To Die For Read Online Free PDF Page B

and perhaps the carpet samples, although it was unlikely that the killer had been injured and dropped a convenient sample of blood. It typically takes a crime lab several months to perform DNA tests and interpret the results.
    Greco wasn’t going to wait around for a lab report when there was no guarantee of turning up the suspect’s DNA. He ran through precepts from homicide school. What was the motive for attacking this elderly woman? Norma Davis had been among the most vulnerable groups of potential victims, children and the elderly—those least able to protect themselves. They were also the least likely to place themselves in harm’s way. One doesn’t see senior citizens or toddlers involved in drive-by shootings, lurking in dark alleys, spray-painting graffiti, selling drugs and making trouble in the streets late at night. Norma Davis was exactly where she should have been—in her own home. Greco remembered the teaching materials that mentioned domestic violence as one possible cause for extreme violence in homicides committed in the home. In fact, he remembered that one of the two homicides at Canyon Lake within the last five years had claimed the life of a woman who had been killed by her estranged husband. In the more recent case, a parolee had committed murder, then dumped the body at Canyon Lake. But Greco doubted that, at 86, Norma Davis was in a physically abusive relationship. As far as he knew, she lived alone. Greco was trained to start his search for a suspect within a close radius of the victim’s home, and to consider the involvement of family numbers and caretakers. Norma’s family? The only member he knew was Jeri. She was wearing Nikes, she had access to the residence, and she was the last person to see the victim alive. What did she have to gain from Norma’s death?
    He would start with Jeri.
    *   *   *
    Greco’s head was so buried in his notes, he didn’t see Wyatt McElvain standing over his desk.
    â€œI got a call from this psychic,” McElvain said.
    Greco looked up. It wasn’t his friend, Jim McElvain, whose life he had saved. This was the other McElvain. Wyatt McElvain was the sergeant who supervised the Perris P.D.’s operations at Canyon Lake and knew a lot of the residents. He had been at the crime scene the day before.
    â€œHe says there’s gonna be another murder,” McElvain said. “In two weeks. He says it’s a woman. The murderer. He thinks it’s a woman.”
    Greco kept a straight face. You’ve got to be kidding, he thought. He had more than enough work to do and the last thing he needed was to chase down some lunatic.
    â€œYou’re real funny,” Greco said.
    McElvain offered the phone number. The guy lived in Canyon Lake. What did he have to lose? Greco paused for a second, then wrote it down.
    *   *   *
    Greco stayed glued to his desk doing paperwork; he worked on his other cases and tried calling Jeri periodically without success. He figured she was out making funeral arrangements. That morning, Greco had sent a community service officer—a non-sworn officer—to drop off the film from his personal camera at a one-hour developer. The officer returned by mid-afternoon with his prints. The official crime-scene photos were being developed by the county lab, which typically took about a week to make prints.
    Greco looked carefully over his own photos, referring to them as he wrote his report. When he finished, he labeled the photos and placed them in his manila folder case file, which he put in the filing cabinet next to his desk.
    During the afternoon, Greco called the lab periodically to see whether the technicians had gotten any prints from the knives. By late afternoon, they had results: No identifiable prints. Back to square one, Greco thought.
    Greco decided to start interviewing other witnesses. The first stop was the hardware store, which was in a