Hush Little Baby by James Carol Read Free Book Online Page B

The unsub toys with her for a while, then kills her and disappears into the night.’
    She stopped talking and glanced at Dixon. The sergeant was still scribbling notes, the scratch of her pen overloud in the quiet room. Yoko was experiencing the chills she got when she stepped into a murder house. That tightness in her stomach, the dryness in her mouth. Yesterday this room had been filled with light and laughter. Today it was filled with despair. She became aware of Winter watching her, and was tempted to ask why. Instead, she kept her mouth shut and waited for him to speak.
    ‘It all sounds plausible.’
    His words said one thing but his body language said something else entirely. Yoko suddenly felt as though she’d failed the exam, like the bell had gone and she’d just realised there was a page of questions she hadn’t seen.
    ‘So what do you think happened here?’ she asked in a level voice.
    Winter smiled an annoying smile. ‘I’m going to have to get back to you on that one.’
    ‘You’re what!’
    Yoko was usually an expert at hiding her emotions, but not this time. The words were out before she could do anything about them. Winter started laughing and that just wound her up even more. She took a deep breath, pulled herself back under control. Before she had a chance to say anything else, he walked out of the room. Dixon gave her a puzzled look, then they both went after him. Back down the hallway, back into the living room. They caught up with him at the front door where he was examining the lock again.
    ‘Okay, here’s what I don’t get. Why did Heidi let some guy she didn’t know into her home?’
    Neither Yoko nor Dixon responded.
    ‘There’s no sign that the lock was forced or tampered with, which means that she opened the door for him. But Heidi’s a single mom and it would’ve been getting dark. Put that all together and she’s not going to be opening the door for just anyone, is she?’ 
    Yoko stared at the door, thinking hard, her imagination in overdrive.
    ‘Okay, so somebody knocks on the door,’ he continued. ‘Heidi stops whatever she’s doing and goes to see who it is. Because it’s getting late, she looks through the spy hole before opening it.’
    ‘And sees someone who isn’t a threat,’ Yoko finished for him.
    Winter nodded. ‘Exactly. Someone in authority, perhaps? A cop, for instance. A uniform can buy you access to a lot of places, right?’
    Yoko shook her head. ‘That would be too conspicuous. This is crime scene number three. If the unsub had dressed up as a cop someone would have mentioned it.’ She glanced over at Dixon for confirmation.
    The sergeant shook her head. ‘Nobody said anything about seeing a cop at any of the scenes.’
    ‘It needs to be someone who could pass through this neighbourhood unseen,’ Yoko continued. ‘Someone invisible.’ She stopped talking, thinking hard again. ‘How about a delivery driver? He could park his van at the kerb and carry a box up to the front door. And the added advantage of that box is that it could be used to transport everything he needed to carry out the murders.’
    She looked around the room without really seeing anything, waiting for her thoughts to catch up. ‘Okay, so Heidi looks through the spy hole and sees a guy stood there on the doorstep wearing a delivery uniform and carrying a parcel. There’s an anonymous panel van parked on the sidewalk, adding to the illusion. He holds up a fake ID and she lets him in.’ She nodded to herself. ‘That works for me. I mean, who pays any attention to delivery drivers?’
    ‘Yeah, it works for me, too,’ Winter agreed.
    ‘Good work, Jefferson.’
    Winter acknowledged the compliment with a tiny nod of the head.
    ‘So we’re looking for a thirty-something white delivery man who lived near the first scene and was involved in a messy divorce,’ Dixon said. ‘That’s got to narrow things down somewhat.’
    She pulled out her radio and made a call.

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