Bree tilted her head. “We haven’t found any connection between him and Julius.”
“We have an update from forensics.” Matt rolled a stiff shoulder. “The powder found on the duct tape across Julius’s mouth is chalk.”
“Chalk?” Todd asked. “Like blackboard chalk? Don’t tell me we have a schoolteacher killing people.”
“They don’t use chalk at Kayla’s school.” Bree interlaced her fingers and rotated her joined hands for a stretch. “It can trigger asthma and allergies.”
“Doesn’t matter. This isn’t the same kind.” Matt read from the report. “Blackboard chalk is made of calcium carbonate or calcium sulfate. This is magnesium carbonate, which is the kind used by weight lifters, gymnasts, rock climbers, et cetera.”
“Rock climbers?” Bree steepled her fingers and brought the tips to her chin, almost as if she were praying. “Farah is a climber.”
“Yes, she is.” Matt felt their case building, the pieces snapping into place like LEGOs.
“Are there different types of this chalk? Is there any way to differentiate one kind from another?” Bree asked.
“Maybe.” Matt skimmed the text. “Some brands are finer or coarser than others. There’s natural chalk. Other kinds have drying additives that claim to improve grip. Climbers have personal preferences. I don’t know if that would be significant, but if the type found on Julius’s body matched the type Farah used, it would certainly strengthen our case.”
“OK.” Bree dropped her hands to the table. “Do we have anything else?”
“We do,” Todd began. “Juarez successfully traced the receipt found near the rattlesnake’s empty aquarium to Farah Rock. She purchased a smoothie and power bowl at the Green Works one week ago. She used her credit card. Juarez was able to confirm the transaction on her credit card statement.”
“Send a deputy to the Green Works for a copy of the surveillance camera feed,” Bree said. “Farah and Julius haven’t dated in a month or so. This receipt was dated last week.”
“Then she dropped it at the scene?” Matt got up to pace.
Bree closed her eyes, clearly visualizing. “Say Farah killed Julius. She wants to plant the snake for some weird, unknown reason. She’d wait to bring the snake in until after he was dead. I can’t see wanting to set loose a venomous snake until the deed was done and she was on her way out the door.”
Matt rubbed his beard. “That would explain the hand warmers next to the tank. She could have used them to keep the snake’s habitat warm in the car.”
“OK,” Bree continued. “She set down the tank and piled the hand warmers around it. But she wouldn’t want to remove the lid with her hand. She’d be too close. The snake might bite her. She uses a stick or pole to push off the lid. She does, and the snake reacts. It hisses, rattles, startles her. She jumps backward and the receipt falls out of her pocket. With her adrenaline running, she might not have noticed, and she wouldn’t have wanted to stick around after the rattler was loose.”
Matt paced to the end of the table and back. “I can see that. She could plan everything except the snake’s reaction. That was the risky move, the addition that ruined her perfect crime.”
Bree’s eyes gleamed with exhaustion and fervor. “Let’s get a search warrant for her house. Do we have enough for an arrest warrant?”
Matt ticked the evidence off on his fingers. “She dated both men. She threatened Julius via text. She lied to us about her whereabouts, and she asked someone else to lie as well. Chalk was found on Julius’s body, and a receipt belonging to Farah was found at the scene near his body.”
Bree added, “She also stalked Spencer and threatened him in the presence of his store manager.”
Todd added, “Don’t forget the white SUV observed at both scenes by two different witnesses. Farah has access to her father’s white Highlander.”
“Let’s get the search warrant to start. We’ll bring Farah in for questioning while it’s being executed. We can hold her for forty-eight hours before filing charges. With the amount of evidence we have, her attorney won’t be able to do anything about it.” Bree folded her hands. “I want her off the street before she kills again.”
“I wouldn’t count the case as closed just yet.” Matt stood. “We haven’t caught her yet, and she’s proven to be extremely dangerous.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
It was after ten p.m. before the warrants were in place. At the end of Farah’s dark driveway, Bree and her team gathered in the darkness. She ignored a trickle of sweat that raced down her spine. Behind her sternum, nerves swarmed like angry hornets.
Bree drew her Glock. Wearing his body-armor vest over his shirt, Matt hefted an AR-15.
The forensics tech waited in his van.
With a wave of her hand, she headed up the gravel driveway. Matt and her deputies fell in behind her. They crept through the darkness. At the edge of the clearing, Bree assessed the situation. No sign of Farah’s blue Subaru, but the white Highlander was here. The windows in the cabin and barn were dark.
Was she home? If not, where was she, and what was she doing?
Bree’s dread gathered. She should have moved faster. She could have tried for a search warrant earlier. Two men had died in two days. This was day three. Farah could be out stalking another victim.
Bree’s team gathered behind her. They’d made a plan and were simply waiting for Bree’s signal.
She made a chopping motion with one hand. They split into assigned groups. She and Matt jogged to the front door. Two deputies flanked them for backup. Todd took two more deputies around the back of the cabin to cut off any escape attempt. Another trio of armed deputies headed for the barn / homemade climbing gym behind the cabin.
Bree took two breaths, getting her heart rate under control. She looked at Matt. Their eyes met. He gave her a slight nod.
She stood to the side—out of the direct line of fire—and knocked. “Sheriff!”
Matt leaned a shoulder against the doorframe on the opposite side. He tilted his ear toward the house. Bree did the same, listening hard. She heard nothing. No TV. No music. No voices. No approaching footsteps.
Inside, the cabin was dead quiet.
Bree knocked again, louder. “Ms. Rock, this is Sheriff Taggert. We have a warrant to search the premises.”
She knocked a third time. “Ms. Rock. Open the door or we’re going to break it in.”
Nothing.
Bree signaled for a deputy to come forward with the battering ram. She pulled her flashlight from her pocket. Matt switched on the light mounted on the AR-15. A deputy swung the ram, striking the door next to the dead bolt. The wood cracked and splintered. The door burst open and bounced off the wall with an earsplitting crack.
Bree was the first one through the entry. Her senses went on full alert, her heartbeat echoing in her head. Holding her light above and away from her head, she covered the left side of the space. Matt charged through the door behind her, his light sweeping over the right side of the cabin.
Light shone from the range hood over the stove. Embers glowed faintly in the window of the woodstove. The rest of the room was dark. They made a quick turn around the open space, checking any places large enough to conceal a human being.