Chapter 6
Natalie and the other members of her team arrived within minutes to the scene. Carl had been sliced from ear to ear, the note beside him indicating that he would never tell what he knew.
She noticed a yellow-ish colored powder on several items around the body. She had seen the same substance on the last crime scene. They hadn't had a chance to analyze it yet. She mentioned this to her supervisor and got his permission to go back to the lab to start that analysis. She had a feeling it would be important to the case.
John saw her packing up to leave and walked over to her. "Calling it a night?"
She looked up sharply until she saw him smiling. "Sorry. Yeah I think we might have found something of interest. Connecting this to the last murder scene. I'm gonna head back to the lab and see what I can find."
"Keep me posted?"
"But of course."
"Oh and Natalie?"
She looked back at him. "Yeah?"
"Be careful." Those weren't the words he wanted to say but they were at work and he didn't feel comfortable saying anything more. Instead he winked and smiled at her.
"You too Lieutenant." She looked around quickly to see if anyone was looking and when she was satisfied that they weren't, she blew him a quick kiss. Even though it was common knowledge that they were a couple, they had worked hard to keep that out of "office" situations.
John turned his attention back to the scene when Bo called his name. Natalie rushed back to the lab with the officer who was keeping tabs on her. At first he had followed in a separate car but the day before she had suggested they car pool. It was silly to waste money on two cars when she knew he was there.
Two hours later, Natalie had finally finished her analysis of the powder found at both crime scenes. They were identical and she had identified them as pollen spores from a rare flower normally found in the deep southern United States. These plants were not native to Pennsylvania so if they could find the source, it would help to pinpoint where Haver might be hiding.
Natalie logged onto the message board that many of the forensic techs there used to post pictures of the spores and ask for any help in locating a source in the Llanview, PA area. She had posted the information and was about to log off when an alert let her know that someone had already answered her posting.
As she was checking it, John walked in with Bo right behind him. She smiled at them. "Done at the scene?"
John nodded. "You find anything?"
"Yeah I'm hopefully about to figure out the last piece of the puzzle. How about we meet up in the task force room and I'll update you guys then. I gotta run it by the boss first."
As much as John wanted the answers, he knew not to push Natalie. This was her job and she had to do it her way.
Natalie turned back to the computer and read the latest posting. "I know of two places where this flower has been planted." As Natalie read the descriptions of the two places a large smile appeared on her face. One was west of them but the other was right outside of Llanview. She printed the address and ran upstairs to find Parker. She wanted to go right to the task force room but she had bypassed her boss once and had been reprimanded. She wasn't going to deal with that again.
After clearing it with Parker, she moved quickly into the task force room where John and Bo and the rest of the team were waiting for her. She smiled and handed John the printout.
He smiled back at her. "You're the best."
Blushing, she smiled back. "I have my moments."
Fighing the urge to throw his arms around her and kiss her breathless, he instead held up his hand for a high five and went about organizing the team for what they hoped would be a swift and uneventful capture.
