Vanessa punched him in the arm. Jason groaned. She was up and moving.
“I told you, didn't I? I told you the wine glass was a signature. I'll brief the lieutenant and we'll head for Austin.”
Jason looked at the name on the Austin file.
Marcie Walker.
****
Vanessa read through the Marcie Walker file some more while Jason drove the hour and a half to Austin.
“She was found at Walter Long lake, east of the city. A 9 millimeter bullet and casing were recovered. The bullet had been lodged in the tree, just like ours. The blood on the wine glass was the victim's. They took a DNA swab but it was negative and there wasn’t any sign of rape. No fingerprints were found and the victim's clothes were never recovered.”
Jason suddenly remembered he hadn’t gone to Evidence to sign out their bullet.
“Did you sign out the bullet and casing?”
“Right here, zippered bag.” She flipped open the glove compartment so Jason could see. “I’m giving even money it’s a match for the one Austin PD has.”
“Seems likely. Doc Davis was right, though. Forensics said the bullet wasn’t good for much but verifying the gun caliber. The casing gives us the best hope of a direct match to the gun.”
Vanessa flipped the page and continued.
“Marcie Walker was a student at Austin Community College and had just started her sophomore year. She was from San Antonio, where her parents still live. She graduated from Lincoln High School.”
Jason took the exit off the highway and turned right onto 8th street.
“Is the parent’s address in the file?”
“Yes. West San Antonio.”
“We need to go see them when we get back to town.”
They pulled up at Austin police headquarters and parked. They were met at the front desk by Detective Nina Jefferson. She was black, short and stocky, with brown eyes and curly black hair. She carried herself with the air of an experienced officer despite not looking much older than 25. After introductions, they shook hands and started towards the elevator.
“Good trip down?”
Jason gave her a wry smile.
“It never is, thanks to the traffic. Coming into this city takes forever.”
Detective Jefferson laughed.
“We do our best to make you feel part of the crowd.”
Vanessa pulled out the zippered evidence bag.
“Can we get the ballistics guy to look at these?”
“Sure. We’ll drop them off on the way up to the fourth floor.”
****
The fourth floor, all of it, was Homicide. It appeared to be a quiet day, with just a few officers at their desks. One was reading a newspaper, while a couple others seemed to be intent on some paperwork.
Nina Jefferson took them across the floor to where two glass-paned conference rooms were and opened the door on the left.
“You guys can set up in here. I’ll get the remainder of the evidence that we didn’t send down to you guys. I’ll be back shortly.”
In less than twenty minutes, Vanessa and Jason had the Marcie Walker evidence spread out on the conference table in front of them. The extensive set of photos were almost mirror images of their own crime scene.
Jason had an involuntary shiver when he realized this guy was targeting women that resembled his partner.
Nina Jefferson came back into the room carrying the zippered evidence bag Jason and Vanessa had brought with them.
“It’s a match. Of course, you already knew the caliber was the same. What really cinched it was the bullet casing. The firing pin on the gun that your guy used has a nick on the right side.”
She showed the detectives a blown-up photo of the back end of the casing. The nick was clearly visible. She then pulled a second photo from behind the first. It had the nick in the identical location on the casing.
“This photo is of the casing from our killing. Same gun in both killings.”
Vanessa grunted.
“Yeah, seemed pretty likely after looking at these photos from the two crime scenes. That gives us victim description, ballistics and the posing of the body. It’s likely the same guy. The medical examiners report said she had been dead about a week when she was found. How long had she been missing before time of death?”
“24 hours, give or take.”
“I don’t see in here that you guys had any solid suspects.”
Nina sat down at the table and sorted through the file until she found the piece of paper she was looking for.
“We questioned all her friends from school and her job. We also looked for some kind of connection to the wine glass but found nothing.”
“Did you ever locate her missing clothes?”
Nina shook her head.
“We were able to determine what she was wearing when she was last seen because it was her work uniform. She was a clerk at 7-11 and was seen leaving with her smock on. She never made it home.”
“What about the wine glass?”
“Generic discount store type made in the eighties. We figured he picked it up at a flea market or garage sale.”
Jason got up and started to pace. He liked to process information out loud and let Vanessa comment.
“Okay, we have two murders, apparently by the same man, done six months apart. We don’t have any other crimes matching these two, that have been reported, in Texas. The two crimes are in different cities, suggesting that he either traveled from San Antonio to Austin for the first killing and did the second in his backyard, or the reverse. It’s also possible he has moved from Austin to San Antonio. We also need to consider that his business may bring him to both cities, and he lives somewhere else.”
Vanessa raised her hand like she was in school.
“Nina, how far off the beaten path was your victim found?”
“Oh, she was way back in the woods, pure luck she was even found at all. Some guys, who got lost doing one of those ‘cache’ searches, stumbled onto the body.”
“Well, that doesn’t mesh with our scene. It was close to the road, almost in the open.”
Jason stopped pacing and looked at his partner.
“Meaning what?”
“I don’t think our victim was number two, more likely three or four, at least.”
“You think he was too comfortable and practiced by the time he got to our victim?”
“That’s my gut instinct.”
Jason looked at Nina.
“Did you guys interview her parents?”
“Yeah, we drove down and gave them the news. They didn’t have a clue who would want to hurt their daughter.”
“I think we’ll go by and see them again. Maybe they’ve thought of something since then.”
“If they have, let me know.”
“Of course. Can you take us out to your crime scene?”
“Sure.”
****
They arrived at the lake about 45 minutes later. Nina was not kidding. The location was way off the beaten path. The killer, presumably not as experienced as he is now, could have taken his time to do the ritual exactly as he wanted.
The large tree still showed the scar from almost seven months ago. The bullet having passed through Marcie into the tree.
They left there and drove past Marcie Walker’s apartment and the 7-11 where she worked.
Jason noticed the distance between work and home for Marcie was less than half a mile.
“It would appear that he was waiting for her. There is not much time or opportunity for her to be taken.”
Nina agreed.
“That’s what we figured. While it could have been random, this neighborhood is not the usual area we find people cruising for victims.”
“No. Certainly not like where our victim was taken from.”
They pulled back in at the Austin PD and climbed out of the car. Jason extended his hand and shook with Nina Jefferson.