Stone Cold Heart (Tracers #13)(71)

“So, you believe your unsub handled this phone, and yet it’s clean of any fingerprints. That’s very good news.”

Nolan gave her a questioning look.

“Well, he probably wiped the phone down because he handled it without gloves,” Mia said. “That fits in with your scenario that he didn’t plan his interaction with this woman, that it was a spur-of-the-moment thing prompted when she witnessed something suspicious in the park.”

“Why is that good?”

“The good part for us is that criminals often make bad decisions when they’re in a hurry or amped up. You know the most common item used to wipe prints off something? A shirttail.” She smiled, and Nolan felt a ray of hope. “And a shirttail is loaded with DNA. So, if your scenario is accurate—”

“He wiped his prints and left his DNA behind.”

“Let’s hope.” She replaced the phone in the envelope. “Now, are you ready to hear about the other item you sent in?”

“You said you got a forensic hit. That means a hit on evidence, not a person, right? Which means he’s not a convicted felon with a DNA sample in the system.”

“Let’s back up,” she said. “You submitted a T-shirt recovered from Little Rattler Gorge. We tested it and found DNA from the victim all over it—sweat, blood, tears.”

“Tears? You can tell that?”

“The saline-like substance was found on her shirtsleeve, probably when she wiped her eyes.”

Nolan bit back a curse.

“Along with the victim’s biological fluids, we also recovered a tiny spatter of blood belonging to someone else, probably resulting from a physical struggle. Maybe she hit him or scratched him. We ran that profile through the system and got a hit on the crime-scene index. In other words, the profile matches an unidentified DNA profile recovered at a separate crime scene.”

“What do we know about this crime scene?”

“It’s in Texas, for one,” Mia said. “I’ll put you in touch with the submitting agency. You ever been to Maverick?”

“No.”

“There’s not much there. A motel and a few gas stations. It’s mainly a stop-off for tourists on their way to visit Big Bend Park.”

Nolan’s pulse picked up. “Parks again.”

“That’s right.”

“And where did this DNA come from?”

“The police there can tell you more, but when I spoke to them earlier, they said it’s an abduction case. A woman went missing from the motel there. Her car was found, driver’s-side door open, purse and keys inside. A small droplet of blood on the armrest of the door is what yielded this profile, and it isn’t the victim’s blood. So police believe it belongs to her abductor.”

Nolan stared at her, unable to believe how strong this lead was. It fit the pattern in so many ways.

“I understand there’s a task force,” Mia said. “Has anyone been checking out this parks connection?”

“The feds,” Nolan told her. “It’s easier for them to access databases across state lines, so we’ve been having them do it. They’ve been running down criminal records on former park employees in both states. We need to double down on the effort.”

“Starting with Big Bend.”

“Damn. This is a good lead.”

She nodded. “Happy to help. I hear it’s been a tough case.” Her expression darkened. “Any word on the Austin woman who went missing from Sixth Street?”

“Grace Murray. Nothing new as of this morning, and it’s been twelve days.”

“I’m guessing the task force is frustrated.”

“Extremely. Every new lead feels like one step forward, two steps back.”

“That’s how it always is.” Mia peeled off her gloves. “You can’t lose heart.”

? ? ?

Sara turned to the sheriff’s deputy squeezed into her guest chair and tapped her pencil on the computer screen. The X-ray showed the fractured humerus of six-year-old Bradley Benson, who had been reported missing eight months ago.

“The X-rays are very clear,” she said. “See that line there?”

“You’re talking about the arm bone?” The deputy leaned closer, and Sara got a whiff of the onions he must have had for lunch.

“It’s a spiral fracture. I’m sure you’ve seen this type of injury before.”

He nodded. “But you’re saying this was earlier? Before the head injury?”

“That’s correct. The spiral fracture, the wrist fracture, and the two rib fractures occurred months before death.”

The man stared at her screen, his brow furrowed with concentration. He seemed reluctant to accept these autopsy results. It was a lot to absorb, and this deputy was a bit on the green side.

“Have you interviewed any suspects yet?” Sara asked him.

He seemed to snap out of it. “Suspects?”

“That’s right.”

He cleared his throat. “I’m not at liberty to discuss that at this point.”

Was he for real?

“Well, do you know who filed the missing-persons report?” she asked.

“I can’t discuss that, either.”

“Do you know if it was a parent?”