Relative Malice by Marla Madison, Madison Page B

had come back from the ME. The baby sitter’s second trip to the house revealed nothing missing other than what they’d known the night before; cash, credit cards, and a few pieces of jewelry were all that had been taken.
    Alverson strolled in as the meeting wound down, with FBI agent Gene Tarkowski on his heels. After her brief allusion to the FBI’s interest in the case at the morning gathering, Kendall felt it appropriate to give Tarkowski the floor. At least that was her plan until Alverson took over the meeting.
    “I’ve got something that might be important.” He read from a small leather notebook. “A high school girl told us about an email that went around about six months ago. It was advertising for virgins, offering them top dollar for their—and I quote—introduction to womanhood. She didn’t know how many of the girls in her class got the emails, but she thought quite a few had, including Sienna Glausson.”
    Lipske asked, “What’s that got to do with a whole damn family getting murdered?”
    “Maybe nothing, but it needs checking out even if it isn’t related.”
    Getting paid for your virginity? What next? Kendall wondered why this was the first they were hearing of it and if the email had been serious. Alverson was right; someone had to look into it even if it wasn’t related to the Glausson murders. And they’d have to question Sienna’s close friends and the boyfriend again.
    After Alverson’s updates, Kendall introduced Tarkowski.
    He took the podium. “All of you are probably aware that there have been two other home invasions similar to this one. The first one was in Green Bay a little more than a year ago, and the most recent, which you’ll probably remember, happened last March in Stillwater. The Green Bay incident didn’t get much press because there was a possible drug tie-in that made it look like the murders might have been related to a buy.”
    Discussions broke out around the room.
    Tarkowski held up his hands. “I know, I know—seems like it had to be one or the other—a home invasion or drug incident. But you know how it is. The simplest solution always seems like the best, especially with everyone short-staffed. In light of what’s happened here, we’re going to add manpower to both cases. I’ve given Detective Halsrud copies of the files on the other two incidents. We lifted some prints in Green Bay but got no hits from them, and we weren’t even sure they belonged to the doers. But we’ve got them for comparison if you get another print.”
    “Is there anything that proves it’s the same guys here?”
    “We’re pretty sure the other two invasions were done by the same unsubs, since the bullets matched in both cases. Here, there are similarities, but also some differences. We’re waiting for ballistics to confirm whether the same gun was used here. Detective Halsrud will share the details with you after she’s gone through the files. For now, I’d advise you to keep looking at the family, find out if there are any connections there.”
    “Were there kids in the other ones?”
    “Not in Green Bay. But in Stillwater, the family had a thirteen-year-old girl and a ten-year-old boy. None of them survived.”
    “Was the girl raped?”
    “No.”
    Kendall added, “We haven’t gotten much back from forensics yet. Since most of our evidence gets sent out, it’s going to take a while. They did find a partial print on the daughter’s wrist; we’re waiting to see if that turns out to be enough for a match. If not for an ID, possibly a match to one from Green Bay. And they didn’t find any semen, no hairs, nothing. Our killers were careful.”
    Alverson snorted. “Or just damn lucky.”
    Kendall arrived at the apartment after ten, bone tired. The painters had been in, the living room walls freshly painted a nondescript shade of off-white. She hadn’t gotten back to Morrie with a color preference. It hadn’t mattered since she didn’t plan on staying. But the