Karen Rose - Count to Ten

"This is Mrs. Blennard. She owns the house. She knew Joe Dougherty's parents."

Solliday crouched down beside her. "The fire took out the addition only," he said loudly. "Somebody was smart enough to build with firewalls and sprinklers."

"My son-in-law is a builder. We built the addition for my mother. We were afraid she'd leave a burner on or something, so we installed extra sprinklers."

"It saved your home, ma'am," he said. "You can probably go back in a few days, but we'd like you to stay somewhere else tonight if you don't mind."

She gave them a sharp look. "My son-in-law's coming to get me. I'm not a foolish old woman. Somebody killed Joe Junior and Donna tonight. I'm not sticking around for him to come back for me. Although it would be nice to get my hearing aid."

"I'll send someone in for it, ma'am." Solliday gave the request to one of the officers, then motioned to Mia. "The sprinklers wreaked havoc from an evidence preservation standpoint, but the bodies weren't burned."

"That's what Michaels said. Can we go in?"

"Yeah. Ben's already inside and I'm waiting for Foster to get here with his camera."

"And I called Jack. He's sending a team." She followed him around the back and inside where Ben Trammell was setting up the field lights.

"The fire only burned the bedroom, Reed," Ben said. "And not that much. We could get lucky this time and get something to tie our guy to this scene."

"Let's hope," Solliday said, shining his flashlight up at the ceiling. "Nice installation. The sprinklers wouldn't have been noticeable to White." The field lights came on and everyone stared at the bed. Mr. Dougherty lay on his stomach looking sideways and Mrs. Dougherty lay facedown in the pillow. Blood soaked the bedding.

"He died immediately," Michaels said from behind them. "Blade went right through his heart. She's got defensive wounds." He lifted her gown to show a large darkening bruise on her lower back. "Probably his knee."

"Did you cut her nightgown?" Mia asked and Michaels shook his head.

"We found her that way. The fabric's sliced clean through."

"Do a rape kit, okay?"

He shot her a glance. "Doesn't appear to be any evidence of force. Detective. This lady bruised pretty easily and there are no bruises on her thighs. But we'll do the kit."

"Thanks. Can he take them?" she asked Solliday and he nodded. Frustrated and sad, she stood with Reed at the foot of the Doughertys' bed as Michaels took them away. Then shook herself back into focus. "He killed Mr. Dougherty first," she said.

"Because he would have tried to protect his wife."

"Right. He died painlessly. But Mrs. Dougherty… He lied her up, shoved a knee in her back and at some point flipped her over and cut away her nightgown."

'"But then it looks like he didn't rape her. I wonder why. 1 can't see him as merciful all the sudden."

"He could have gotten disrupted. Then he flipped her back over and slit her throat from behind. Spooked and run. Why?"

"I don't know. Why the Doughertys to begin with?"

"It doesn't make sense," she agreed. "The Doughertys didn't even know Penny Hill."

"And we've been looking for ties that didn't exist all week," he added grimly.

But more than the wasted hours reading files, Mia was thinking about Roger Burnette and the grief in his eyes when he'd confronted her about their lack of progress. "We need to tell Burnette. He needs to know he's not responsible for Caitlin's death."

"Do you want me to go with you?" he asked.

She thought about the drunken rage in Burnette's eyes. Having Solliday along probably would be smart. "If you would."

"When I'm done here we'll go."

"I'll call Joe Dougherty's father in Florida." She was headed for her car when she heard her name. It was one of the officers and he held a white cat.

"Detective? We found this cat outside and Mrs. Blennard says it belonged to the Doughertys. She can't take it with her to her daughter's house."

Mia stared at the cat. "What do want me to do with it?"

He shrugged. "I can call animal control or…" He smiled engagingly. "Want a cat?"

Mia took the cat with a sigh. The ID tags on his collar looked remarkably like her dogtags. "You're a lucky cat, Percy. You dodged a bullet twice this week." The cat blinked up at her. "Kind of like me," she murmured. "You can sit in my car for now."

Friday, December 1, 5:05 A.M

He felt her behind him before she spoke. "Anything?" Mia asked.

Reed shook his head. "No. He didn't use gas, because there isn't any. He didn't coat Donna Dougherty's chest with the solid accelerant like Penny and Brooke."

"He did use an egg with a fuse," Ben said from the corner where he was sifting through debris. "That's about the only thing he did that was the same."

"I notified Joe Senior and did some door-to-door."

Reed could see how much it cost her. "Did you ask him how Joe Junior and Donna were linked to Penny Hill?"

"I tried. After I told him about their deaths, he stopped talking." Her brows crunched. "I called the local sheriff and they found him passed out on the floor, still holding his phone. They rushed him to the hospital. They think he had a heart attack."

"This just keeps getting better," Reed said. "That poor man."

"I know. I wish I'd known he had a heart condition. I'll get next-of-kin information on Donna Dougherty from her office when it opens in a few hours. On the plus side, I did get a description of a suspicious looking car that sat on the street for about two hours tonight. A girl and her boyfriend were making out in the boyfriend's backseat and every time they came up for air they saw this car. Light blue Saturn."

"Did they get a plate number when they were coming up for air?" Jack asked wryly.

"Only half. Oh, and he let the cat out again."

"Where is Percy?" Reed asked.

"In my car. He's clean this time. If you're ready, I still want to go to Burnette's."

"Let's go." He waited for her to leave, then groaned. An Action News van sat on the side of the road, a well-groomed Holly Wheaton standing in the street. He felt Mia tense next to him. "Don't say anything," he murmured. "Please. No matter how much you want to rip off her face. Don't mention Kelsey or her story. Let me say 'no comment.' "

Holly walked up to them, a feral gleam in her eye. "This is the fourth fire the arsonist has set this week. What are the police doing to keep the people of Chicago safe?"

"No comment," Reed said and walked faster, but Holly was not to be deterred.

"The victims here were Mr. and Mrs. Joe Dougherty, the same couple whose house was destroyed last Saturday night."

Mia stopped and Reed wanted to protest. But he'd cut her off at the knees the last time the two dueled. This time he'd keep his mouth shut. As long as he could, anyway.

"We don't release the names of victims until their families have been notified." She looked directly at the camera very soberly. "It's our department policy and it's the humane thing to do. I hope you agree. Now, if you'll allow us to get back to our jobs."

"Detective Mitchell, Caitlin Burnette will be buried today. Will you be there?"

Mia kept walking and Reed started to draw an easy breath.

"Detective Mitchell, some have said the murder of Caitlin Burnette was related to her father's career. Do you think a child should be punished for the sins of her father?"

Mia paused, her body snapping rigid. Her head turned, her mouth opened to spit out what would no doubt have been a scathing retort on Burnette's behalf. Then Reed felt the abrupt change as her shoulders relaxed. She stepped up her pace. "Follow me," she said, her voice low so that only he could hear. "Holly might have something."

Friday, December 7, 5:40 a.m .