AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“And outside?” asked Decker as he moved to that digital page.
“Door handle, driver’s front side, and rear doors. And exterior driver’s-side window. Again, the usual.”
“And we’ve had no meaningful rain since she disappeared.”
“Correct.”
“So no recent prints would have been damaged or even washed off by a heavy rain.”
“Right.”
“How long do prints last on something?” asked Mars.
“Depends on the surface involved, what substance might have been on the fingers, the timing, the weather conditions, a whole host of factors,” said Fairweather.
Decker handed her back the pad. “What else?”
“Not a lot. We don’t know how far the car’s been driven because we didn’t know the odometer reading before she left. She did have an oil change sticker on her windshield. The car’s been driven about four hundred miles since then, but the oil change happened over three weeks ago. Not much we can deduce from that.”
“Insect debris on the front and the windshield?”
“Not too much. But she could have gotten it washed after she left town.”
Decker nodded because he too had thought of this.
“So, Decker, have you solved it?” Natty had walked around the side of the car and was looking up at him.
“Just observing,” said Decker.
Natty smirked. “Always knew you were overrated.”
“Yeah, dude’s been here ten seconds,” said Mars. “How long you been here?”
Natty looked over at him. “Who the hell are you, really?”
“Decker’sassistant. You might want to follow my lead on that, you know?Assistthe man.”
“You got a real comedian here, Decker,” said Natty irritably.
“One thing I would draw your attention to,” said Decker.
“What’s that?”
“There’s no print on the rear liftgate.”
“So what? Richards got in the front seat.”
“After she put a really heavy piece of luggage in the rear compartment.”
“She used her key fob to open the trunk.”
Decker shook his head. “Agatha Bates, her neighbor, said Richards started up the car and then went back inside and brought out a large piece of luggage that she put in the rear cargo hold. And she struggled to do so before slamming the liftgate shut.” Decker paused and looked from Fairweather back to Natty.
“There were no prints anywhere on the liftgate,” said Fairweather. “I went inch by inch.”
“Pretty weird,” said Mars.
“No, it’s not,” said Natty. “She used the button on her key fob to open it, like I just said.”
