sorry about your sister,” said Gray, his tone shifting to a place somewhere between near-warmth and not-unkindness. “What was her name?”
“Lena Perez. She was a grad student at Boston University. She vanished last August. Before you think I’m some serial killer groupie, I took no interest in Valentine before then. I started working on the case last summer when Lena went missing.” Eager to avoid elaborating, Mia cocked her head at him. “Look, I’m not here to contaminate your scene and create trouble. I’ll stick to five minutes if you’re serious about that, but can I at least walk around a bit?”
He was like a stone wall, filling up her line of vision with his broad shoulders and arrogance, but she saw him flinch as he considered the request, and then he stepped aside. “You can walk, but I’m going with you.”
How gallant. She stifled a groan and didn’t respond other than to shrug and finally step around him to examine the victim.
The woman was fully clothed in jean shorts and a novelty T-shirt. Her feet were bare, her toenails painted a dark pink. “She doesn’t look like she was dressed to go out. She may have been first attacked in her home,” Mia mused, mostly to herself. “Was she a student?”
“We don’t have an ID,” said Gray.
Poor girl. Mia traced her gaze over the sad figure. The woman’s eyes were filmy and stared into nothing. Mia pointed to a wilting bouquet of flowers nestled beside her left arm. “What’s with the flowers?”
“They were left with the body,” said Dr. McCarthy. “Red roses mixed with white carnations. What do you think—is Valentine back from vacation?”
Mia frowned, folding her arms across her chest. She’d memorized the Valentine files, spending hours studying the crime scene photos and autopsy reports. This scene was wrong.
She felt a gaze and looked up to see Gray watching her. “You don’t think so, Dr. Perez.”
When she’d first spotted him from the top of the embankment, she swore her heart had stopped. He was unexpected, standing like some marvelous Greek sculpture by the bank of the river, the fine, straight angles of his body incongruent with the ugly chaos over which he loomed. The morning was hot, but the blood in her cheeks ran still warmer at the intensity of his stare. If he weren’t so grouchy, she might have found him attractive.
“It’s all wrong,” she said, shaking her head. “The flowers, for one. It’s a cheap arrangement, something you’d buy from a grocery store. Valentine has never left bouquets like that.”
“There’s a first time for everything.”
“No.” The word flew from her lips on instinct, and she scrambled to produce a basis for that conclusion. “That would be like a fashionista dressing in cheap clothes. It’s not who he is. Valentine leaves a single kind of flower, and the choice is always symbolic. The flowers aren’t meant to honor the woman—they are meant to say something about her. This arrangement is all wrong. The body is posed improperly, too.” She pointed to the straight arms. “Her arms should be crossed over her chest, and the flowers should be in the center, over her sternum.” She paused as she braced herself. “Doc, what about her heart?”
McCarthy reached forward and gently felt along the victim’s sternum. “Valentine cuts through the bone. This sternum appears intact.”
“No,” Mia repeated, breathing easier. “This isn’t Valentine.”
“Are you saying we have a copycat?” Gray said.
“I didn’t say that, but you can’t ignore the similarities. Also—” she gestured to the gaping wounds on the victim’s palms “—Valentine restrains his victims. We’ve never found defensive wounds.”
Gray removed his sunglasses and blinked against the glare. Mia watched him out of the corner of her eye, not wanting to be too obvious. He looked as if he were carved out of marble, but behind his dark eyes was a softness. She’d always believed the eyes were the window to the soul, and she wondered what he was hiding behind that wall he’d constructed to protect himself.
He knelt beside the body, his brow tense with concentration. “Valentine may have screwed up this time,” he said. “Maybe she broke free of the restraints.”
“But there are no ligature marks on her wrist,” noted Dr. McCarthy. “There’s no evidence she was ever restrained in the first place.”
“The media doesn’t know about the bonds or the missing heart,” Mia said. “A copycat wouldn’t know, either.”
“Hey, wait a second.” Dr. McCarthy pressed a gloved hand to the victim’s side. “Since when does Valentine carry a gun?”
Mia’s pulse quickened, and she and Gray rushed to the ME’s side as he probed his index finger against the stiff edges of a hole in the victim’s shirt. “I didn’t notice it before with all of the blood on the shirt, but this is a bullet hole.” He leaned closer and frowned. “Not much blood. She may have been shot postmortem.”
“Overkill.” A shiver swept up Mia’s spine. “Why would he shoot a corpse?”
“Maybe he didn’t trust that the knife would work?” Dr. McCarthy offered.
“No.” This time it was Gray who spoke. He glanced at Mia before placing his sunglasses back on his face. “With all of those knife wounds? He knew she was dead.”
He straightened and turned his back to them, staring out over the Charles. After a moment, he turned back. “I agree with Dr. Perez. This isn’t Valentine.”
“Wow, you’re listening to me. I’m flattered.” She gave a small smile.
“Don’t be flattered,” he replied flatly. “I listen to evidence.”
Her shoulders tightened. Arrogant jerk. She’d fought hard to be taken seriously by the police officers she’d worked with, and she’d succeeded by producing real results. It had been years since anyone had treated her with such hostility, and Mia tamped down the irritation surging in her chest. This was her reward for trying to be personable.
“A copycat.” Gray cursed under his breath. “This is the last thing I need.”
“Lieutenant!” an officer called from farther down the path. “Any chance a gun was involved?” He held up a handgun with a gloved hand. “We just found this in the grass here.”
Gray’s face darkened. “What’s the caliber?”
The officer turned the gun. “Looks like a .32. White handle. Looks expensive.”
Gray and Mia exchanged a quick glance. “Yeah,” said Gray. “Bag it.”
Mia tucked a strand of hair behind her ears and swept the back of her hand across her brow. Her lungs were heavy from the thick summer air, and she was already imagining how good it might feel to plunge into the cold water of the river. Thinking and doing were completely different things, though. She didn’t normally like to bathe with E. coli. “I think my five minutes are up. Unless you want me to stick around and help you find more evidence for you to listen to.”
She didn’t expect him to flinch, and he didn’t disappoint her.
