Ten apartment complexes Payne visited on the internet. Could be worse. They could have been handed a blank slate or a hundred places to check out.
Ashena turned to the next page. It was a map highlighting the apartments she had identified. “And, take a look at this. The apartments are all in close proximity to Karen Hunter’s home.”
“So, he was trying to find a place close to her. Why her home and not her studio on Capitol Hill?” Ivy asked. “Or the separate apartment she keeps when her ex is with the kids at her house?”
Court had forgotten about Hunter’s apartment. He’d call her later to find out its location. Maybe Payne had found a place in the same complex. “Stalkers like to be close to their prey? His work computer showed him looking at apartments before his mother died. After he got the card key, but before he actually used it. He was planning on moving out. Maybe that’s what he and his mother were arguing about the night she died.”
Ivy put her hand on Court’s forearm. “Do you think he intentionally picked a fight with his mother, hoping she’d pop?”
Court forced himself to not look at Ivy’s hand on him. Had she ever touched him before? It was a subtle sign she was getting used to working with him. “They argued right before she died. We’ll have to see what the sheriff’s report has to say about it.”
Ashena shook the papers. “Okay, back to this. Then you two can go off and make your conjectures, okay? His credit card was switched to a P.O. box in Redmond, before his mother died.”
Ashena did her job with a brisk efficiency and stuck to the facts at hand. Both shut down discussions that were about the “what ifs” of a case. Hitting all ten apartment complexes might take a while, but, if Ashena’s hunch was correct, they’d find him in the first six.
Ashena flipped through to the next page. “The credit report came up with one Visa card. This is a list of the purchases he’s made in the last thirty days. All from the same general area in Redmond, not far from any of those complexes.”
“No purchases in Seattle?” Ivy asked.
“Nope. But, hold on a second… I saved the best for last. He never got a Good To Go pass for his car. Driving from Issaquah to work wouldn’t need one. He does have an Orca card, though.” She flipped to another table. “Look at this. On the day of the murder, he gets on the 545 from the Bear Creek Park and Ride at 2:30 in the afternoon. The 545 is a Sound Transit bus, so he has to swipe his Orca again once he hits the Metro system. Don’t know where he gets off, but he switches to the 8 at Denny and Stewart at 3:30.”
Court grabbed the packet from her and tapped his finger at the next line. “And here he’s taking the 8 back downtown, swiped in at 7:46. Plenty of time for him to leave the building, be seen by Audrey Drummond and walk to the bus stop.” The next entry showed him getting on the return 545 at Denny and Stewart. A complete reverse route.
They had him in the vicinity on the day of the murder. Evidence, circumstantial as it was so far, was syncing up to make the whole story work. All they needed was to find Payne. Court guessed he was the type of man to confess when everything was laid out in front of him. The fact he’d left a hefty sample of his DNA would make this a slam dunk. They didn’t even need the DNA results in hand. All they would need to do is confront Payne with the fact they had it, and he’d be begging for a deal in no time. “You’re the best, Ashena.”
She looked over the rims of her glasses at him. “If you want to thank me, I’ll take a tall macchiato, extra hot.”
Court and Ivy took the information they’d gotten from Ashena and spread it all out on the table in the conference room. The morning briefing was an hour away.
He opened a map and marked out the apartments Payne had been researching. Ivy added all the bus routes and shops Payne had used.
Ivy tapped her finger on the closest three sets of apartments on a major arterial running North-South. “If he picked one of these, he could walk to the park-and-ride. They’re all pretty convenient to it.”
Ivy traced her finger up the arterial to a cross street near Hunter’s house. “Looks like the 221 he was using went this way. Goes right past her cul-de-sac. And, he uses the 232 Southbound off of Avondale. That would take him to the grocery store, the Panera, the Starbucks.” She tapped each of the places where his charge card had been used. It ranged further west into Redmond proper, but the bulk of his purchases were closer to the set of apartments off Avondale.
“And look at this.” He tapped the star marking Karen’s house. Then, he drew a line running almost directly south to three of the apartment complexes. “Any of these run into this park.” He tapped the small green square labeled Nike Park. He ran his finger along the trails going north out of the park. They ran in a direct path through the greenbelt behind Karen’s house.
“Any one of these three complexes leads toward that set of trails. At the most he’s half a mile away from her.”
Court studied the map. “Oh, man. He’s totally been stalking her.” It was one of the first things Karen had asked about when they showed her the key log. It had been there all along.
“You think he’ll make a move in this kind of weather?” Ivy asked.
“Anything is possible.”
“Now that we know a general area, I think we should get a BOLO out on him. His mother’s car is still registered under her name. Maybe we can find him through the license plate on that.”
“I think we have enough for a warrant,” Court said. “Get everyone in Redmond and unincorporated King County looking for him. At least one of these on the list is outside of Redmond. I’ll get dispatch to link it to his DMV photo as well.” His phone vibrated as he stood up. It was an Eastside number he didn’t recognize. “Hello?”
The voice was rough, sounding like a man who’d been smoking for his whole life. “Detective Pearson? This is Roy Swanson over at King County Sheriff’s Office. I got that report you asked about. I didn’t get your email address right. It bounced back to me.”
Court gave him the right email. “Can you give me the gist while you have me?”
“Not much to say. Barbara Payne died from a massive coronary. There wasn’t anything unusual about it. She was overweight, had clogged arteries, untreated diabetes. Perfect candidate for dropping dead. No bruises, nothing that would indicate any sort of physical confrontation. It was determined to be death by natural causes.”
Court thanked him and hung up the phone, feeling somewhat deflated.
“Maybe he didn’t kill his mother,” Ivy said after Court filled her in. “We know he’s good for Drummond. You can’t tell what brought on the heart attack. Neighbors said they fought loudly less than fifteen minutes before the ambulance arrived. Maybe he did it intentionally to get her upset enough she’d blow. Maybe it was an accident. Maybe he’s feeling some guilt over his mother dying on top of what happened with Drummond. Once we get him in a room we’ll let him think we’re charging him with the death of his mom as well as Drummond’s and see what he does.”
The whole picture was clear to him now, and it was not a pretty one. “Payne does the deed Wednesday, he finds out Drummond is dead from the news report on Friday or Saturday. He’s sending threatening emails by Sunday and leaving freaky notes on her door by Tuesday? Yeah … he’s going downhill fast. He feels guilty over his mom—accident or no. Then, he refuses to take responsibility for Drummond’s death. He’s blaming Karen for who he’s become.”
Ivy gathered the papers together into a pile and tapped them into order against the table. “Oedipus, meet Hamlet.”
60
People were beginning to flow in for the morning briefing, but it was quieter than usual and a lot of people were missing. Stensland waltzed in with a determined grimness and took center front.
“We got a triple over on Beacon Hill. Was called in an hour ago, Flanagan and Graham were up, so they’re on it. I want all extra personnel to head over there and give them support. There’s going to be a ton of witness statements to get.”
&nbs
p; He turned to Court and Ivy. “You two have anything interesting to say?”
Court stood up. “Sir, we’ve got significant leads on Payne. We’ve issued a BOLO with his mother’s plates and his DMV photo. We need a couple of officers to help go through this list of apartments he was looking at on his computer before he left his job.”
Stensland shook his head. “No can do, Pearson. You’re going to have to follow up the leads on your own. We need all available personnel to work this fresh triple homicide.”
It was only then that the mention of Beacon Hill hit him. “Sir, any news on who the victims are?”
“Three men, Pearson. You can relax on that one. Your little Chinese girlfriend is safe.”
After the briefing was over, Court and Ivy organized everything they would need. The sky had darkened to a near black and the rain was coming down in a relentless torrent, and the region was on high alert for a major windstorm.
“Let’s grab a bunch of food before we go,” Ivy said.
Water poured out of the sky in a steady deluge. Ivy grasped the steering wheel hard enough to whiten her knuckles as she fought against the pull of the high wind as they crossed the floating bridge. White-capped waves battered against the few remaining boats still on the lake.
Behind them, the city was hidden behind dark gray and black clouds. It was early in the afternoon, and there was nothing but roiling clouds ahead. The only thing he could think of that was worse than chasing down a killer in Redmond was chasing down a killer in Redmond during a flood without any power. Maybe they’d get lucky and the storm would die out soon. Better yet, they would find Payne curled up on his sofa with a book.
The first apartment on their list was a straight shot across the bridge to the end of the freeway. Court sat back in the seat of the car, glad Ivy was happy to always take the wheel. “This is the worst I’ve ever seen it. Nothing like this the last three years I’ve been here.”
Court’s phone buzzed right as they were crossing the mid-span. It was Madeline. He turned his upper body away from Ivy and leaned into the window for some semblance of privacy.
“Hey Court,” she said, her warm voice sending glimmers of happy desire through him in spite of where he was heading. “I was wondering if you might be free tonight.”
“Tonight?” Court snuck a glance at Ivy. She was shaking her head like she couldn’t believe he’d even answered the call. “Not likely. What am I going to miss?”
She laughed that harmonious laugh of hers, and a wave of longing for her hit him, surprising him by the intensity of it. It had only been a couple days since he’d seen her, and he wanted more.
“Oh, I scored a couple of tickets to a play at Seattle Rep. It’s not good for kids, but I thought you might enjoy it.”
Court was feeling optimistic about getting Payne sometime during the day, but it would be impossible. The hunt and eventual arrest and all its paperwork would take him late into the night, even if they caught him in the next hour or two. He’d be in Redmond until Payne was in custody, no matter how long it took. “Can’t. Working late tonight.”
“You’re not driving, are you?”
Was she worried about him? “Nope. Keeping it safe. Gotta go.”
“Girlfriend?” Ivy asked.
Court couldn’t call someone in her late thirties a girl, but woman friend was awkward and “significant other” was way too premature. He liked Madeline. Liked how it felt to hear her voice. Liked how it felt to be touched by her. To touch her. “Something like that.”
Ivy sucked in her lower lip. “Can I ask you a personal question?”
He ignored the little knot in his stomach. “Sure. Go ahead.”
“When you were married, you had a wife. And a kid. So, I’m trying to figure out how that worked. You know?”
“Not sure what you’re asking. Are you asking about how my wife and I had sex? Or are you asking how we had a child?”
Ivy kept her eyes on the road ahead. “Sorry. That was too personal. Forget I said anything.”
He’d been compensating for the noise of the storm, so his words had come out harsher sounding than he’d intended. She was right. It was a little too personal. He had no desire to share that level of detail with her. Not yet, and maybe not ever. They sat in silence the rest of the way.
They took the freeway to the end as it turned and onto Avondale Road, and headed north to the initial set of apartments on their list. At first neither of them got out. They both sat there watching the rain blowing at them at a near-ninety-degree angle, the car rocking gently in the wind.
“You think he’s going to make his move in this?”
“Maybe. But, we can’t wait for the sun to come back out to do our job.” Court tucked the picture of Payne into his jacket and zipped up his coat. He nodded his readiness and they bounded out of the car and raced to the leasing office.
It was a short visit. The woman who greeted them was in her late fifties, dressed in an Eighties-era power suit, and very sure of herself. She took one look at the photo of Payne and shook her head. “I’ve been checking out every new tenant for the last six months. I know everyone who lives here by name and on sight.”
Water ran in gushing rivers along the curbs, flooded the streets. Not wanting to kill the engine, Ivy straddled the highest part of the street behind other slow-moving cars, windshield wipers at full speed. A bright flash of lightning was followed by a booming crash and then an explosion. The stoplight they were approaching blinked out, and the buildings around them disappeared into darkness.
Wind and rain continued to whip at the car as they played the four-way-stop-light-stop-sign game with other drivers who had forgotten what to do when the lights go out. Ivy cursed as she proceeded across only to have a car turn left in front of her. The other driver flipped her off.
The second apartment complex was only a few blocks north of the first, but they had to turn left into the lot without a light. The slow-moving oncoming traffic was reluctant to let them across, but finally someone paused long enough for Ivy to turn into the driveway. The entire complex was out of power.
The woman behind the desk in the office was staring at the screen of her computer. Her face was scrunched up as she looked at it. She appeared to be unaware that the problem was the power, not the computer. She kept hitting the power button on her screen. Hadn’t she even noticed the lights were out, along with everything else electrical?
“Excuse me,” Court said, when she didn’t look up as they entered.
She startled and shook her head, glanced up at them but returned right back to the screen. “I don’t know what’s wrong with the computer.”
Her low voice and words slurred by a thickened tongue hit Court like a baseball bat. It was dark, so he hadn’t seen her features. That would have clued him in faster.
An older man bustled into the room. His pants were baggy around his waist and held up by suspenders. His button-down shirt was tucked into the trousers, but there was an overall thinness to him. His cheekbones stuck out and his eyes were large, sunken into his head almost. It was impossible to tell if he was a cancer survivor or anorexic. Either way, the bones on his wrists and arms were clearly outlined in his flesh.
He put his hands on the woman’s shoulders and squeezed them gently. “I’m sorry. Serena, honey. Daddy needs you to go play.”
She grinned broadly up at Court and Ivy as she got up and left the room.
“Sorry, folks. My daughter is visiting from her group home, and she doesn’t quite understand how everything works.” He grinned, showing wide yellowing teeth, and clapped his hands together. “Are you two looking for a place to rent?”
Ivy coughed and pulled out her badge. “No, sir. We’re looking for someone we think might live here.”
Court placed the drawing of Payne face up on the desk. “Do you know this man?”
He picked up the drawing and angled it toward the window to capture whatever light he could from outside. “Oh. Mr. Payne? Yes, I do. I
s everything okay?”
That was easy. Second stop and they’d found him and he’d rented under his legal name? They’d been lucky in their apartment lineup. It set Court on edge. The lights flickered back on, and the computer beeped and rebooted. The printer on the desk made loud churning sounds as it reset itself.
“We’re in the middle of an investigation, and we need to speak to him.” Ivy said.
“Oh, well, I don’t know if he’s home right at the moment. He does come and go a lot, but his car is parked in his space. Doesn’t mean a lot, though. He takes the bus most of the time. Or walks.”
The man walked them to the door and pointed to a building to the left. “That one there. Apartment 32C. You’re welcome to go over there.”
Court glanced at the business cards set in a small holder on the desk. “Perhaps you can come with us and bring the extra set of keys, Luke.”
The other man stopped short and held up his hands. “You can go knock on the door and see if he’s there. If he invites you in, that’s his business. Unless, of course, you have a warrant. If you have a warrant, I’ll be happy to grab the keys.”
Now that he knew the address, Court was able to add the information he needed and text it to the judge, who’d refused to issue warrants without the specifics. Ivy kept her eyes on the parking lot and Payne’s apartment door. She was shifting her weight back and forth at an increasing rate. “Let’s go see if he’s there while we wait for the warrant.”
“You nervous?” Court asked as they ran from the covered walkway near the leasing office to one on Payne’s unit.
She ignored him as they ran up the steps to the apartment.
Ivy pounded hard on the door. “Police, open the door.” There was no response.
Court looked in through the window near the front door and saw only a pitch-black interior. They’d have to wait.
Ivy leaned over the railing, looking in toward the office. “Old Luke is no longer watching. We could pick the lock and take a peek.”
Bound to Die Page 29