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She looked ahead to the house, the sort of build that made it hard to tell if it was a one-story or two-story home. As she made her way to the short porch, Rachel also noticed another police officer on the left side of the yard. He was speaking to a pair of noy neighbors who were practically breaking their necks to get a better look at what was going on.
Rachel climbed the two stairs onto the porch and then opened the door. Two cops stood in front of it as she opened it, and she again flashed her badge. “Have either of you seen Detective Sullivan?” she asked.
“Back bedroom,” one of the cops said. He looked tired and cranky, or maybe slight demeaned for having been stationed as a guard.
She nodded her thanks and passed them by, stepping into the house. It turned out to be a two-story, only the main floor appeared as a one-story home. She passed a slight of stairs as she made her way down the hallway, which she supposed led up to a half-floor—maybe an over-the-garage apartment or something.
The back bedroom was all the way down the hall, past an office and a restroom. The door was opened, and as she stepped through it, she saw Sullivan standing with two police officers. For a moment, it was far too similar to the part he’d played in her nightmare as he’d spoken to Jack. It caused a chill to race through her. Sullivan saw her right away, excusing himself from the officers and making his way over to her. As he neared her, she took a quick look around the room.
A dead woman was sprawled out on the bed. There were small flecks of blood on her face, and her nose appeared to be broken. Other than the sheets being kicked into a messy pile at the end of the bed, there appeared to be no real signs of a struggle.
“Who is she?” Rachel asked as she approached the bed
“Dr. Molly Stevens,” Sullivan asked. “Aged fifty-three. She lives alone, as she and her husband divorced three years ago. Not sure where he lives, but we’re looking into that right now.”
“Who found the body?”
“She actually called 9-1-1. According to the operator, she was never able to say anything—there was just the sound of a struggle and a woman, presumably Dr. Stevens, struggling to breathe.”
Rachel stepped closer to the bed, looking to the dead doctor's eyes. They stared up at the same ceiling she likely took in as her last sight before death. Her neck was slightly swollen and showed bruising—fresh bruising.”
“Are there units out looking for the killer? If she called 9-1-1 while it was happening and—”
“Yes, there’s a thorough search. But this neighborhood is so damned congested, I don’t know that it’ll do any good. We’ve got it pegged that eight minutes passed between the 9-1-1 call and the arrival of the first police unit.”
“That’s a decent head start,” Rachel said. “Especially if the killer knows the area well.”
"Agreed. That's why I think we're best off to stay here and check the place over."
“I take it you haven’t found much yet?”
“Just that she was obviously strangled,” he said, nodding toward Dr. Steven’s bruised neck.
“Any signs of a break-in?”
“None. As I’m sure you saw, there’s a video doorbell at the front door. But there’s not one on the back. You’re welcome to go look for yourself, but there’s no sign of a break-in back there at all. Two officers had a look at the back door before I did.”
“And no footage on the doorbell camera?”
“We’ve got a cop out in his car right now working with someone in tech to unlock her phone...hoping she has an app for the doorbell. But again, just like the back door, there are no signs of a break-in up front, either. Right now, whether or not he came in invited or by force is all speculation.”
“And do we—”
She was interrupted as another cop came into the room. He looked slightly flustered, as if he’d been moving in a rush. “Detective Sullivan?” he said.
“Yeah?”
“We just got confirmation that Dr. Stevens worked for a company called VexoCorp —some sort of applied medicines research center.”
“Is that here in the city?” Rachel asked.
“It is. Not too far away from LaRange Labs, in fact.”
“Applied medicine,” Sullivan said thoughtfully. “That could be somewhat related to anti-aging and stem cells, right?”
“I don’t know,” Rachel said. She stowed all of the information in her head, filing it away into its proper place. She began to examine it bit by bit as she turned away from Dr. Stevens’ body and looked toward the door. “I’m going to have a look around.”
“Let me know if you need anything,” Sullivan said.
