“You and me both. Though I do think it’s interesting that he killed the kids quickly. Yes, he made them hurt, but to prove a point. In the Strand case, he cut off the boy’s feet but killed him with a blow to the head. He cut off the daughter’s tongue but sliced her throat. Quick if not painless.”
“And he doesn’t kill the pets. I wonder what Sherry Duvall and Bubbles have to tell us.”
At this point, Jane hoped for anything that would shed light on their mysterious murderer.
* **
An attractive womanon the thin side with a wealth of silver hair belying her relative youth, Sherry met them with an overactive Yorkie. They sat in her living room. In a larger atrium they’d passed earlier, Jane had noticed an older woman in a wheelchair sitting in front of a television. She watched a popular game show in silence.
The dog barked a few times at Ray and Jane before Sherry scooped it up and comforted the tiny beast.
Ray leaned in to murmur to Jane, “You win.”
She smothered a smile, not wanting Sherry to misread her levity with the situation. Jane examined the dog, which seemed just fine.
“I swear, I thought it was a crank call.” Sherry held a lacy handkerchief under her eyes, catching the tears that continued to fall. The dog licked her hand. “Who cares about a dog when your family’s been murdered?” Yet she squeezed Bubbles, who looked to be in his favorite place in the world.
“What did the caller sound like?” Ray asked. “You previously told us it was a man.”
She nodded. “He had a deep voice with an accent.”
“What kind of accent?” Jane asked.
“He sounded Russian, if I had to guess. Or some kind of -stan.”
“I’m sorry?” Ray asked.
“You know. Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, some kind of Slavic language. He told me I could find Bubbles?—”
“He used the dog’s name?” Jane interrupted. “Was the name on the dog’s collar?”
“No. Bubbles didn’t have a collar on her. But yes, he did call her by name. I found her right where he said she’d be. Near Turtle Pond, tied up to a tree.”
Ray scribbled in his notebook. “Turtle Pond in the Centennial Garden?”
She nodded.
He turned to Jane. “I want to say we looked into that, searching for someone who might have seen something. But I’ll doublecheck with my guys.”
Jane nodded, studying Sherry. “You didn’t go after Bubbles right away.”
“No. Like I said, I thought it was a someone playing a cruel trick. I mean, who kills people but doesn’t kill the dog?”
A person with a skewed sense of morality, for sure. “And you’re sure he had a Russian accent?”
“Well, not a hundred percent. But I’m almost positive.”
“Is there anything else you can tell us about Bubbles? Did you find anything on him?—”
“Her.”
“—her that didn’t belong?”
“No. Nothing. Just the dog. But she was shiny and clean, as if she’d just come from the groomer.” Sherry sighed. “And before you ask, I have no idea why anyone would want to hurt Jim, Karen, and the kids. They were such a wonderful family. My brother was generous to a fault. He took care of all of us, especially Mom.”
Sensing they’d get no further, Jane waited while Ray asked a few follow-up questions, pondering all she’d learned.
The Russian accent tied to the man Christian had told her about. Tall and lean with big hands. Gentle with animals. Brutal with people.
