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“Yeah,” Faith said. She held up a finger, “but let’s not be too hasty with this. I mean, we don’t want to repeat the same thing like we did with homicides. In Tucson, the ME is going to rule a death homicide, accident, suicide, or natural. We need a list of accident, suicide, or natural for everyone in the profile’s age range but we focus on follow up efforts on accidents first, I think.”
“We want to look at the homicides, too, just lower priority. We might have been right about that and just picked the wrong man.”
“He was a perfect fit,” she said with a nod, “and perfectly wrong.”
Michael nodded. “Well, we can narrow it down a little.”
“How so?” Faith asked.
“We can check the DOT office again. At some point, the man you saw on the street was parked there because Turk tracked him there. It’s possible he just cut through the parking lot, and Turk lost his scent in an oil patch, but I think we give him the benefit of the doubt and say our killer was there earlier today.”
“Good idea,” Faith said. “Maybe one of the other employees or visitors matches the description.”
“It’s worth a shot, at least.”
They rejoined the detectives, and Faith shared the news.
The two of them stared at her like she was insane. “Are you kidding me?” Travis said. “You were the one who fingered the guy.”
“I know,” Faith said. “He matches the description of the man I saw, but he doesn’t seem to have any idea what we’re talking about. He’s giving me no sign that he knows why we’re talking to him.”
“He’s not acting like he knows anything,” Derek said. “He’s clearly insane.”
“I know,” Faith said, “but I feel like he would know enough to know if he killed our victims.”
“Not necessarily,” Derek said. “I’m not a psychologist, but I know a lot of killers who are ruled insane say that they felt they were in a fugue or a dream. Maybe he didn’t know that what he was experiencing was real life.”
“Still,” Faith said, “he didn’t react the right way.”
“What the hell is the right way?” Travis said, throwing his arms up in frustration. “‘Gee, Miss Nice FBI Lady, I guess you’re right. I did murder those people. Time to put me away for the rest of my life.’”
Faith sighed. “I know that this is frustrating. Believe me, I’m as frustrated as you are, but Turk didn’t react to him the way he did to the man I saw on the street.”
“I thought we agreed it was the ring, not the guy, he reacted to.”
“Yeah,” Derek said, “we know he ditched the rings. Turk didn’t smell it, so he didn’t jump on him.”
Faith’s blood boiled. “Look, we’re going to investigate him anyway. Either I’m right, and he’s not our guy, or I’m wrong, and we’ll find what we need to put him away. I’m only saying we should keep looking for other leads.”
“Well,” Derek said, “if you don’t mind, we’re going to pursue this lead. If you two want to find another lead, you be our guests.”
“Fine by me,” Faith said. She looked at Michael.
“I’m with my partner,” he said. “Let us know if you find the evidence linking Kevin to the murders.”
“Sure thing,” Travis said, shaking his head, “at least you guys will be out of our hair.”
Faith and Michael left the precinct. On the way back to their car, Faith said, “Michael?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you for trusting me.”
He nodded and offered her a half-smile. “Hey, that’s what partners are for, right?”
Faith returned his smile and said, “Well, I appreciate it.”
“Sure thing,” he said, “but you better be right this time.”
