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"What can I do to help?"
"If you don't mind, just open these packages for me. Sort them with the label of the hospital and the gloves on them so I know where they're from. Please."
"No problem, Daph."
"Since this is easy, I'll probably have an earlier day. How was the interview?"
"The guy had a tight alibi for that night. But we are looking into Rory being a part of the Eccentric Motorcycle Gang. Maybe he
was laundering the money from the bank. But the guy wouldn't talk except to give me the alibi. It might be fake; those guys cover their tracks too well."
I shiver, "My uncle hated that gang and what they did with their victims. I did a study on them, and this is not their work." I point at the space in the refrigerator where Rory lies. "But he might've still been involved in the gang. I didn't see any tattoos, but because he worked at the bank, he wouldn't have been hired with that tattoo. Do you know how the other interviews went?"
"Two still need to be interviewed, but nothing yet. It looks like this case might be a cold one."
I'm very disappointed in that. I hate it when cases run cold. One of the drawers in my filing cabinet is dedicated to cold cases. I look at them periodically to see if anything new jumps out. Just in case I can give peace to the victims' families. "I think that is where it's going, but I'm trying. At least let's do these gloves to see if there's anything more."
Archer already has the gloves out of the packages and
separated by the hospital. Already, I can rule out the blue and pink gloves from some hospitals. Others, just looking at the color of the white, I know that they wouldn't match my sample. I have two more gloves left, one from the Veterans Hospital and one from the Children's. I hope the gloves from Children's don't match. It would be hard for me to stomach that a killer works or worked with kids.
Both of these look like they could be matches, so I need my microscope to really get in there at the exact texture. I cut a little piece off the one from the Children's hospital, hoping to rule that one out first. Looking through my microscope, I can already tell it doesn't match. The way that the smoothness of the evidence runs does not match this sample. Thank God. That leaves this sample for now. I look back at Archer. "Want to do this one?"
"Yes, of course I do. I'm always down to learning more about your profession." He smiles at me. "What's the first step?"
"So, since we're only really looking at the color and texture, we really don't have to treat the sample. Just cut a little piece of the glove off, put it on the slide, and put the cover on it. Then slide it
under the microscope." He does as I say, but I can tell that he's getting frustrated when he doesn't find the sample looking in the microscope.
"Here, let me help." I go and press a key on my computer to pop up the microscope image on the big screen. He is way off. "If you zoom out a little bit using this knob, you'll be able to find the sample and then zoom in using this knob."
I did it perfectly, and now we are looking at the sample on the big screen. The sample is one hundred percent the match to the one I found in Rory's eye.
"Holy shit, our first piece of actual evidence," Archer says. "I'll call up Nisa to have the Veterans Hospital send all employee files to us right away. How long should they backtrack it for?" I'm lost in a trance. Finally, we found something substantial.
"Daph, you, okay?"
I shake out of it, "Yes, I'm just glad we found it. Tell Nisa to have them backtrack for any employees that have left in the past ten
years. Gloves can last a lifetime in that sterile bag."
Archer leaves me to my own thoughts. Well, we are almost close. The good news is I'll definitely be able to make it to lunch tomorrow. Going through names is easy. I should send Cordelia a text to confirm. I stand up and go to my purse to grab my phone.
Me: Hey, I can do lunch tomorrow. Whatcha want?
Cor Bear: I'm craving a gourmet salad.
Me: Okay, we'll go to The Salad Shop. Can you make the reservations? I'm thinking around 12:30.
Cor Bear: Of course. See you soon x.
Archer comes back, asking who's got me, smiling at my phone. "My sister, I was just confirming lunch. What did Nisa say?"
"She told me to give you a big fat kiss since you found something substantial." He's making his way towards me.
"She did not say that." But that doesn't stop me from kissing him when he leans towards me. His lips taste like vanilla bean. Does
he use lip balm? It's a fantastic taste. He swipes his tongue in my mouth, and now we are full-on sloppy. I grab his neck, pulling him as close as he can go while he fists his hands in my hair.
