Ties That Bind

Chapter 7

THEY HAD CALLED ON LAYTON'S RESIDENCE, but no one answered the door, and the purple Taurus registered to him wasn't in the driveway. Madison had blocked her number and tried his cell a few times, but it kept ringing to voice mail. Back at the station, they were exploring other avenues of finding him.

Terry fidgeted with a pen, snapping it against the top of the desk. "I think the guy's made a run for it."

"We know he doesn't handle rejection well." Madison kept the next thought to herself. Maybe Jeff knew Laura had moved on and got jealous and killed her over it.

"I tried contacting Southwest Welding Products' head office, but they closed a couple of hours ago. They're ahead of us by one."

Madison consulted the clock. It was six.

She shared her findings. "And all his background shows is a DUI charge back in '96. Nothing violent, no assaults—" Her cell rang. She answered. "Knight...okay...I'll be right there." She hung up. "I'm going to see Cyn for a sec."

"I'll come with you."

"No, I need you to stay here and keep digging. Find more about this guy, and see if you can find out anything online about this conference he's supposed to be attending. Call the local hotels, look for him."

*****

FOR ITS SIZE, Stiles was fortunate to warrant an onsite forensic lab. What had started as a test project by the government to cut expenses proved a success. Now they were blessed with full-time specialists in the areas of ballistics, DNA and fingerprint analysis, serology, and trace. Additionally, they were provided with the cutting-edge technology that enabled them to do the job.

Cynthia was standing by the fingerprint smoker when Madison opened the door. Her dark hair was tucked behind one ear, and her glasses perched on the tip of her nose. Maybe it was her cavalier approach to life that made her attractive to men?

Madison approached her. Or maybe it was the way her perfume smelled, sweet balanced with musky?

"I see you were able to ditch Terry."

"Did you have any doubt?"

She smiled. "Not really."

"You've got something for me?"

"I don't and that's the strange part. Not one print."

When Terry stepped outside from the crime scene to discipline the media, Madison convinced her friend the framed photo needed to be scrutinized. She knew if she stressed it in front of Terry, he would have given her a hard time about it. According to him, her thinking was too dependent on her feelings sometimes. The photo had seemed out of place, and now that they knew it wasn't Laura's confirmed boyfriend, it stood out more so. "Not one? How is that possible?"

"Smoked it and not even a partial."

"Whoever placed it there would have touched it." Madison scanned Cynthia's eyes.

"I don't know what else to say."

"No prints? So, excluding Laura's?"

"Nope. None, period."

Madison was silent for a while. "Someone would have to be extremely careful not to leave prints. Who does that..." Her words trailed off and took another direction, spilling out before she thought them through. "Maybe it was planted there?"

"Why?"

She didn't have the answer to that. "Am I the only one who finds one photo of the happy couple odd?"