Free Blood Secrets by Jeannie Holmes Page B

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    “Alexandra,” he whispered her name, reveling in the memory of their encounter.
    It was the briefest of caresses, but for a moment her warmth had flowed through his body and his through hers. He’d pressed forward, excited that she had come to him in such an intimate way.
    She’d been shy, shrinking from his advances.
    And then she was gone. Ripped away by
him
.
    Rage over his denial burned through Peter’s body. The Dark One continued to stand between them, an obstacle to be eliminated. It wouldn’t be easy. The Dark One was strong, far stronger than he.
    But Peter was smarter. He knew the Dark One’s weakness and he would exploit it. He would crush the Dark One’s spirit, break him, and destroy him.
    And then Alexandra would finally be his.

six
    IN THE CONVERTED RECREATIONAL VEHICLE THAT WAS one of the FBPI’s three mobile forensics labs, Alex sat at a small table in the rear section that served as a tiny lounge and sleeping area. Other sections of the forty-foot RV housed an on-site command center with satellite links to the Bureau’s main lab in Louisville. Separate areas for processing firearms, narcotics, fingerprints, audio/visual, and questionable documents completed the mobile lab’s complement of workstations.
    Alex brushed a lock of hair behind her ear and glanced at the stacks of boxes crammed into the tiny space. Plastic bins containing bags of items from Mindy Johnson’s car and dorm room surrounded her while she sifted through reports, transcripts of conversations, and evidence documentation. She’d been poring over the information for hours, trying to absorb as much of it as possible, but the memory of her early morning vision continued to intrude upon her thoughts.
    She focused on the preliminary report of the bloodstains found on Mindy’s passenger seat, but her gaze drifted to the large brown paper bag containing the doll. Forcing herself to look away, she sighed and used her hand to both prop up her head and shield the bag from view.
    The report showed the blood was definitely human. The type matched that on file for Mindy with the Central Donor Registry, but it would take much longerto run a complete profile comparison. For now, they were working on the assumption that the blood was Mindy’s.
    She skimmed through the list of items taken from the girl’s dorm room: syringes, flexible latex tubing, alcohol swabs, an open pack of condoms, a date book, and a journal. Other items were listed as well, but the date book and journal piqued her curiosity. She rummaged through the plastic bins spread over the table to locate them. She found the date book but the journal wasn’t there.
    Alex glanced around the lab and spotted Freddy hunched over a microscope. “Hey, Freddy.”
    “Yeah, boss?” he asked, his eyes still trained on whatever he had under the scope.
    “Any idea where this journal, Item Fourteen, is?”
    He looked up and frowned. “It’s not in the bins?”
    “No.”
    “It should be there.” He joined her, pulling off his latex gloves and tossing them into a large trash can. He poked around in the same boxes she’d searched, and scratched his head. “No one’s touched these since yesterday except to add what we picked up from the car this morning.”
    “It’s not here.”
    “Reyes,” Freddy called to his lab partner. “Do you have Item Fourteen?”
    “Nope,” Reyes responded without taking his eyes off the computer screen in front of him.
    “Could someone have checked it out?” Alex asked.
    “If they did, they would’ve signed it out in the catalog.” He pulled out a small binder and flipped through the pages, shaking his head. “No one signed for it. Maybe Varik took it with him and forgot to sign.”
    Alex shook her head. “Why would he take evidence with him on a coffee run?”
    “Good point.” Freddy sighed. “Well, it has to be here somewhere.” He began searching through more bins.
    She glanced at her watch as she stood up to help. Varik had