She just wished she could be there.
“I’ve got a hit,” Nate said, drawing her attention. His voice was still stiff, but it had dropped, becoming a little more gentle. He must have overheard her conversation, knew that she was worried. “A rejected ex-boyfriend.”
“For which twin?” Laura asked, trying to push herself back into investigation mode. If this was the guy, they could be home sooner than they’d even expected.
“Both,” Nate said. “He’s connected to both of them on social media, but it looks like he met Ruby first through the dating app. They talked a lot around six months ago. Then it died down to only the occasional message, mostly one-sided from him. Looks like she was ignoring him there.”
“And Jade?” Laura asked. She turned toward him in her chair, wishing she felt comfortable enough to wheel herself over there and sit close to him while he showed her the messages.
“Well, that’s where it gets interesting,” Nate said. “I can’t see when he connected with both twins exactly on social media, but I went back to the time in their message history when he first agreed to meet with Ruby. About six months ago, she posted an image of herself in a slinky dress holding a glass of wine, with the location tagged as a restaurant. He commented saying that it had been a great night. They did it again, a few times, but the relationship seems to have petered out.”
“Any indication of why?” Laura asked.
Nate shook his head. “If they did have a specific reason for not seeing each other again, it must have been discussed in person. There’s no hint in the messages. But, like I said, he was connected with Jade as well. I went back in her history to the same time, and about a month after that first date with Ruby, he pops up commenting on her posts as well.”
“That’s extremely interesting,” Laura said, frowning. The phone was sitting in front of Nate—Ruby’s phone, now unlocked for them to use. “Have you been able to check her private messages?”
Nate tapped a few times on the screen and handed it to her without a word. Laura took it from the very tip of the phone to avoid his fingers, and studied what he had brought up. It was a message thread with what Laura assumed had to be the man in question—his username was PeteyBarton1996. Her eyes flicked over the most recent messages, all of which had gone unanswered by Ruby.
- Aren’t you going to talk to me now, just because I asked your sister out?
- I’ll give you another chance if you’re jealous.
- Come on, why do you have to be such a bitch? Just give it a try. I’m not dating Jade anyway. We can go out next Saturday.
- Don’t fucking ignore me. This is why people say you’re a cold bitch.
- You’re screening my calls too? Pick up or I’m coming around there to see you.
- You can’t hide from me forever. I’m going to find you. You better rethink and start talking. I’m not letting you get away with treating me like this.
- Fine, you fucking bitch! See if I give a fuck. You’ll get what’s coming to you. You’ll wish you had another chance with me. When you come begging I’m going to throw you out in the street like the stray bitch you are.
“Wow,” Laura said, raising an eyebrow. She almost expected another vision to come after reading how violent his words were, how clearly threatening. He was obviously a man with a lot of issues. If he could flip that quickly—across a matter of days—from flirting to rabid anger, he might have been capable of anything. Laura flipped to the call log, checking the dates—and as she had suspected, there were a number of missed calls from a man labeled as Pete in Ruby’s contact list. At some point, she had blocked the number, leaving an abrupt cutoff in the calls.
“It sounds like he asked Jade out, but she most likely turned him down,” Nate said. “Would you agree?”
Laura nodded, internally wincing at his too-polite words. He was acting like he did with inter-departmenta
l investigations. Checking that all parties were on the same page, to avoid any etiquette snafus and prevent anyone from feeling like he was taking over. But he didn’t need to do that with her. He must have known he didn’t need to.
“I guess we know who to talk to first,” she said, grabbing her jacket from the back of her chair. “Do we have an address for him?”
Nate nodded. “I would have looked it up, but thankfully he’s the kind of idiot who posted a selfie in front of his new home to brag about moving in.”
“Good,” Laura said, moving through the bullpen already and looking back over her shoulder. “Then maybe he’s also the kind of idiot who would kill someone and then leave evidence lying around.”
She made for the double doors at the end of the room, ready to sink her teeth into an interrogation—because at least with a murder suspect, she could throw some of her internal frustration into making him confess to it all.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Laura squinted at the sun, her back to the door. Behind her, Nate was still waiting patiently for the homeowner, their suspect, to answer his knock.
It was getting late in the morning, and the hubbub of people going to work for rush hour was long since over. The sky was clear, which was good as far as their prospects for schlepping around all day tracking people down. But the weather was still cool, and Laura couldn’t help but shiver. There was something about waiting for a potential murderer to open the door that would send one of those down your spine.
“I don’t think anyone’s home,” Nate said, calling her attention. She turned to regard the silent house, a small building set in a moderately nice suburb. No one’s windows were boarded over, but then again, no one’s lawns were tended to perfection either.
Laura nodded. “You could be right. Any idea where he works?” she asked, remaining out on the sidewalk. She’d chosen not to step up close when Nate knocked, not wanting to share the small step in front of the door with him. It was too cramped. Maybe a week ago she would have stood up there with him without a thought, except for keeping their bare skin from touching so she wouldn’t feel that dark aura rolling off him. But now it just looked too uncomfortable.