Free The White Carnation by Susanne Matthews

remember, this is all speculation. We’ve got nothing linking Mary to the Harvester’s victims.”
    “We will as soon as we get that report from NYPD. I feel it here.” Rob pointed to his gut. Every police officer learned to trust his instincts.
    “Assuming you’re right, maybe we’ve been going about this all wrong. I’d say we need to start looking at insemination clinics. I don’t know if the other women are gay, but we can look into it. This could be nothing more than an elaborate effort to cover up a hate crime. On the other hand, we could have a self-righteous looney on our hands. These women chose to have babies on their own, and some Neanderthal found out about it and decided they wouldn’t make good parents. That could be why he keeps the kids, ostensibly providing them with a better life. Maybe he’s some kind of religious fanatic.”
    “Makes sense considering the way they’re posed like angels. As far as deciding to have a baby on her own, Faye insists the last thing Mary would want is a kid.”
    Tom frowned. “So, she changed her mind. It happens.”
    Rob stood and paced behind his desk. “Apparently, not to Mary. I have another idea, but I really don’t like it. There’s something else you need to see. What if we can connect the cases?” He stopped, opened his bottom desk drawer, and slapped a photograph of Faye on the desk. He’d meant to get rid of it, like the caterer’s file, but somehow he’d never gotten around to it.
    Tom picked up the photo, and his face paled as he realized the implications of what Rob had said.
    “Jesus H. Christ, you’re serious about this, aren’t you? Get a grip. I knew seeing her would be hard on you, but have you lost your ever-loving mind? You can’t connect two cases without anything to link them together. How the hell can you spin this so that your ex fits the equation? Think about it.”
    “I’ve done nothing but think about it since I left the last victim. You didn’t see her, Tom. I did, and just after I’d left Faye. I almost lost it. Faye resembles all the victims. Don’t deny it. She’s also a single woman with a career who lives alone. And if that isn’t enough, she and Mary Green could be sisters, the same Mary Green who’s missing and pregnant and whose mother is dead. Mrs. Green called Faye to tell her something important. What did she know? Before she could spill her guts, someone shut her up permanently and made it look like a home invasion gone bad. Why? And who discovered her? Faye. It’s gone full circle.”
    “Rob, this is crazy. We solve cases by looking at the evidence we have, not by pulling it out of a hat like a damn magician. We theorize, but those theories are based on evidence, not coincidence and cockamamie ideas. What does Pierce think of this? I don’t like the guy, but he’s had a lot more experience with this type of sicko than we have.”
    “I haven’t mentioned it to him yet,” Rob said, hurt by his partner’s refusal to consider the idea. “Look, I’ve solved cases starting with less—we both have—and you know it.” Explaining his theory aloud fleshed it out, made it more plausible than he’d expected, so he was more than a little pissed that Tom, his partner, the man he’d trusted with his life, could dismiss it like some damn dog and pony show stunt. Sure, seeing the resemblance to Faye had rattled him, but damn it, this made as much sense as anything else he’d thought of—more, actually, and it all fit.
    “Will you at least concede the possibility that they could be connected? What if Lucy Green was killed so she couldn’t talk to Faye?”
    “Rob, listen to yourself. You’re talking conspiracies. For that to happen, someone would have to be watching Faye’s every move. The woman’s not stupid. She’d have noticed that kind of interest. Isn’t it enough we have a madman out there kidnapping pregnant women, killing them after they give birth, and stealing their babies? We also have an