What I've Done (Morgan Dane #4)(83)

“No one could track its location.”

“Exactly.” Olivia looked up from her computer.

“What about the body?” Sharp pivoted.

“We know Shannon Yates was raped, beaten, and strangled, and that she died with alcohol and zolpidem in her system,” Olivia said. “I don’t have a copy of the autopsy.”

“No source at the medical examiner’s office?” Sharp tried not to look disappointed. But none of this information was deal-with-the-Empire worthy. She hadn’t provided many more details than weren’t publicly available on the latest news channel. So far, the case was baffling, but he wasn’t seeing any parallels to Noah’s murder, except for the fact that they died a week apart after visiting Beats, and they both knew Justin O’Brien.

Sharp rubbed the back of his neck, a detail nagging at him. “Those lab results came back on Shannon Yates’s autopsy awfully quickly. Usually, forensic toxicology reports take weeks or months. The only way they would have been expedited is if the ME was specifically looking for something.”

Olivia’s gaze snapped to his. “Do you think the ME has run across a similar case and was checking for similar details?”

“That would make a lot of sense.”

She attacked her keyboard with renewed zeal.

National crime databases like the National Crime Information Center and the Violent Criminal Apprehension Program could be accessed only by law enforcement. If someone in the sheriff’s department was performing a NCIC or ViCAP search for Olivia, he could be fired—not that Sharp was going to turn anyone in. Curious, he tried to casually peek over the top of her computer.

She tilted the screen down. “I will share the information. I cannot share the source.”

Sharp resumed his pacing. “Now what?”

“We wait.”

“I was afraid you were going to say that.” Sharp huffed. “I don’t like waiting.”

She sipped her wine and licked her lips. “How about some vegetarian chili? I promise it’s not poisoned.”

Sharp hesitated.

She sighed and ladled chili into a bowl. “You might as well eat. Those return emails might take a while.”

“All right.”

Olivia handed him the bowl, and he sat on a stool and spooned chili into his mouth without tasting it, his mind on the case. She ate standing, one foot propped on the opposite knee like a stork. A ping sounded from her computer, and she tapped a few keys.

Excitement lit her eyes. “Last summer, the body of twenty-six-year-old Adele Smith was found in the woods in Redhaven. Adele had been beaten and raped. She had bruises around her neck consistent with choking, but the cause of death was a lethal combination of zolpidem and alcohol.”

Sharp’s blood chilled. “Since Redhaven is within Randolph County, the same medical examiner’s office would have handled both Shannon’s and Adele’s autopsies.”

“And Shannon’s case was similar enough to Adele’s to be flagged by the ME.” Olivia scrolled on her computer. “Adele went missing after a big music festival. It was a huge outdoor event, so no surveillance cameras, lots of drugs and alcohol, and a few thousand out-of-towners. The Redhaven police got nowhere with their investigation. They found DNA from multiple sources on her body, but CODIS didn’t turn up any matches.”

The Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) was the national database of DNA collected from known offenders and recovered from suspects, victims, and crime scenes.

“Whoever attacked her wasn’t in the system. Adele could have been his first victim.”

“Possibly.” Olivia nodded. “The sheriff’s department and Redhaven police now suspect that Shannon’s and Adele’s murders could be related.”

“Both women were raped, beaten, choked, and had zolpidem in their systems.” Sharp slid off the stool, deposited his bowl in the sink, and resumed his pacing.

“But how are their murders connected to Noah Carter’s?”

Shannon was connected to Noah through Justin O’Brien. But telling Olivia that felt like an overshare, so Sharp kept his mouth shut.

Her computer pinged again. Olivia narrowed her eyes like a cat that has just spotted a mouse. “I just received the surveillance footage from Beats for the night Shannon disappeared.”

Sharp rubbed his palms together. “Now you’re talking. We can see who interacted with her.”

He moved to go around the island so he could see her computer screen. Maybe she’d be distracted and he could sneak a peek at the name of her source.

She closed her laptop. “I can show the videos on the television. It’ll be easier to see. The screen is larger.”

“Good idea,” Sharp conceded.

She carried her laptop and wine into the next room, a cozy den. She set down the computer and glass, then turned on several lamps.

Sharp sat on the sofa. He leaned his forearms on his knees and waited. And sulked. Being on the favor-asking end of their relationship sucked.

Settling in a chair, she opened her laptop and angled it so that he couldn’t see the screen.

“I thought we were working together,” he said, frustrated.

“You’re holding back information from me.” Olivia arced a stubborn brow. “Don’t try to deny it. I can see your mind spinning, and yet you say nothing.”