Page 59 of Made of Steele
He stopped inside the door to take a good look at the room. Machines that he couldn’t put a name to ringed the walls, and the center of the room held stainless steel tables that matched the ones in Kelsey’s lab.
Sierra stood behind the last table that she’d covered with white paper. She still had her hair in a ponytail from when he’d met her at the crime scene, but strands had fallen out since he’d talked to her at Smiley’s place. Instead of a protective suit, she wore a pristine white lab coat.
She glanced up and waved them over. “Glad you’re here. I don’t have a lot to discuss, but there are two things I want to review with you.”
Teagan hurried to the table, and Drew followed. For once, his surroundings captured his interest over watching her walk.
Sierra perched on a stool. “The first bit of news is what I didn’t find. No blood or even a trace of blood in the house or shed.”
“None of these victims were killed inside?” Drew took a seat on a stool next to Teagan on the other side of the table. “Assuming the other three were killed in a manner that involved loss of blood.”
“Yes, assuming that.” Sierra rested her gloved hands on the table. “There weren’t any other postmortem body fluids either, so if theywerekilled inside by a non-bloodletting method, they were immediately removed from the house.”
“What about outside on the property?” Teagan shifted on the stool, moving closer to Drew, and he caught her sweet scent of vanilla over the lab’s antiseptic smell.
“That I can’t rule out. My team and I didn’t locate any pools of blood, but depending on how much time has passed since these victims were murdered, that wouldn’t be unusual. Rain and weather will assimilate the blood into the ground.”
Sierra paused and took a long breath. “Blood is a good source of nitrogen. It’s why gardeners use blood meal for fertilizer. There could be areas in the landscape that are flourishing from it, but the property is so large we would need a massive team to test it all. If we’d gotten to the site sooner, we would likely have found scavengers or flies that would lead us to the bloody areas if the murders had occurred on site.”
Very much in agreement with what Kelsey had told them about the nitrogen.
“Is it wrong to be glad I don’t do your job?” Teagan gave a nervous laugh.
“Not at all.” Sierra smiled. “My job isn’t often glamorous, but I love it. Of course if you find other evidence to suggest the victims were murdered on the property, we can try to find samples of blood in the soil.”
Drew didn’t know how that might happen, but he was thankful for her offer. “We’ll let you know.”
Sierra gave a sharp nod. “Did Kelsey tell you the wallet was a bust on victim one?”
“She did,” Drew said.
“I have my best person trying to enhance the driver’s license enough to get any information, but don’t expect miracles.”
“Do you find it odd that he didn’t have other ID?” Drew asked.
“Not really. A lot of people deal only in cash and some are paranoid about identity theft so they carry very little that can ID them. Then people involved in criminal activities often leave their ID home. And then some people don’t carry cards because they use their phones to pay. And before you ask, no phones located with the bodies.”
Drew nodded. “From what we know about victim one, I could see him being a cash-only person. And we don’t know enough on victim two to even speculate.”
“If it helps, victim two was wearing pricey Italian cycling gear and shoes,” Sierra said. “This guy wasn’t penniless by any means.”
“A cycler, huh?” Drew looked at Teagan to see if this news connected with something in her brain, but she shrugged.
“I also wanted to mention that my team will be comparing the soil on the shovel we found in the shed with the soil Kelsey unearthed at the graves,” Sierra said. “By visual analysis alone, I suspect this is the tool used to dig the graves. I lifted prints from the shovel handle, but only from one person. They match many of the prints lifted in Smiley’s house, so I suspect they belong to him and not the person who dug the grave.”
Drew didn’t see how this would help find the killer but investigating a murder was like putting together a jigsaw puzzle. At first, a piece didn’t seem to fit, but after putting a few other pieces in place, it suddenly fit to create a clear picture.
“Was this the other reason you wanted to see us?” he asked.
Sierra shook her head, those strands of hair moving. “I found a flash drive in an air vent. A small one that could’ve dropped from the killer’s pocket or belonged to Smiley. I gave it to Nick, who quickly imaged the drive for prosecution purposes and made a copy of the contents for me.”
Now they were getting somewhere. “What was on it?”
“Let me show you.” Sierra stood and stripped off her gloves. “We can use the computer on my desk, and I’ll text Nick to join us so he can answer any questions.”
“Do you guys ever sleep?” Drew asked.
“No, we’re vampires.” Sierra laughed and dumped her gloves in a biohazard bin. “Some of us get more shuteye than others. But Nick always works this late, and his lab is right below here so he’ll probably come up.”
