The Kill Read Online Free PDF Page B

dig up cold cases. We have no jurisdiction, no authority to go in and take charge. There’s nothing we can do at this point.”
    “Yes, we can!” she pleaded. “You can contact the Seattle bureau chief and have him take over the case. Or work with the local detectives.” She hoped she didn’t sound as desperate as she felt.
    “In Seattle?”
    She nodded. Rick was interested, she could tell. She leaned forward in her seat. “Two girls have been murdered there. Jennifer Benedict three weeks ago, and Michelle Davidson’s body was found this morning. It was the Benedict child that told me it’s the same killer. A witness identified a tattoo on her abductor’s arm.
    “That’s two girls,” she continued. “If he follows his pattern, he’ll kill two more before he moves on. This is our chance to catch him.”
    “Olivia.” Rick stood, walked behind his desk, and looked out the window. “I’d like to help you put your sister’s murder behind you, but this isn’t the way. I can’t tell Seattle to take over a local investigation. We are spread so thin now we can barely cover our urgent cases.”
    “But it’s the same guy!”
    Rick turned to her, a quizzical look on his face. “I can see you’re passionate about this. But there is no hard evidence in this file. While the information on the surface connects the crimes, and could prove helpful when the police find a suspect, nothing leads to an individual. It’s less than circumstantial. You have my permission to monitor what’s going on in Seattle. If they find a suspect, I’ll contact the local bureau and give them what we have. But right now we have neither the time nor the money to pursue cold cases.”
    “But if we use our resources to test the evidence, take apart the carpet fibers—look here.” She stood and flipped the folder open to the middle, her hands shaking. “Carpet fibers from a different truck were found on virtually every victim. I think he steals the trucks, or maybe he works in a place with access to different vehicles. I didn’t have time to run auto theft reports, and because they’re not in a federal database I don’t have immediate access, but I can write up a memo for local authorities to compare theft reports to the vehicles the killer used, and then we can—”
    “Stop.”
    Olivia blinked. Rick’s voice was quiet, but commanding.
    He walked over to her and took her hand. She was still shaking. She resisted the urge to pull away. “Please, Rick,” she said. “I know there’s something here if we just look deeper.”
    “There’s nothing we can do until the local authorities ask us to get involved.”
    “But—”
    He squeezed her hand. “Your research is a good start, but it doesn’t give us anything to find this guy. I’m sorry, but we just don’t have the resources for an investigation of this magnitude without being asked.” He paused. “I need you here, on my team, working for victims who are just as important as those two poor girls in Seattle. You know I care about them. In a perfect world we would have the money and staff to pursue every investigation, cold or not. But we don’t have the time, resources, or personnel to tackle this. Leave it to Seattle. If they need us, if they want us, they’ll ask.”
    She looked down, afraid to meet Rick’s eyes. He’d said no. “I understand.” She did, professionally. But her heart told her to do something, anything, to find this guy.
    “Thank you for hearing us out,” Greg said. “I appreciate it.”
    “I’ll keep my ears open. If I hear anything from Seattle, I’ll bend over backward to help them,” Rick said. “But until then—” He threw up his hands.
    “I understand,” she repeated and stood. “Thank you.”
    “Olivia, do you want to take a little time off? A week, go on vacation. You haven’t had a vacation in years.”
    “I just came back from Montana.”
    “You stopped at your friend’s wedding on your way to Hall’s parole hearing