He didn’t say anything. But his face was surprisingly expressive for someone who took great pains to remain neutral and calm in everything he did. He was in pain—stunned. In disbelief.

“Go away.”

“You shouldn’t stay here tonight. You don’t want to do anything that you’ll regret.”

“Finish your job and leave,” he said.

Faith burst into the room. “How dare you question my husband without our lawyer present! Nothing he says is admissible.”

Lucy looked her in the eye. “Your husband isn’t a suspect in the murder of Victoria Mills.”

Jennifer stepped into the doorway. “Lucy, Ash found something.”

Lucy followed Jennifer to the kitchen.

Ash had every knife lined up on the expansive counter. Three were pulled aside.

“What is it?” Lucy asked.

Please be the murder weapon.

“These three knives match the dimensions of the wound. I sprayed them. Look.” He shined a UV light over them.

One had spots near the hilt that fluoresced.

“This doesn’t mean this was the knife that killed Victoria, but it has blood under the grip and I can take it apart and test it.”

“I love you, Ash,” Jennifer said.

“Shucks, thanks, but I’m seeing someone,” Ash teased.

“You are?” Lucy asked.

Ash blushed. “Melanie, the forensic anthropologist. You met her once, I think.”

Lucy smiled. “She’s both smart and cute.”

He blushed deeper, and then Jennifer said, “Take pictures, bag it, tag it, test it ASAP.”

“I can tell you as soon as I get to the lab whether the blood type matches Victoria Mills’s today, but it’ll take a couple days for a DNA comparison.”

Two officers came down the stairs. “No shoes or clothes test positive for blood,” one said.

“She got rid of them,” Lucy said, “but why keep the knife?”

“It’s a beautiful set,” Ash said. “Henckels, pricey but worth it.”

“I’ll bet you a hundred dollars that they were a wedding present,” Lucy said.

Jennifer stared at her.

“I’m a psychologist. It fits her. She wanted to kill her husband’s lover—the lover he was first engaged to—with something that had meaning to her, and to him. And she kept it so that every time he used the knife, she could remember how she killed the woman he loved more than her.”

“Wow,” Jennifer said. “You think?”

“Yeah, I think that’s exactly what she was thinking, and after spending ten minutes with her I think she consciously thought it. I wouldn’t be surprised if Victoria was the one who gave them the knife set for their wedding. Parker is calculating and sharp, but she’s extremely angry.”

“Angry criminals fuck up,” Jennifer said. “Should we arrest her?”

“It’s going to be Victoria’s blood, but we can’t prove it yet. I think we follow the plan. But,” Lucy added, “we do need to give them a receipt for everything we take.”