Dead End by Mariah Stewart Page B

else that pertains to my case?”
    “Actually, I think the rest of the report is pretty much self-explanatory. Most of the remaining trace I’d like to address right now concerns the three unidentified girls.”
    “If I might be excused, then?” Weller looked at the D.A. “I’ll need to talk to the agents who came up yesterday, fill them in.”
    “Of course. Go right ahead.” Sheridan nodded. “Just keep in touch. We’ll want to know the minute you think you have a viable suspect.”
    “Will do.” Detective Weller grabbed her bag, said her good-byes, and left the room in a blur.
    “Now, what else do you have for us?” The D.A. turned his attention back to Annie. “You said you have information pertaining to the other girls?”
    “Hair from three different men and a dog.”
    “Three men and a dog?” Malone leaned forward slightly to look at her, his brows raised.
    “Right. Pubic hair from two of the men, head hair only from three. Dog hair from an as-yet-unidentified breed. The lab is still working on that.”
    “So three guys are involved; only two had sex with the girls?”
    “Looks that way. The hair we found on all three victims is the same. Same three men. Same two pubic hairs.”
    “So what’s this other guy doing, watching?” Malone frowned. “With his dog?”
    “Don’t know. But the third man has been close enough to the vics to leave a little bit of himself with each of them,” Annie told him.
    “Any other trace? Carpet fibers like the others?” Sheridan wanted to know.
    “No carpet, no fabric fibers of any kind. I’m wondering if he wrapped them in plastic before he transported them from where they were killed to the place where they were left.”
    “Maybe that’s the third guy. Maybe he just moved the bodies.”
    “You said the lab was still working on the dog hair. Can they even determine the breed of dog?” Malone asked.
    “It will take a little longer to get a match, but yes, they can. Of course, it may well be that the girls came in contact with the dog someplace else. No one’s saying a dog was on the scene. The dog could have belonged to the girls. The evidence just tells us that at some point, all three of these girls came in contact with the same dog, or with something that had dog hair on it.”
    “Three guys—one of whom may or may not have a dog—two of whom rape and murder these three girls, while another guy only handles the bodies, maybe only to move them?” Malone rubbed the back of his neck. “Anyone else think that’s odd?”
    “There is one other thing,” Annie told him. “All three of these girls had dirt under their fingernails and in the tiny creases of their feet. Dirt with the same composition. We’re checking to see if the dirt samples check out with the areas where the bodies were found, but I’m betting they don’t. We already know that the girls were killed elsewhere and dumped where they were found. There’s no evidence of struggle, nowhere near the amount of blood there’d have been if their throats had been cut right there at the drop site. So they must have been taken someplace, someplace where they were raped and murdered, then moved to these other areas where they were found.”
    “Someplace where they would be easily found. Posed, like the other girls, their shoes missing.” Sheridan noted.
    “That little detail is key,” Evan reminded them. “Since no one knows about the shoes . . .”
    The statement hung there between them.
    “Okay, let’s accept the fact that someone near to the investigation is involved in this.” Sheridan finally broke the silence. “From here on out, no information about these unidentified girls gets released to anyone, unless I personally approve it. Let’s keep a lid on all of it, from the fact that it’s a different killer to the very real possibility that someone in or close to law enforcement could be the killer.”
    “Honest to God, Art, don’t you think that’s a stretch? I can’t believe