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detectives, Nolan
said, “Come on in. There’s someone I want you to meet. Detectives
Rosie Young and Vince Mendez, this is DEA Special Agent Brian
Vargas. Agent Vargas, these are the two homicide detectives
assigned to the Arredondo case.”
    The detectives and the DEA agent shook
hands, mumbled greetings to each other and followed the medical
examiner to the autopsy pit.
    Nolan noted the detectives’ perplexed
expressions. “I asked Agent Vargas to join us. I have a preliminary
tox screen from the blood I took at the scene and found an
interesting coincidence.”
    “ I’m all ears,” Rosie said.
“But I don’t understand why the DEA is here on a probable overdose
case, or even why you called us in. What’s so special about this
one?”
    “ I’ll explain that shortly.
Trust me for now that Agent Vargas should hear this also.” They
walked up to the table that held Jessica Arredondo. Becky pulled
back the sheet covering the body. “I found no trace to link the
delivery boy to the victim. That’s consistent with samples taken
from his clothing and fingernails by the forensic techs, no
transfer from her or the bed.”
    “ Boy? What boy?” Agent
Vargas asked.
    “ Jason Hanson,” Vince said.
“He was delivering Chinese take-out down the hall and noticed the
victim’s apartment door ajar. When he finished his delivery, he
walked back past and saw it was still open. He alerted the lobby
security guard as he was leaving the building.”
    “ Upscale apartment
building,” Vargas commented.
    “ One of the nice ones
popping up on the northern edge of the city—great views of the
foothills to the north. Anyway, the guard thought it best to hold
on to Jason and together they checked out the situation. They
eventually went to the bedroom and discovered the body.”
    Nolan picked up the dead woman’s right
hand. “I found skin under her nails. I tested that against the DNA
sample from the boy and there’s no match. I’d say he’s not
involved.”
    “ What do you think,
detectives?” Vargas asked.
    Vince shrugged. “That was one scared
kid but it could have been an act.”
    “ If he was acting, I’d give
him an award,” Rosie said.
    The DEA agent frowned. “So what’s the
story on the victim?”
    “ No ID in her purse and no
credit cards but over a hundred in cash. The guard said her name is
Jessica Arredondo, but pictures in the bedroom identify her as
‘Just Jess’.”
    “ You mean photos of her
with captions?” Vargas asked.
    “ More like promotional
photos, like she was promoting herself as being all someone needs,”
Vince said with a chuckle. Always ready with a wisecrack, Rosie had
learned quickly to look past that and beyond Vince’s lanky frame
and ill-fitting suits. The sports jacket he had on was too short
over his narrow torso. His wrists poked out from the ends of the
sleeves. True, the man couldn’t dress himself but he could solve
any case he put his mind to.
    Rosie explained. “There was a stack of
glamour photos on the dresser and that’s how she signed them. And
we found other . . . things too.”
    “ What other things?” Vargas
asked.
    “ Some interesting leather
things for starters. Sexy lingerie. Expensive clothes. That sort of
stuff.” Vince glanced at Vargas and gave a wry smile. “We also
found some curious toys.”
    Rosie glared at Vince before turning
back to Vargas. “And we found lots of other cash, thousands in a
drawer.”
    Vargas rubbed a hand across his
forehead. “A hooker?”
    Vince nodded. “And an expensive one at
that.”
    “ Regarding the victim,”
Nolan said after clearing her throat. “Based on liver temp and
degree of rigor, she’d been dead for about four hours.” Although
Nolan was in her late thirties, she looked ten years younger. It
was only her careful attention to detail that made people take
notice and respect her as a serious scientist.
    “ She died of a massive
intravenous overdose of heroin. I personally checked around the
crime