A shocked silence fell over the room. Annie recovered first. “You mean from Leroy?”
Stacy contemplated the map again and shook her head. “No, but I think he’s close. He has to be. If I had to guess, I’d put him here.” She tapped the southeastern corner of Indiana. “Aurora, Lawrenceburg, maybe even Madison.”
“Why?” Gordon leaned forward on the couch with his hands clasped between his knees.
Holding his gaze, Stacy formulated her answer, thinking out loud. “Because he’s been in something of a frenzy this past year. His victims are mainly at-risk women—prostitutes and drug addicts. He needs a ready supply where he can get to them if the urge strikes. Cincinnati seems to be his preferred stalking ground of late. If he lives in Indiana, chances are good that he has to live in this area for the sheer logistics.” She tapped the map again.
Beth sucked in a breath and sank down on the arm of the couch. “Oh, God. Ethan? At-risk women? Parker.”
Ethan stilled. “Okay. But what about our theory about him not wanting to commit murders in Indiana?”
“You’re talking about the body that was found this morning?” Gordon asked.
“Yes.”
Gordon frowned. “How was she killed?”
“She was in pretty rough shape. The coroner is leaning toward bludgeoning, but we won’t know until the autopsy tomorrow,” Ethan said.
“Well, the last few murders have been increasingly violent, with more mutilation than his earlier crimes. It’s not outside the realm of possibility that it could be him. When was she killed?” Gordon asked.
“Sometime Sunday night or early this morning,” Ethan told him.
Gordon looked at Chase. “How fast did word get around about your questioning?”
Chase snorted. “By one o’clock this morning, Dad was calling me from Europe.”
“So a local could easily have known about it. The killer could have learned about it last night, either through conversation or by overhearing it somewhere,” Gordon mused. “We know he has some sort of an agenda where Chase is concerned. If that includes Chase being framed for murder, hearing that you weren’t arrested could have sent him over the edge.”
“So if we can figure out where the guy met Parker, that might lead us to solving the whole damned thing.” Stacy turned to Ethan. “Any leads?”
“Not really,” he admitted. “I managed to find the people she was with earlier in the evening, but she left them about nine o’clock last night. She was talking about finding someone to party with. They weren’t sure where she was headed when she left. She didn’t have any violent exes, everyone seemed to like her, and no one appears to have a reason to want to harm her like that.”
Gordon narrowed his eyes. “Any sign of her car?”
“It was in the shop. Wherever she went, she was walking. We were able to track her to County Line Grocery at about nine thirty.”
A collective groan went through the room.
Ethan nodded. “She hung out there for a while, possibly met someone out back for money, then she left a little after ten.”
Gordon frowned. “What’s County Line Grocery?”
“It’s a convenience store with a pool hall and gas station, and it’s on the road leading out to Jefferson County, which is the road where Parker was found. It’s about three miles from the actual county line,” Stacy explained.
“Yeah, and it’s a total cesspool of humanity that late at night,” Jason added. “If it’s illegal and you want to find it in Olman County, County Line is the place to go.”
“Ah… I know the type of place. Most counties have at least one,” Gordon said. “So did anyone see anything that could help us, or are all the witnesses mysteriously forgetful today?”
Ethan moved back to his seat. “Actually, they were surprisingly helpful, weren’t they, Jason?”
Jason nodded. “I was somewhat shocked by that, but apparently Parker was well-liked even in that crowd.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Beth said. “For all her problems, Parker was one of the sweetest people you’d ever meet. That makes this tragedy that much sadder.”
“So where does that leave us?” Chase asked.
Gordon sighed. “Maybe nowhere we weren’t already, but then again…” He looked over the map. “Any chance you can contact the crime lab handling Parker’s murder, see if they can rush the DNA now so we can compare it to the DNA in Kiely’s case?”
Ethan didn’t answer, just pulled out his phone and made the call. “Michelle, it’s Detective Moore. What’s the status on processing that DNA from this morning’s murder victim?” He listened to her response and frowned.
“Okay. No, no, I understand, but we have a potential suspect we’d like to rule out.” He stopped again, and the lab tech’s raised voice could be heard. Even though her words weren’t clear, her attitude was. Ethan’s brow lowered.
Beth winced. “Oooh, that’s not good.”
Before he could respond to the tech’s comments, he held the phone away from his ear. An astonished laugh escaped him, and he stared at the device.
“What did she say?” Stacy asked. “That was Michelle Dickey, right?”
“Yeah. She had plenty to say, most of it relating to me being a washed-up, alcoholic upstart with delusions of importance. And then she hung up on me.” He hit another number and stood, phone to his ear as he excused himself. “Wyatt? It’s Ethan. We have a problem.”
He went out to the front porch and paced as he talked. Beth followed without a word.
Jason let out a low whistle. “Wow. Wyatt’s not going to be happy.”
“She’ll be suspended over this,” Stacy said. “We all heard what Ethan asked—nothing rude or out of the ordinary. Michelle’s the newest tech up there. She’s not the most popular person in the building.”
Gordon knew the sheriff’s department had expanded its crime lab over the last couple of years, adding an outpost for the state police and the capability to process more complex crime scenes. Obviously there were still a few kinks being worked out.
Ethan came back inside, his face hard. “Wyatt’s on his way over there now to check on things. We should have our results in about seventy-two hours, I’m guessing.”
“How upset is he?” Jason asked.
“Oh, he always wanted a skylight in his living room, I’d say.” He grimaced. “If she said that in front of witnesses, she won’t work in Olman County again, at least not in any official capacity. Wyatt will see to that.”
Beth looked up at him. His tension was making his muscles rigid, and his demeanor had changed from alert but relaxed to tense. Gordon watched the silent communication pass between them, and after a moment, Ethan’s tension eased a little.
“So what now?” Chase asked.
Gordon walked over to the map. He shoved his hands in his pockets and shook his head. “Now we wait.”