2:30 a.m. The Cooper House
Amanda's eyes popped open, and her body tensed. She wasn't sure what had woken her at first, until she heard Carisi's phone go off again.
Her body tensing is what woke him, but when he heard his phone he grabbed it off the nightstand.
"It's Warner". He told Rollins and answered it.
"Melinda, what is it"? Carisi knew she wouldn't call unless they had a break of some kind. Amanda turned the light on as he answered. Both of them rubbing their eyes at the bright light. The only light they'd had up until then was the fire.
"The techs just finished analyzing what they'd found in detective Tamin's room. I wasn't sure at first, but they put a rush on the DNA, and 2 hairs found under the bed in the motel...they were from our dog".
"You mean the same breed, or that dog"?
"The DNA is a match, the hairs came from this dog. Now I can't say that the dog didn't stay in that room some other time. There's no way to determine when they dropped off him. But it's also possible it was transferred from the person who was in that room, especially considering we only found two hairs".
"What is it"? Rollins asked him, so Carisi put it on speaker phone.
"Dr. Warner, I've got you on speaker, Rollins is here too. Did you find anything else besides the DNA linking our dog to the motel room"? Rollins mouth dropped open, that dog had been in the room?
"I'm still working on identifying your skeleton, but the age, and other identifying marks indicate that she is the missing girl from Liberty 2 years ago. We're waiting on the dental confirmation".
"Do you know the cause of death"? Amanda asked.
"Not yet, with skeletal remains it's a lot harder. I've got a forensic anthropologist coming in a few hours, hopefully we'll know more then".
"Anything else from Kat's room"? Carisi asked her
"The substance on the floor wasn't blood, looked like it was a wine stain, and had been there a while. I think he was wearing gloves because the only prints we found on the door were detective Tamin's. In the room we got several, but again, there's no telling when they were left there". She paused, and they could hear her yawn.
"You should try to catch a few hours sleep Dr. Warner". Amanda told her.
"Yea. There's a cot in the break room here. I'll call you the second I know anything else. I did call Liv and give her the same info too".
They hung up and as Carisi looked at his phone, he remembered the calls from Jenn earlier today.
"Shit'! He pulled up his voicemail to listen. "I forgot she said she had something about the dog". He held the phone to his ear and listened through a few messages.
Amanda watched his face pale as he listened.
"What is it"? She asked.
Carisi put the phone back on speaker so she could hear the message.
Jenn was telling him she'd gotten a list of breeders who specialized in black German Shepherds. It was a short list, and there was actually a place in New York. A town called Liberty. She had gotten in touch with them and asked for a list of everyone they'd sold puppies to in the past few years. She was emailing that list to Carisi.
"It's a place in Liberty"?? Amanda jumped up, grabbing the change of clothes Carisi had gotten her, and her phone so she could text Olivia, the Sherrif, everyone.
Meanwhile Carisi pulled up his email to go over the list of names, just to see if any jumped out. Officer Rapone had sent the list of names, and where they were from. Some people buying dogs from all over the country. He was scanning through the pages when one name jumped off the page. Jeff Thomas.
He stood up slowly, looking at his phone. Goosebumps raised all over his arms. "Rollins", was all he could get out at first. Then he held the phone up. "It's Deputy Thomas".
"What"??
He showed her the page on his phone. Next to the name Jeff Thomas, Jenn had written a note 'his dog was hit by a car recently and let them know he was looking for another one'.
They looked at each other for a second before scrambling to get dressed. Rollins called the sherrif's phone number, even though he was down at the other end of the house, this would be faster.