Allison arrived home after 5pm which meant Joe would have already picked up the girls. The family was in the kitchen making pizza for supper.
"We are having pizza tonight I see. I love it. I don't have to cook."
The girls seemed really excited about making pizza but took the time to give their mother a kiss. Bridget made sure both her flour covered hands held her mothers face tightly.
"I guess I should wash up before supper….especially those hand prints."
Bridget just laughed.
"How was your day today", shouted Joe as Allison walked to the bathroom.
"This case is really driving me nuts I know I'm missing something." She hadn't been in the bathroom long when ……………
Siobhan Mullany was looking back at her from the bathroom mirror. She was trying to speak to her again. Her lips were moving, no sound. What Allison would have given to be a lip reader! "What do you want me to do? I can't hear you."
Then she heard Joe come in. "Pizza's ready. What are you waiting for?"
She hadn't realized that she had been in the bathroom for 30 minutes. The food was cooked and on the table. She sat down with the family. She couldn't keep the bathroom incident out of her mind when she heard Ariel say…………….
"Why don't you just take her hand?"
Joe and the other girls just looked at her strangely.
"What are you talking about?" asked Joe.
Ariel looked puzzled as well. I don't really know. It just popped into my head.
Allison understood immediately what her daughter meant. Siobhan's wanted her to take her hand. Allison quickly left the table looking for her cell phone. She called detective Scanlon and asked if he could meet her at the morgue immediately. He agreed without questions.
After explaining to Joe she just needed to check on something she ran out the door.
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Scanlon was at the morgue when she arrived. He was speaking with the attendant. They both saw Allison come in and motioned to her to come to the last table.
"What is this all about, Allison" asked Scanlon.
"I need to touch the body. Can I do that?"
"Sure", said the attendant. "We have already examined the body completely, you can touch her".
The attendant pulled off the sheet and Allison took hold of Siobhan's right hand.
Siobhan was standing in the bookstore looking at a cookbook. Allison was standing on her right side. She could see the clerk working on her computer. Siobhan moved to the back of the store and Allison followed. Allison was checking out the situation when she felt another presence. The shooter…..
The woman entered and walked to the rear of the bookstore. The witness, Katrina Dugger, was in view for a moment but quickly moved to another set of shelves. The shooter lifted her hand pointing the handgun to Siobhan's chest and said; "She's mine, you can't have her now" and she pulled the trigger. Siobhan only had time to say, "Who are you?" and she fell dead.
The shooter quickly walked out. The store witnesses moved in on the body and looked hysterical.
Allison let go of her hand. Siobhan had given her enough information. She was not the intended victim of this crime. She was in the wrong place at the wrong time. The shooter killed the wrong person.
Allison left the morgue with Scanlon.
"I need to have both witnesses come back in. Can you arrange that?"
Scanlon did not ask too many questions. "I'll do that first thing in the morning. Go home and get some sleep."
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Home was quiet. Bridget and Marie were both in bed. Ariel was reading a book in the living room. She needed to speak with her mother. She was holding the sketch that had fallen out of Allison's purse.
"I found this picture on the floor. The person looks familiar. I think she could be Jill's mother, Amanda Mortenson."
Allison was floored. She needed to meet Amanda for herself and found out that Jill is picked up by her mother after school on Tuesday's and Thursday's. Tomorrow was Thursday and she would be there.
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