“Fine. I won’t keep you.” He checked his watch. “I came by because I wanted to tell you in person.”

“Tell me what?”

“Vanessa’s case.”

Dread filled her stomach, but she made her face blank.

“The DNA came back,” he said.

An icy trickle of fear slid down her spine. “What DNA?”

“Some of the forensic evidence. We found a blood smear on her car door, as well as a large puddle of blood in the woods southeast of the vehicle.” He paused to look at her, and Leigh’s heart pounded against her rib cage. “The blood is Vanessa’s. It’s conclusive. We’re working the case as a homicide now.”

Leigh’s throat tightened.

“I’m sorry to have to tell you.” Brandon’s hand felt impossibly heavy on her shoulder, and the sympathy in his eyes made her want to sink through the floor.

“What—” She cleared her throat. “What does this mean, exactly?”

“The case is getting higher priority. And we’ve got another detective on it now.”

“I mean . . . has anyone notified the family of anything?”

“Antonio was just at Vanessa’s sister’s.”

Leigh’s heart sank. “So, he—”

“He gave her the update.” Brandon checked his watch again. “I’m on my way to meet him now, out at the quarry. We’ve lined up a cadaver dog from the sheriff’s office to search the woods.” He eased closer and frowned down at her. “You all right?”

“I’m—I just . . .” She was at a loss for words. Completely. Whatever right words there were seemed to hover somewhere over her head but completely out of reach.

“I’m sorry to bring you bad news on top of everything else.” He looked down at her with those bottomless brown eyes. “You sure you’re okay?”

The sympathy in his voice made her feel sick.

“Yeah,” she said.

He squeezed her shoulder. “I have to go. We’re losing daylight out there.” He reached for the door. “I’ll call you if there’s any more news tonight, all right?”

She nodded.

“Lock up behind me.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Monday crawled by in a series of leads that went nowhere.

The canine search in the woods had turned up nothing but a few drops of blood on some leaves. No body. No drag marks to the lake. No recently disturbed ground.