. "Why is that?"
    Her tone was almost as condescending as Amanda's. "Rural route?"
    "Sorry, I left my reading glasses at the office." A rural route with a box number would not necessarily correspond with a physical address. Unless the Humphreys were well-known in town, this added another hoop to jump through before the dead boy's parents could be informed. Will sat back on his heels, studying the license photo of Adam Humphrey. He was a good-looking kid in a geeky sort of way. His mouth was twisted into a grin and his hair was longer in the photo, but there was no mistaking that Adam Humphrey was the man lying dead downstairs. "He's older than I thought."
    "Nineteen is still young."
    "What's he doing in Atlanta?" Will answered his own question. "College."
    Faith checked through the wallet, calling out what she found. "Six dollars cash, a photograph of an older couple-probably grandparents. Wait a minute." The gloves were too long for her fingers, making it difficult for her to dig around. Will waited patiently until she pulled out a photograph. "Is this Emma?"
    He compared the photo against the licenses he had found in the two purses. Emma was happier in the picture from the wallet, her mouth open in laughter. "It's her."
    Faith looked at them both, then nodded her agreement. "She looks younger than seventeen."
    Will said, "Adam's got a thing for Emma, not Kayla. So why is Kayla dead?"
    She put the photo back into the wallet and dropped them both in a plastic evidence bag. "Maybe she got in the way."
    Will nodded, though the vicious manner in which the girl had been raped and killed made him think there was more to it than that. "We'll know more when Pete does the autopsy. Do the parents want to see her body?"
    "The parents don't even know yet." Will's mouth opened to ask why the hell not, but she talked over him. "The school principal told Leo that the Alexanders are on a three-week vacation in New Zealand and Australia. They left emergency contact numbers for their hotels. Leo called the manager at the Mercure Dunedin. He promised he'd get the parents to call as soon as they get back from sightseeing, whenever that might be. There's an eighteen-hour time difference, so it's already tomorrow morning for them." Faith added, "I sent a cruiser to their house on Paces Ferry. No one was home."
    "They couldn't have left their daughter alone for three weeks."
    "She was seventeen years old. She was old enough to take care of herself." Her face flushed as she seemed to realize that the exact opposite was true.
    "Did Abigail Campano give you anything when you talked to her?"
    "It was a different conversation. We both thought her daughter was dead."
    Will recalled, "She's the one who told you that Kayla would probably be at school."
    "Right. She even said, ‘At least Kayla is safe.' "
    "Did Leo ask the principal about the girls skipping?"
    "She confirmed it's been a problem. Students aren't allowed off campus during lunch, but some of them sneak out and come back in before the bell rings. There's a hole in the security cameras behind the main class building and the kids take advantage of it."
    "Send some extra cruisers to the school. Until we know there's no connection, I want to make sure we keep a close eye on the rest of the