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Three sets of eyes turned in his direction.
He made a face. “I brought a lot of paperwork home with me. We’re running all the names for prior convictions or outstanding warrants, too.”
“How long will that take?” Jaine asked.
“If nothing pops up on the computer to point us in the right direction, we’ll have to go through all the files and see if something sticks out, maybe dig deeper.”
“A day? Two days?” she prodded.
“You’re an optimistic little cuss, aren’t you?” He took a long swallow of the cold tea.
Luna made a T with her hands, signaling a timeout, then pointed at Sam. “Your turn.”
“The M.E. found a blond hair on Marci that wasn’t hers.”
The three women went very still, and he knew their minds were racing, trying to think of all the blond men at Hamm
erstead. “Does anyone spring to mind?” he asked.
“Not really,” Jaine said. “And what you call blond, we might call light brown.” She looked at the others, who shrugged. “There are a lot of guys at work who qualify.”
“Don’t drop your guard,” he warned. “She might have picked up the hair somewhere else. It’s a lead, and when we catch him, if the DNA matches, then we have him nailed. Just be extra careful around the blond guys.”
“That’s a cheerful thought,” Luna said glumly. “I think I’m the only brunette in sales.”
“I’m going to go through the files by department, starting with accounting, since Marci was the first target. By the way,” he said to T.J., “thanks for giving them to me broken down into the separate departments.”
She gave him a wry look. “Anything I can do to help.”
Luna directed the conversation again, pointing at Jaine. “It’s your turn.”
Jaine took a deep breath. After three broken engagements, she had to brace herself to announce that she intended … again … to get married. She glanced at Sam, and he winked at her.
“SamandIaregettingmarried,” she said in a rush, running the words together as if they would attract less attention that way. What the gods didn’t notice, they couldn’t squash.
Sam put his fingers in his ears to block out the squeals that erupted. T.J. hugged Jaine. Luna hugged Sam. Then they somehow all ended up hugging each other. The circle was too small without Marci, Jaine thought, but she refused to let tears ruin this little celebration. Life went on. It was sadder without Marci, emptier, but it went on nevertheless.
“How? I mean, when?” T.J. asked.
“In three weeks, when her folks get home,” Sam replied. “I was thinking maybe in a judge’s chambers, but my family would never fit, and they’ll all want to be there.”
“Maybe a park,” Jaine said.
“Why a park? Someone’s house should be large enough. My folks have a big place; they had to have, with seven kids.”
She cleared her throat. “Well, there’s my family, your family, T.J. and Luna, your cop friends, and I kind of … um … invited everyone on the street.”
“Well, yeah,” he said. “George and Sadie would have to come, and Eleanor, and … and, goddamn it, our small wedding is already up to about a hundred people, isn’t it?” he finished in a frustrated tone.
“Afraid so, kemo sabe.”
“That means food, and stuff like that.”
“You got it.”
“Who the hell is going to handle all this?” His expression clearly said he wasn’t.
“Shelley will. She loves this kind of sh—stuff. Nothing fancy, though. I’m on a tight budget, with the house payment and new security system, the cell phone, and now I have to buy new clothes and a new mattress and box spring—”
