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“—he would have made Una’s body disappear too.”
“You keep saying he,” Tean said.
“Statistically more likely.”
Tean was quiet for a long moment. “It seems like the only people left are—I don’t know, the Rangel brothers, or whoever they work for. I suppose it’s possible they killed Yesenia for investigating their operation. DeVoy didn’t seem to think so, but then he got killed, which kind of seems like a mixed message.”
Jem brooded over the empty McMuffin wrapper for a moment. The afternoon light had shifted, and Tean was surprised to see the sun low over the hills, the water in the reservoir a crucible of molten gold.
“What do we know?” Jem asked. “Yesenia was kind of a bitch. She fought with Heather, manipulated her, and took advantage of her desperation. Stole from her too, but I don’t think the sheriff is going to care about that.”
“But it does tell us something about Yesenia. It tells us that she could be petty and cruel. She didn’t want those pills. And she’d already taken everything of value that Heather had. She latched on to something Heather valued, and she took it because she could.”
“Ok. And we know that whoever killed her wanted to frame Missy.”
“Or frame somebody,” Tean said, “and Missy was a convenient target.”
“Either way, that doesn’t sound like an international gang of animal traffickers. If Yesenia was becoming a problem for them, they’d figure out her routine, find the right opportunity, and put a bullet in the back of her head. Then they’d get rid of the body. The end.”
“That definitely wasn’t inThe Silence of the Lambs.”
“They wouldn’t kill Yesenia and then drag bloody clothing all over town, leaving a trail of evidence everywhere they go. So, I think we’re back to the amateur theory. This isn’t a professional killer. This isn’t a serial killer. This is someone who kills for personal reasons—greed, anger, jealousy.”
“Jealousy? You think Yesenia might be involved with someone?”
“Who knows? I’m spit-balling. What about the vet angle?”
“What about it?”
“When we almost caught this guy at the chicken ranch—”
“Poultry farm.”
“—you said the drugs he used, they’re the kind vets use? Not what a people doctor would have.”
“I’ve never used the words ‘people doctor’ in my life.”
Jem jogged his knee. “That suggests our killer is a vet.”
“Or anyone with the proper training.”
“But there’s a vet convention in town. And Yesenia has enemies. And she died here. That has to mean something.”
Tean shrugged. “We tried that, remember? She had arguments with people, but nobody’s going to admit to a blood feud now that she’s disappeared, and we’ve already investigated anyone who seemed like they could bear a serious grudge.”
“If you were a vet, how would you kill her?”
“What?”
“I’m serious. You’ve got the training. How would you do it?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never thought about it like that.”
“So, start thinking. You’ve got all these drugs. You know anatomy. You want to make someone disappear. What do you do?”
“Well, I don’t, as you put it, drag DNA evidence all over the place.”
“But you—the killer—you think you’re smarter than everybody. You think you can point them in the wrong direction. Maybe you think you have to do it.”
