Kate shook her head.“I don’t think so.The woman in the photo looks similar, but she’s too tall.Gloria is—was—only five-two.”
“A daughter, maybe?”
“I think so.And grandkids.”
She set the photograph back and headed toward a hallway leading to the back of the house.“The thimble was on the bathroom windowsill.If it’s still here, that’s where we’ll find it.”
“I’m still not sure why you think it would be somewhere else.I’m pretty sure no one thought of those objects as potential evidence until you did.”
“Well, whoever was here after the scene was closed is a neat freak.This house is far too dust-free to have been left this way since Gloria died.”
"Yeah, and the refrigerator is almost empty," Marcus agreed."What is there hasn't expired.Do we think someone's staying here?"
“Probably not,” Kate replied.“Probably just keeping it tidy until they can sell it.”
"So, no chance we catch Cox squatting?"
Kate smiled ruefully.“Beautiful as that sounds, no, I don’t think so.He’s not that stupid.”
“Sure would be nice if he was,” Marcus grumbled.
“No arguments there.”
They entered the bathroom, which was compact and included a stand-up shower but no tub.The master bedroom had a much larger bathroom with a stepped tub that provided easy entry and exit, but the thimble was here in the guest bathroom.
And it was still here.It shone with the unique dull sheen of unpolished brass, still pointing just a degree or two off of perpendicular to the bathroom door.Dust frosted the top of the thimble.Actually, the whole bathroom.It looked like the house’s current caretaker had neglected the guest bathroom.
“That’s the object, huh?”Marcus said, peering at the thimble, which was balanced almost precariously on the thin sill.“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
Marcus nodded.“So why a thimble?”
Kate crossed her arms and stared at the thimble.“I think those were the items they stole.”
“A thimble?”
“The ceramic cardinal in Warren Schulz’s home, and the thimble in Gloria Prentiss’s home.The music box in Karen de Luca’s home, and the watch in Jordan Prescott’s home.”
Marcus nodded.“I buy that.But what do the objects mean?”
Kate bit her lip.“It could be a reference to God watching everything they do.There’s a Bible verse that says His eye is on the sparrow.I know it’s a cardinal, but it’s not like Cox can wish for the victim to have stolen a ceramic sparrow.”
“But what does the thimble have to do with anything?”
Kate began to pace, but the bathroom was too small for that, so she settled for shifting her weight from foot to foot.“I don’t know.I think that’s the part we need to figure out.”
“Shh.”
Kate turned to Marcus to see a serious expression on his face, his hand lifted for quiet.A moment later, she heard it, the sound of the front door handle turning.Marcus looked at Kate, and the two of them placed their hands on their weapons without drawing them.
“FBI!”Marcus called.“Identify yourself!”
“FBI?”a female voice called.“What the hell is the FBI doing here?Is that your car parked in my mother’s driveway?”
Marcus looked down the hallway.What he saw apparently convinced him there was no danger because he took his hand off of his weapon and lifted it in greeting to the newcomer, evidently Gloria Prentiss’s daughter.Kate took her hand off her own weapon and followed him to the living room.
They were greeted by the woman in the photograph.She was a few years older and a few pounds heavier than she was in the photo, but she was clearly the one depicted in the family photo sitting on Gloria’s mantel.
