Ballard looked up at her, wondering if that was an educated guess or an empathic feeling. She decided not to ask.

“How are you doing with the witness statements?” she asked instead.

Hatteras had been given the statements made by Laura Wilson’s professional and social acquaintances to determine if any were inconsistent or needed to be followed up. Such followups would be a long shot, since the murder occurred so long ago and the people interviewed might now have little recall of that time period.

“Nothing is popping up so far,” Hatteras said. “But I have more to go.”

“Okay,” Ballard said. “Let me know.”

“Did you order the evidence from property?”

“I did. I said so during the briefing. It should get here today or tomorrow. Why?”

“Can I see the property list?”

“Sure.”

Ballard easily found it in the murder book, unsnapped the rings, and handed the sheet over the privacy wall to Hatteras.

“What are you looking for?” Ballard asked.

Hatteras didn’t answer until she had scanned the list of property and evidence stored back in 2005.

“I just wanted to see what was there,” Hatteras said. “They kept her nightgown and the bedclothes.”

“Right,” Ballard said. “It would have been evidence presented in court if a case had ever been made.”

“Sometimes I can get a communication from this sort of evidence.”

“What do you mean by ‘a communication’?”

“I don’t know, like a feeling. A message.”

“Colleen, I don’t think we’re going to go down that path. I have to safeguard our investigations so that they can’t be successfully challenged in court. You understand? I think if we go the psychic route—and please don’t take this personally—we will run into credibility issues.”

“I know. I understand. It’s just a thought, something to consider if we hit a wall with the investigation.”

“Okay, I’ll keep it in mind. But you said sometimes you get a communication from evidence like this. When have you done that before?”

“Well, I haven’t officially done it before. But sometimes families have called me because they’ve heard about my gift. It was how I got into the whole genealogy field. From families wanting answers.”

Ballard just nodded. She wished Hatteras had mentioned this during the interview process.

“I’m going to get back on this now, Colleen,” she said.

“Sure,” Hatteras said. “Me, too.”