Nan sighed. “Ninety percent of the backyard is hardscape and what dirt there is hasn’t been disturbed. So I can safely say nothing was buried. We also thoroughly checked the dumpster and found nothing bloody or suspicious. I even had Noomis check the contents of the porta-potty. All he found was human waste.”
Duncan looked at Eve. “You’re going to owe him a terrific Christmas gift.”
Nan waved off Duncan’s comment. “It’s not necessary. Noomis specializes in urine and feces. He was in his comfort zone.”
“No wonder he’s single,” Duncan said.
Eve was so frustrated, she could cry. She knew Anna McCaig was guilty. The evidence had to be here—they just weren’t seeing it.
“Do you have any potential leads at all?”
“Well, there were rags in the dryer and it’s possible she used them to clean the bathroom. We’ll take them back for analysis,” Nan said. “We’re also taking all the sharp objects that could have been used to remove the baby, like kitchen knives, scissors, drywall cutters, garden shears, and retractable blade utility knives, back for testing.”
“She didn’t find that baby in the dumpster,” Eve stated.
“I know how you feel, Eve. I want to see justice for that baby and his mother, too,” Nan said. “But we haven’t found any evidence consistent with a fetal abduction or murder occurring in this house.”
“I understand,” Eve said. “Thank you, Nan.”
Nan walked away and started gathering her crew. They were finished here.
Duncan opened the box of Ding Dongs, peered inside, and took one of the packages out. “No sharp objects hidden in here. It would have been remiss for me not to check.”
“You don’t want to be remiss.” Eve noticed a grocery store receipt flutter to the floor and figured that it must have been under the box of Ding Dongs. She picked it up.
The receipt was a scroll of junk food, sugary fruit juices, and soft drinks, with the exception of some bananas and a few miscellaneous things, like paper plates, air freshener, baking soda, paper towels, and laundry detergent. Eve put the receipt on the dining room table, the wood so polished she could almost see her reflection in the finish.
“But now that I’ve touched this Ding Dong,” Duncan said, “I can’t really put it back.”
“It might be contaminated.”
“Exactly, it’d be a health risk, so I will confiscate it out of an abundance of caution,” Duncan said and began to unwrap the Ding Dong. “Maybe we’ve approached this case from the wrong direction.”
“What other direction is there?”
He took a bite out of the chocolate-coated cake. “Let’s find the birth mother.”
“You mean her body.”
“I mean find out who she was and how her path crossed with Anna McCaig’s.” Duncan took another bite. “That might lead us to the scene of the crime.”
Eve saw the last CSU tech leave. “Okay, but I still think it’s right here.”
“Duly noted for the record.”
“I’d like to put a deputy on the house. I don’t want to release the scene, and invalidate the warrant, until the last possible moment.”
If they left, it would mean the search was completed, and they would have to get a second warrant to go through the property again, and Eve knew it would be very hard to convince a judge to give them a second bite without new evidence to justify it. By stationing an officer there, it technically kept the search active and the warrant valid.
Duncan finished the Ding Dong and looked at the box, clearly contemplating a second one. “I think I can talk the captain into that.”
Eve stepped between him and the Ding Dongs. “We need to know if there are any pregnant women in this community and confirm they are still alive.”
“Let’s talk to the Oracle,” he said.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Eve drove them down to the gate in Duncan’s plain-wrap Explorer. They got out of the car and walked to the guardhouse to talk with Ruthie, who stood up and opened the door to greet them.
“Lots of excitement up at the McCaig house today . . .” Ruthie let her voice trail off, an invitation for them to fill in the blanks.
Duncan held up his hands. “I’m afraid we can’t share any details, Ruthie. We’re going to need all the security camera footage and visitor logs from yesterday.”
“I don’t have the authority to give them to you. You’ll have to talk to the HOA about that. They can give you a link to watch it online.”