"If she was with Towson innocently the afternoon he was murdered, why didn't she come forward? What's she hiding?" Moran asked.

"I'm going to ask her. And I'm going to ask about this Tampa versus Georgia fiction." Goddard hesitated, knowing Moran would explode upon hearing the next statement. "To make matters worse, she showed up at the crime scene while CSI was there."

"What! She was there at the crime scene? That means all of our crime scene evidence is contaminated and could be thrown out. Damn, I'm dead." Moran covered his face with his hands. "Who let her in?"

"CSI," Goddard answered. "Not a good policy, but it happens with reporters. I wasn't there."

"Not an excuse, you weren't there! It's your investigation." Moran was still shaking his head in disbelief.

The chief said, "I hate to mention this, but if she's involved and had access to the crime scene, God knows what else she did up there to cover her tracks."

Moran was livid. "Oh, this is really cute. Linda is lying about her past, she might be the murderer, and she might have returned to the murder scene later in her capacity as a reporter, and the CSI might have held her purse while she tidied up the evidence." He stared at the chief expecting an explanation.

"What can I say? Incredibly sloppy crime scene security. I don't know what happened. I'll investigate."

Moran loosened his tie and lowered his head. "God, if any of this shit gets into the trial-."

Goddard said, "If it helps, her prints weren't found on anything in the bathroom. So I don't think his affair is with Linda."

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"Linda is gay," the chief said. "I don't think she'd be interested."

"Come on, Chief," Moran said, "if Linda wanted Towson dead her preference wouldn't matter."

"We're closer to the identity of Towson's lover," Goddard said. "A good chance it was Norma Martin."

"What makes you think that?" Moran asked.

"We've a DNA match with the items in the master bath."

"Remember, a match doesn't mean she was up there the day he was killed," the chief said, "and being his lover might have nothing whatever to do with his murder."

Moran said. "That agrees with what my secretary told me; she heard the affair was with Martin. Did her prints match?"

"We don't have her prints on file and no legal way to get them at this point. So we still have unidentified prints at the scene," Goddard said. "And the wine glasses found in the bedroom still have to be explained."

"So, you have wine glasses and an unmade bed. Some woman was up there Saturday," Moran said. "Maybe it was a threesome in that bed: Towson, Norma Martin and Linda Call, who isn't bad looking by the way. Would Towson go for that?"




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