She left the kitchen, went down the hall, and paused outside the bathroom door. In addition to the gallon bottles of Clorox and Simple Green on the sink, which were in Eve’s crime scene photos, she also saw smaller spray bottles of Clorox and Lysol on the floor. Eve took a picture of them with her phone, then went out to the garage.

Eve walked up to the Walmart bag beside the mop and bucket and crouched beside it to look inside. What was inside gave her a chill. The string had led somewhere.

Eve took several pictures of the Walmart bag and its contents and approached Noomis in the living room.

“Is Nan around?” she asked.

“She’s back at the lab,” Noomis said. “Is there something I can do for you?”

“There’s a Walmart bag on the floor of the garage. I need you to process it as evidence,” she said—then another thought occurred to her. “Are you checking that pee sample on the hill for DNA?”

“Not yet,” he said. “The boss didn’t think it was a priority.”

“It is.”

“I’ll tell the boss.”

“Thanks.”

Eve left the house and stopped at the CSU van to remove her gloves and booties and drop them in the disposal bag. While she did that, she warily eyed the three TV reporters, including Darrow, who were waiting for her with their cameramen. There was probably more makeup in Darrow’s purse than Eve had bought in the last five years. Eve wasn’t wearing anything on her face but a confident expression. At least her clothes were clean. She took a deep breath and went over to meet them with all the enthusiasm of a woman facing a root canal.

“Detective Ronin,” Darrow said. “Are there any new developments in the search for Tanya Kenworth and her two children?”

“Nothing that I can share at this time,” Eve said.

Another reporter spoke up, an old-timer who had been on TV since Eve was a kid, but she couldn’t put a name to his face. “There’s a sheriff’s department K-9 search team preparing to go into Topanga State Park. Are they looking for bodies?”

“They are looking for any trail that might have been left by Tanya, her kids, or whoever attacked them.”

Darrow talked over another reporter who tried to squeeze in a question. “Jared Rawlins, Tanya’s boyfriend, told us in an exclusive interview that you described the crime scene as a slaughterhouse. So is this a missing persons case or a homicide investigation?”

Eve didn’t say that, Duncan did, and only to get a reaction out of Jared, but it probably wasn’t the smartest decision. She wondered what else Jared had told Darrow and if any of it contradicted what he told them.

“We are searching for a family that disappeared under violent circumstances and we are deeply concerned about their safety. That’s all I can say right now.”

Darrow threw out one more question: “You worked in the county jail. Do you have a badge-and-skull tattoo?”