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“Where did you hear that?”
“It’s all over social media. Could go viral.”
“Oh, come on.”
“People all over the world are interested in the creature.”
“The ‘creature’ doesn’t exist.”
“Is that what your daughter says?” he asked.
She wasn’t going to be lured back into that conversation. “Look, Manny, I’m busy here with a homicide investigation. If you want more information, call the sheriff.” She hung up, steamed, then forced herself to relax. There was a helluva lot of work yet to be done, and she didn’t have time for Manny Douglas and the Mountain Reporter.
She was just closing her computer screen when Alvarez poked her head into the room and said, “Preliminary autopsy’s in on the Montclaire girl.”
“That was quick. Good.”
“I guess when Sheriff Blackwater speaks . . .”
“Mountains are moved in the morgue.”
“Seems so. As I said, just a preliminary, not complete. Toxicology won’t be for a while. You’ve got a copy. Email.” She pointed to Pescoli’s computer. “Definitely homicide.”
“I just turned it off,” she said, switching on the monitor again. “Cause of death?”
“Asphyxiation.” Alvarez’s face was grim, her eyes dark as ebony. “She was strangled. Pressure so hard her neck snapped.
”
“Ugh.”
“Takes a helluva lot of strength,” Alvarez said. “Super-human.”
“What about time of death?”
“With the water and decomposition, it was impossible to pin down, but she’d been in the creek a while. The coroner’s saying a week, and I’m guessing she was killed the same night she went missing, or soon thereafter, so a week ago Friday, but who knows? Could have been Saturday or possibly even Sunday.”
“We need alibis for the weekend.”
“Uh-huh. Let’s start with Friday night, work our way into Saturday. I’ve already asked Zoller to double-check all the people who knew the victim, those we won’t get to today.”
“Good.”
“And there’s something else that came up.”
“Yeah?”
“She was pregnant. About two months along.”
Pescoli let out a low whistle, unconsciously touching her abdomen and thinking of the baby soon to be born. “So that makes it a double homicide.”
“Yes.” Alvarez was grim.
“If Donny Justison’s the father, the mayor’s son just moved up on the suspect list.”
She nodded slowly.
“He could have known about it; she could have told him.” Pescoli didn’t like the turn of her thoughts. “Could be our motive.”
