Dr. Abrams acknowledged Cole’s message, then looked up as Cole stormed in unannounced.

“What is this about?” Abrams inquired, exasperated.

Cole exploded.

“It’s about the survival of this program! I don’t know why she’s here, but if this audit does not go well, we lose everything. Everything! All our work, gone! And no amount of scriptures and Homer will save it.”

“Who is here? Calm down.”

“The woman! The journalist! Have you not seen the security alert? She was detained at the fence line out near the farmer’s property.”

“The farmer?”

Cole waved his hand dismissively, looking away.

“The other problem. The fragment.”

Abrams sat back in his chair, staring at Cole, who finally looked up and made eye contact.

“So what do you need me to do?” Abrams asked.

“Handle the preparations for the auditors while I deal with her. I’ll show her the dogs, the usual fluffing. For the auditors, I’ve forbidden the staff to mention anything about your spiritual silliness. I expect you to respect that.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You know what it means. I’ve tolerated your religious mania because it kept you engaged and didn’t seem to affect their performance, until now. But if there is a problem during the trials, I will hold you accountable.”

Abrams glared back in silence. Cole continued.

“This isn’t a Sunday school. I don’t care about their immortal souls, because they have none. I don’t understand why you are so obsessed with that.”

Cole turned his back and left.

Abrams took a deep breath, knowing his anger might have provoked an unwanted, incautious remark.

***

“So what do you have?” Sheriff Spaulding leaned toward the screen displaying the technician from the Idaho State Police Forensic Laboratory.

“Great samples, and solid signals. We’ve got several strong ones we’ve been able to rule out. Cyrus comes through, and we had him in the database from an assault charge related to one of his domestics from a while back. We also pick up faint signals from his wife and kids. I assume it’s his wife, based on the cross referencing with the kids. Those are pretty weak. We also get your deputy and the girl, they’re intermediate strength. The next strongest signal doesn’t match with any of them, and I think it’s your perp. Just from the kitchen, though. We don’t get it anywhere else in the house.”

“Just the kitchen? Nothing in the dining room?” Spaulding asked.

“Yep. All the blood in the dining room is Cyrus.”

Spaulding thought about the scene, the cord in the dining room, the chair, the blood on the carpet possible evidence of some kind of beating. The perp had to have been in the dining room. No signal there, but strong in the kitchen? It didn’t add up.

“So, did you run it?

“Just Idaho CODIS, standard 13 loci, and nothing. Whoever he is, we don’t have him.”

“Hmm. Or her.”

The tech grinned.

“No, it’s a him. You know how it goes. You want me to sequence him and check NDIS? I can start the paperwork here if you can get me the court order for sequencing. Take a couple of days. The warrant you got will still be good.”

“Any faster way to do it?”

“Privacy Law, Sherriff. I don’t want to lose my license. I can get a running start, but you know how the lawyers get when we sequence people. I need that paper.”

Spaulding rubbed his chin, then shook his head.

“Naw, let me think about it. Can you send me the data file, though? I’ll see if we have anything.”

“You shouldn’t, unless you are behind on your syncs.”

Spaulding smiled at him and shook his head.

“I don’t think so, but you never know. Hey, thanks for getting this done quickly.”

“My pleasure, Sheriff. Let me know if you need anything else.”

Spaulding disconnected, drumming his fingers on the desk. Damn Privacy Laws. The idea was to safeguard genetic information. He glanced at his screen and saw the file arrive in his inbox.

But it sure makes my job harder. He opened the file and skimmed the contents, familiar only in format, the specific genetic data all gibberish. He drummed his fingers again, staring off at his glory wall with all the certificates and awards. He pulled the phone over and keyed in a number. A smoky female voice answered.

“Forensics, Quantico. Jillian speaking.”

“Good morning, is Larry Taylor in?”

“One moment, please. May I tell him who’s calling?”

“Danny Spaulding.”

There was a pause, with faint hold music, then the voice returned.

“Detective Taylor is on another call, but he asked you to hold. Is that acceptable?”

“Yes, thank you.” The hold music returned, then the screen lit up with his friend Larry’s face.

“Hey, Danny, how you doin’?”

“Pretty good, Jerz, pretty good. Hey, that’s some sexy computer you’ve got answering your phone. Who’s Jillian?”

Taylor laughed.

“Thanks man. Don’t tell Cathy. Old girlfriend. They make you name them. It’s so ridiculous. If the old lady finds out, she’ll kill me. She only calls my portable, so no problems so far.”

“Good luck with that. Listen, I need a favor.”

Taylor laughed.

“Of course you do. It’s the only time you ever call me.”

“Bullshit. This one’s easy, though.”

“Uh-huh. We’ll see about that. So, what is it?”

“I’ve got an unknown I need you to run. We got behind and I’m in a bit of jam so I’d like to make a move on this. ISP forensics want all the Privacy Law paperwork to look beyond Idaho CODIS. I’d like something sooner. If we get a hit from your stuff, I’ll run it through channels, but I want to get a jump on things if it’s real.”

Taylor nodded.

“Okay, send it along, I can do it while we talk. Standard 13 loci?”

Spaulding nodded.

“Perp or victim?”

“We think it’s the perp.”

There was another pause.

“Nothing in NDIS for convicted offenders. You want me to check the other sets? Of course you do. Hold on.”

Spaulding waited while his friend ran the check. He saw Taylor shake his head.

“Nothing. No hits on arrestees, detainees, missing persons, or open cases.”

“Damn.”

“What’s the case?”

“Murder, local guy. It doesn’t add up. I’ve got the feeling we’re missing something.”

“What’s the autopsy show?”

Spaulding laughed.

“Don’t have it back yet. Backlog, though they’re never very fast even when there isn’t one.” Spaulding hesitated. “Any suggestions?”

Taylor nodded.

“I’ll send you the paperwork for an expedited review. I can broaden the search into some other areas, see what we turn up. Can you express ship specimens? We may be able to do some additional processing, but that will take a little longer.”

Spaulding grinned and nodded.

“Absolutely. I’ll get it right out to you.”

“I’ll be looking for it. Now you really owe me, Spaulding. Are you going to want it sequenced?”

“Uh, what do you think?”

Taylor shrugged.

“That does take us into a different level, and I’ll need paper for that. Even I can’t hit those data bases without generating an audit trail. But we can do it in parallel, as long as the paper hits my system at some point.”

“Go for it. I’ll get your paper.”

Chapter 39