The Running Girls(44)

Sandra, Glen, and Tilly had left the building thirty minutes after Laurie’s interview with Glen. As Laurie watched them file out, the distance between Glen and Sandra had been noticeable. All three had been questioned along the same lines at Laurie’s request, and she wondered what Sandra and Tilly were thinking about Glen as they left the building.

Shortly after, Laurie had attended Grace’s autopsy. It was never an easy experience, and Grace’s was no exception. The pathologist confirmed the worst fears of the CSI team. The injuries to Grace’s legs had been inflicted when she’d still been alive.

The fact haunted Laurie now as she worked through Annie Randall’s case file. Due to the delay in finding Annie’s body, it had never been determined for sure if Annie had endured the horrific fractures to her legs when she’d been alive. When Frank had finally admitted guilt, he’d claimed not to have remembered the attack. From the records, it appeared the DA had been torn between staging a big court case and pushing for a tougher sentence or—the decision that had finally been made—accepting the plea and with it the guaranteed prosecution. They had chosen the latter, and because of that no details were ever offered from Frank about the attack. He wouldn’t have been the first innocent person to accept a plea when facing overwhelming evidence. What if he had only accepted guilt to prevent a court case and the threat of a longer sentence, and possibly execution?

Either way, the rest of her colleagues still considered Frank Randall to be the only possible culprit in Grace’s death. A car was positioned close to his house, where he was currently staying with his brother. Lieutenant Filmore was one of many convinced that forensic reports would definitively link Frank to Grace, and that it was only a matter of time before they could arrest him and put him back behind bars.

Laurie couldn’t afford to think that way. She’d assigned Rodriquez and Abbey to work on the Frank Randall side of the investigation. The pair were currently in Dickinson, speaking to members of Maurice Randall’s congregation, trying to pinpoint the Randall brothers’ movements over the last few days. Laurie still felt it odd that David had never once mentioned his estranged uncle. As her tour of the Annie Randall case file reached the notes on Jim Burnell’s interview with Maurice Randall all those years ago, she again wondered what else her husband had been hiding from her.

Closing her eyes, she pinched her nose and set about the by now grimly familiar business of trying to dismiss the images of Rebecca Whitehead from her head. Grace was the only person who deserved her attention at that moment and she needed to stay focused.

Jim Burnell’s interview notes with Maurice Randall were succinct. He had only spoken to the pastor by phone, when Maurice had told him that he hadn’t seen Frank in over three years. Jim hadn’t seen any need to call Maurice in for further detail—despite him being the only surviving member of Frank’s extended family—and had closed the report.

It was no wonder Laurie couldn’t recall Maurice. Maurice’s involvement didn’t sit well with her and she wanted to know more about his relationship with Frank, especially considering the fact the two brothers were currently each other’s alibi.

The more she read through the Annie Randall notes, the more apparent it became that Burnell’s investigation had been single-minded from the beginning. It was clear there had only ever been one credible suspect and that Jim had gone after Frank Randall from the start, to the exclusion of all others.

Not that she could blame him. The evidence was substantial. There were witness reports of Annie and Frank arguing on the day she died, a fresh wound on Frank’s eye he admitted had come from Annie, and Frank’s DNA was found all over her body. Most telling of all were the abrasions found on Frank’s body, and his skin found under Annie’s nails, suggesting a struggle between the pair.

Perhaps a better lawyer than the court-appointed one Frank received would have fought harder on those two facts. As a married couple, it was natural that Frank’s DNA would have been found on Annie’s body, and the skin under her nails could have occurred during sex.

Why are you trying to defend him?

Laurie closed the file. Her job right now wasn’t to reinvestigate Annie’s death. She was reading the case to uncover direct links between the two murders, and so far the only link was Frank Randall. She understood that some distant part of her wanted Frank to be innocent. The thought that Milly’s grandfather was a murderer was hard for her to accept. It was futile thinking along those lines, but she’d long ago acknowledged that it was impossible to think rationally about her daughter’s death.

“Boss, call just came out I thought you’d want to know about.”

Laurie looked up to see one of the uniformed officers standing by her desk. “Tell me.”

“It’s nothing really, some sort of domestic dispute. A fight between two teenagers that got out of hand. Only, when I read the names, I thought you’d want to know.”

“Get to the point.”

“It was Grace Harrington’s . . . girlfriend?”

Laurie gave the officer a hard stare, wondering why it was so hard for the man to speak the words. “Tilly Moorfield?”

“Yes.”

“And who was she fighting?”

“I believe it was Grace’s ex, Mia Washington.”

Laurie took a deep breath and released it. “Right. I’ll get right on it.”