“Come on Frost.” Walking out, she headed to the SUV hoping
that her gut was wrong.

Chapter 9

Reid and Rossi arrived at the widow’s home.  It was 10:30, but the lights were still
on.  Ringing the doorbell, Rossi mulled
over the information that Dr Isles and Reid had provided.  Cause of death had been fairly easy to
ascertain according to Dr Isles, what had taken a bit longer had been
determining the strength of the perpetrator.
According to Dr Isles the amount of force was quite incredible to be
able to snap two necks so cleanly and one after the other.  The only one with tazer burns had been
Maldonado, so it appeared he had been incapacitated first.

Hearing someone coming to the door, he looked at Reid and
nodded.  He would do most of the talking
right now.

“Hello?” The door opened as far as the chain allowed. “Yes
can I help you?”

“Ma’am, I’m Agent Rossi and this is Dr. Reid with the
FBI.  We have a couple of questions to
ask you about Sarah Rodriguez.” Showing her his id, he waited while she undid
the chain.

Opening the door, Jennifer Ryan was a small woman in her
fifties, with light brown hair. “Why are you asking about Sarah?  She’s…she’s dead.” The shimmer in her eyes
showed unshed tears as she mentioned her dead wife’s name.

“We’re sorry for your loss ma’am but we need to ask you
about her ex-husband and her son.” Rossi explained

“Why?”

“Ma’am can we come in, we just want to ask a couple of
questions.”

Letting them in, “please come in sit down, tell me what you
need,” she invited them into the dining room and sat down at one end.

“Ma’am we understand that Mrs. Rodriguez was a victim of
domestic violence before she came to live with you.  Is there anything you can tell us about that
and her son’s involvement if any.”

Visibly shaking, she recounted the abuse, “That ***** he
almost killed her, beat her all over her body.
Sarah tried to reconcile with him for her son’s sake and got a beating
for it. He almost killed her” she said quietly. “I’m sorry, but he was a
hateful man.”

“Can you tell me what’s going on and why you’re asking me
about Sarah”

“Ma’am, are you aware of the women that have been found
murdered in the past ten days?”