PART III Chapter Twenty-one
PART III Chapter Twenty-one
Kate and Megan had a big day ahead. The search of the bank would be happening later and Kate hoped they would be collecting a lot of useful evidence for their investigation. She would be at the bank while the forensics team did a search. That meant following Tim would be suspended for today.
Megan was excited for the day as well. She would be a part of the search team. She had evidence bags and gloves ready to take with her. Kate had her own bag and gloves, she knew the drill. She was well aware of the importance of handling evidence with care. Breakfast was a quick bowl of cereal this morning and for a second day in a row there would be no run today.
Kate and Megan would be at the bank as soon as it opened. There was not enough time to go by the station so Kate and Megan would meet the other members of their crew at the bank. Kate had the search warrant on her kitchen bar waiting to be picked up on the way out of the house.
Kate would be joining Megan and one more member of the forensics team. Kate left most of the search to Megan and another technician by the name of Jordan Ames. Kate knew that Jordan wanted more than a working relationship with Megan and she had shown some possible interest in him as well. Kate just warned her about letting a relationship spill over into the workplace. She told her with three little words, “Keep them separate”.
Kate walked through the front door with her badge clearly visible and attached to her pants. She asked for Robert Green because he already knew about the search she had planned. Although he had previously granted permission for the search, she obtained a warrant just to protect them later in court. He came out of his office and looked at the warrant just to make it official and then he led the team to Tim’s Office. Robert had kept the search a secret from Tim so he wouldn’t be tipped off and hide evidence.
Megan’s assistant was a forensic computer expert and the first thing he did was to duplicate Tim’s hard drive and search for cloud storage connections outside the confines of the bank. That information allowed Jordan to search Tim’s computer without actually having physical access to it. It was likely any damning evidence would have attempted to be erased.
Megan searched through the drawers of Tim’s desk. They were not sure what was likely to be found but Megan didn’t have any hopes they would find a murder weapon here. Megan found two pairs of ladies panties in the bottom drawer. She placed those in a collection bag and would be sending those for DNA testing. A match to either of their victims would be a great find.
Megan and Jordan continued to search with Kate’s help. She had hoped they would find at least one of the murder weapons but nothing had been found so far that linked Tim to either murder. Jordan found some notes from various women in Tim’s desk drawer but none of those were from their victim and so they weren’t relevant to their case. Several photos were found in the drawer as well. They were all females in various stages of undress.
Megan called Kate over to help her take out something she found in another drawer of Tim’s desk. It was something hard wrapped in a rag. Kate lifted it out and unwrapped the pistol contained inside. She would have been excited about the find except it didn’t match the weapon in either of her murder cases. As far as Kate knew at this moment it was a legal weapon and hadn’t been used in any crime. It was a .22 caliber pistol and didn’t match neither the 9mm nor the .38.
She wrote the serial number down and took some photos of the weapon before putting it back where they found it. She continued to search for any other items that might be connected to either of her other cases. If any other crime was committed with a .22 pistol she would have a head start on the weapon. They found ample evidence of Tim’s indiscretions but nothing that connected him to either death. She could connect him to both victims but couldn’t prove any involvement of Tim in their death.
The search area of Tim’s office was small compared to most of the areas they usually searched. They had found a lot of stuff so far but nothing pertaining to murder. Megan found a pair of boots in the corner and gathered them for testing. She would compare them with the footprints they found on Susan’s backdoor.
Kate, Megan and Jordan left nothing unturned as they went through the office but nothing else was found. Kate signaled Megan and Jordan to wind the search down and prepare to leave. Kate wanted to put everything back in order so that Tim wouldn’t notice the items missing from his office.
Kate, Megan and Jordan left the bank with a case full of evidence bags, but Kate was concerned that none of it proved murder. They would examine everything that was recovered and Kate hoped they would find something on the computer hard drive they duplicated. Megan and Jordan took the evidence with them and left for the lab. Kate went in to tell Robert they were finished, and told him bye.
Kate left the bank to go back to the station and see if anything had been discovered from the evidence they recovered at the bank. The search of Tim’s house and car was scheduled for the following day. Kate would concentrate on finding the murder weapons to tie Tim to the murders.
Kate walked directly to the lab when she got back to the station. Megan and Jordan were going through the evidence trying to sort out what they had.
Megan said, “I already submitted the panties for DNA analysis and we are trying to identify the photos. Jordan is running the hard drive copy through a program to identify deleted blocks. The plan is to restore the deleted files to see what kind of evidence is contained there.”
Kate asked, “What about the boots?”
Megan replied, “I gave the boots to another lab associate to compare to the footprints from Susan’s.”
Kate thought everything that needed to be done was being worked on. They didn’t have a vehicle that matched the tracks in the alley but she would start searching trying to locate a match. They had been working for a long time and now some things were falling in place.
Kate said, “Maybe we should go out to celebrate tonight, grab a nice dinner and go home and rest.”
Megan responded, “Well there was something else I wanted to let you know. I have a date tonight, with Jordan.”
Kate said, “Oh okay, I am glad for you. I hope you have a nice time. I will just find somewhere to grab a bite. I would suggest that you don’t stay out too late, there is a big day ahead of all of us tomorrow.”
Megan said, “This is a first date with him, it shouldn’t be too late. We are going to dinner and will probably just talk shop.”
Kate responded, “Just be careful and take it slow.”
Megan replied, “Don’t worry. He is afraid of you so I don’t think he will be too hard to handle. He was so afraid of you that I had to ask him out. When I did he asked if I was sure it was okay with Kate.”
Kate replied, “I am sure he discussed it with his buddies and they told him about me.”
Megan replied, “Mom, are you kidding. You are very well known here. Some of the stories are exaggerations. They have you fighting bears, shooting three criminals with one shot and a host of other things.”
Kate said, “Who said those things are made up?”
Kate then sprouted a smile to make sure Megan knew she was joking.
Kate’s background and escapades were legendary at the station. It was mostly the older detectives who talked about the things she did and Jordan had listened to all of them. It was one of the reasons he was afraid of her. Her demeanor was also stern and unforgiving and Kate took joy in her daughter’s boyfriends having some fear. She had no plans to dispel any of the rumors that had been spread about her. Kate then thought the term boyfriend may have been a stretch, it was just a first date.
Kate was by herself for the evening, something she hadn’t been used to for a while. She had an idea that at Megan’s age she could expect this to be more common going forward. She understood the hormones of the young although she had pretty well forgotten most of hers.
Kate stopped off at a small cafe she used to go to alone once in a while. It was general fare and she sat alone and ate comfort food. She took her time, knowing full well the house she would go to after dinner would be empty. She had a couple of small glasses of Guinness with her dinner making sure she didn’t drink too much to drive.
Kate talked to the waitress when she came to drop off her dinner and refilled her beer. Kate knew the waitress and she used to talk to her a lot when Megan was away at college. Kate finally finished her dinner, paid her tab and headed for her empty house. The silence that waited for her when she walked through the door was a little unsettling. She took a seat on the couch, turned on the television and waited for Megan to return from her date.