Bree shook her head. “I told him that we should be thanking him.”
Dan held out paper cups to Grant and Avery. “It’s black. I brought sugar and cream if you like.”
“Thank you.” Avery took the cup, set it on the desk and reached for a packet of sugar.
Dan took the last cup of coffee from the carrier tray. “I saw on the evening news that you found another victim yesterday.” He took a sip.
Sheriff Taylor nodded, his jaw tight. “Damned shame. Such a waste of life.”
Dan nodded. “Poor girls didn’t have a chance, did they? Tragic way to die... suffocation.”
Avery shot a glance toward Grant. “Why do you think they died of suffocation?” That fact was not public information.
Dan took another sip. “The M.E. is a friend of mine. I saw him at T.J.’s yesterday afternoon. I’ve seen cases like this when I worked with the Dallas Police Department. Hard to crack with little evidence left behind.”
Avery looked closer at Dan. “You worked with the Dallas Police Department?”
Dan nodded. “I did. I retired several years ago.”
“In what capacity?” Grant asked.
“I started as a street cop and worked my way up to detective.” He looked around the people in the office. “It’s been a while, but I’d be happy to help with the investigation.”
Sheriff Taylor nodded toward the tray Dan had brought coffee on. “You’ve already helped a lot, providing coffee. You’ll have to let us pay you for it.”
Dan held up a hand. “Not necessary. I consider it my contribution toward solving the crimes. Just know, if you need anything, you know where to find me. I’m only part-time at T.J.’s just to keep me busy in my retirement.”
“Thanks, Dan,” Sheriff Taylor said.
Dan left the sheriff’s office.
* * *
Sheriff Taylor waved a hand toward the hallway behind the reception desk. “Shall we adjourn to the conference room?”
They followed the sheriff down the hallway and into the conference room.
As soon as they were inside and seated, Avery glanced at the team working the murder case. “Anything new?”
Melissa leaned forward. “I ran a scan through the NCIC database looking for unsolved cases of female victims with black hair, murdered by asphyxiation and left in a bed of roses.” She shook her head. “Nothing. I backed out of the bed of roses and looked for women with black hair who’d been suffocated. I found a hit.”
Avery tensed.
“Sorry, it was thirty years ago. A single woman out of Oklahoma City. She’d disappeared after a night out with friends. A one-off. Her killer was never found. No other matches came close. No trail of black-haired women to follow.”
“So, our killer has a fresh start with these three women.” Sheriff Taylor tapped his fingers on the tabletop. “We need something—anything—to go on. We can’t keep waiting for him to make a mistake. It’ll mean more victims.”
“I’ll check with the M.E. today and see if he has anything back from the labs on the postmortem toxicology,” Avery said.
The sheriff’s cell phone rang. The man glanced down at the screen. “It’s the M.E.,” he said, answering the call and touching a button on the screen. “This is Sheriff Taylor. You’re on speaker.”
“Sheriff, I got the toxicology report on the first two victims.”
Avery reached for Grant’s hand beneath the table.
His fingers curled around hers, reassuringly.
“Both victims had traces of benzodiazepines and haloperidol in their systems.”
