Earl said nothing. His throat shifted as he swallowed. Matt watched his eyes. Surprise shifted to something else. Shock? Sadness? Fear? The emotion disappeared before Matt could identify it.
After a few minutes, Earl asked, “You’re sure?”
“Yes, sir,” Bree said. “The medical examiner positively identified Sara. Her fingerprints were on record.”
Earl squinted. His head turned in slow, small shakes of disbelief. “I won’t believe it until I see her with my own eyes.”
“She is at the county medical examiner’s office.” Bree was treating Earl as gently as she would any other grieving family member, regardless of his difficult nature or criminal record. “You’ll need to select a funeral home. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather have this discussion inside?”
Earl didn’t budge from the doorway, and his hands stayed firmly tucked under his arms. “How did she die?”
“The medical examiner has not made that determination yet.” Bree danced around the word autopsy. “I will keep you informed.”
“She was killed, wasn’t she?” Earl’s small eyes went smaller, angrier, and his weight shifted forward. His body reminded Matt of a snake coiling to strike.
Matt’s body tensed, ready to react.
“I should have that information for you tomorrow,” Bree said.
Bree and Earl stared at each other for a couple of long seconds.
Matt jumped in. “Do you know Zachary Baker?”
“The nerd?” Earl seemed taken off guard by the question. “Yeah.”
“Had Sara seen him recently?” Matt asked.
“How the fuck would I know?” Earl’s face flushed. He jabbed a forefinger a few inches in front of Matt’s face. The other hand went to his hip. No red mark on either hand. “I don’t need to answer your questions.”
Matt ignored the finger in his face. “We’re trying to find out what happened to Sara.”
“Yeah. Right.” Earl stepped back and prepared to shut the door.
“Mr. Harper,” Bree called. “I need to ask you some questions about your daughter.”
“You know what, Sheriff? Fuck you. I told you earlier today that I didn’t know where she was at or what she was doing. That hasn’t changed. Come back when you actually know something. And if you want me to answer questions, call ahead so I can have my lawyer present.”
“I’d like to see Sara’s old room,” Bree said. “And I’d like to talk to Rowdy.”
“Get a warrant or fuck off.” Earl stepped back and slammed the door in their faces.
“That went well,” Matt said.
Bree backed off the step. “I notified him. There’s nothing else I can do. He is under no obligation to answer questions. I have no right to enter his home without a warrant, and I have no probable cause to get one.”
“We need something to tie him to the burglaries or the murders.”
“But what?” Bree asked. “He has a record. His fingerprints are on file. But it was Sara’s fingerprints on the jewelry, not her father’s. He didn’t have a mark on either of his hands. He doesn’t drive a Dodge Charger. We have nothing on Earl Harper. Maybe we’re way off base. He seemed shocked by the news that Sara was dead.”
“He did.” Had Matt been wrong about him? Just because the man was an ass didn’t mean he was guilty.
Or at least not guilty of killing his daughter.
Bree checked the time. “We’ve fulfilled our obligation here. Let’s catch up with Todd and Stella. Maybe one of them had some luck. Todd was working on searches, and forensics should have something for us tonight.”
They returned to the sheriff’s station. Marge greeted them in Bree’s office.
“Thank you for staying.” Bree hung up her coat.
“You’re welcome. Detective Dane just arrived. I put her in the conference room. The sandwiches are here as well. See that you both eat something.” Marge gave Bree and Matt each a hard stare.
“Yes, ma’am,” Matt said.
Marge sniffed. “I sent food to Alyssa and the deputy on duty at her motel. I also fed Dustin. He is still in interview room one. He seems content to stay there.”
“I don’t know what I’d do without you, Marge.” Bree rubbed the back of her neck.
“Me either,” Marge said on her way out of the room.
Bree collected her notes and files and led Matt from her office. In the main bullpen, Todd looked up from his computer. Bree gestured, and he got up and followed them to the conference room, bringing his laptop with him.
Inside, Stella was taking off her coat. She looked wrecked. Dark semicircles hovered under her eyes, and the rims of her eyelids were red, as if she’d been crying.
Bree sat at the head of the table. Matt dropped into a chair. He grabbed a sandwich and took a bite.
Todd set down his phone and leaned over the platter. “What kind is that?”
“I don’t know.” Matt looked down. He barely tasted the food. “Looks like ham and cheese.” He took another bite.
Bree didn’t look hungry either, but she also took a sandwich and ate mechanically.
Stella eased into a chair and grabbed a water bottle. “Your sister was very helpful. Thank you for sending her.”
“Cady is the best.” Matt pushed the plate of sandwiches toward her. “How was Mrs. Whitney?”
Without taking any food, Stella pushed the platter back to Matt. “Not good. Not good at all.” Stella pressed the cold bottle to her forehead. “Your sister said she would make sure she wasn’t alone.”
“Not much else anyone can do.” Matt didn’t know how Mrs. Whitney would survive her grandson’s death.
“Except find the person responsible,” Bree said.
“Yeah. Let’s do that.” Todd flattened a palm on the table.
Bree brought Stella up to speed. “Earl Harper wasn’t quite as reactive when we notified him of his daughter’s death. I’m not sure how he took it. He’s a cold one. Dustin Lock is in interview room one. Christian Crone is missing. We’re still waiting to hear from the ME.”
“Stella, have you made any progress on the burglaries?” Matt asked.
Stella shook her head. “No. I’ve had an officer working the contractor angle since we spoke last. I now have a list of contractors who worked in each of the burglarized homes three months before the burglary. I see one or two companies repeated, but none are listed more than twice.” She closed her eyes for a few seconds. When she opened them, she looked angry. “Please tell me you have suspects?”
“Sara Harper’s father and brother seemed like the most likely two. Neither one of them drives a Dodge Charger. Earl didn’t have a mark on his hands, but Rowdy was wearing gloves.”
“I could see Earl letting Rowdy do the dirty work,” Matt said.
Bree lifted a palm. “Let’s prepare a photo array for Alyssa. When we’re finished here, I’ll take it to her and see if she points out Earl or Rowdy.”
Todd ducked out of the room and assigned a deputy to pull mug shots of Earl, Rowdy, and a few other men who met the same basic physical description. He returned in a couple of minutes.
Bree set her sandwich on a napkin. She’d barely eaten any of it. “If Alyssa recognizes Earl or Rowdy, we’ll get a search warrant for their property. Simply bringing them in for an interview will be pointless. Earl wouldn’t even let us into the house to do the death notification. He won’t say a word if we bring him here.”
“Sounds like he has something to hide.” Stella took a long drink of water.
“But who knows if it has anything to do with the case.” Bree let off a sigh of frustration. “We need to stop this killer, and we need physical evidence to do that.”
Todd returned. “I have an email from forensics. Evidence logs from the crime scenes.”
“Finally.” Matt massaged his injured hand. Standing outside at Earl’s house in the cold had set off an ache in the scar tissue. “This killer is picking off people faster than forensics can process the evidence.”
Bree nodded. “If we get another crime scene, we might have to call the state lab for help.”
Todd shook his head. “The state lab is so backed up, we won’t get results for months. At least you can pressure the county lab.”
“Other suspects?” Stella asked.
“Phil Dunlop?” Todd suggested.
“We have nothing on him except an ACE bandage on his hand.” Bree tapped her pen. “We’re all in agreement that Christian was most likely kidnapped?”
Everyone agreed with a chorus of “Yes.”
Todd’s phone rang, and he answered the call. He set down his phone in a few minutes. “The deputies on campus verified Dustin’s attendance at his classes today, and his meal plan card was swiped at the student center. Christian did not make it to his four thirty class. Christian’s meal card was used in the student center at three o’clock. So, he was likely taken between three and four thirty this afternoon. Dustin was in his own class at that time.”
“He’s clear,” Bree said.
“Yes,” Todd continued. “Deputies showed Christian’s picture around campus. They walked the route between the cafeteria and his classroom. They are currently with campus security looking for surveillance video footage along the route Christian would have walked to get to class.”
“OK. Tell them to keep trying.” Bree pushed her hair off her face. “Sara had an ex-boyfriend, Zachary Baker. He lives near Earl and recently had words with him.” Bree wrote down the name and address. “He has two prior misdemeanors for pot possession. Other than that, he’s clean. He drives a Toyota Camry. Have a deputy track him down and bring him in for questioning.”
“Motive?” Todd asked.
“Jealousy,” Bree said. “When we talked to him, it seemed he still had feelings for Sara, but she wasn’t interested in him. He was also angry at Earl. Maybe killing Sara was his way of hurting him.”
Todd took the paper. “We’re running out of deputies.”
“Call more in,” Bree said. “I’ll approve the overtime and figure out how to pay for it later.”
If they saved Christian, Matt had no doubt the county board of supervisors would find additional money for the sheriff’s department. If Christian died, Bree’s decisions would be held against her. As a new sheriff, she had little established political goodwill to leverage. But she would never allow potential political ramifications to weigh on her decisions. Her refusal to play politics might come back to bite her in the ass.
Marge walked into the room, a thick bound book in her arms. “Here’s a Grey’s Hollow High School yearbook for 2016. Who wants it?”
Stella raised her hand. “Pass it here. If Sara was a cheerleader, she should be in a lot of photos.” She set it down, then took a folder from her briefcase. “Here’s a list of utility and service contractors that worked in the houses that were burglarized. This list needs fresh eyes.”
“I’ll take it.” Matt reached for the folder.
“Who wants to review the evidence logs from the crime scenes?” Bree asked.
“I’ll do it,” Todd said. “I’m also going to call the cell phone company about Sara’s phone records again.”
“Where’s that list of Dodge Chargers in the area?” Bree asked.
“Got it.” Todd passed a list to Bree. “I filtered it by males, ages eighteen to forty.”
“There are still dozens of names on this list.” Bree’s open laptop dinged with an incoming email. “Hallelujah. The trace evidence reports from Monday’s crime scenes.”
Matt scanned the table full of reports. There must be a clue in here somewhere.
And they’d better find it before Christian turned up dead.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Bree’s eyes were crossing as she read the final page of the forensics report from the boat ramp scene. Exhaustion was hampering her comprehension. She blinked hard to clear her vision. The second paragraph on the page caught her attention. “The techs found traces of spackling paste and PVC solvent cement in the suspect’s boot prints. What does that mean?”
“He’s been to a construction site or house reno.” Stella pushed her chair back. “I need coffee. Anyone else?”
Bree’s sour stomach said no, but her brain overrode it with a hard yes. She raised a hand. “Please.”
Stella walked out of the room.
“So, maybe he works for a contractor?” Matt asked.
“That’s what I was thinking.” Bree sorted through the piles of reports on the table for Stella’s contractor lists from the burglarized residences. She skimmed the list with her fingertip and stopped on a company. “This name sounds familiar. ABC Plumbing. They did work at two of the homes that were burglarized.”
Stella returned with two cups of coffee. She handed one to Bree.
Bree accepted it and took a sip, though the new evidence thread had already perked up her brain. She could feel the pieces of the investigation beginning to come together.
“Which houses?” Stella leaned over the table and skimmed the list.
Todd read the addresses.
“The first one is where the ruby-and-diamond bracelet was stolen,” Stella said.
“ABC Plumbing? I’ve read that name before too.” Matt leaned back in his chair and scrubbed both hands down his face. He opened Bree’s laptop and turned the screen to face him. “ABC Plumbing is owned by Stanley Hoover, age thirty-eight. Stanley is a master plumber with sixteen years of experience.”
“I don’t know that name.” Bree glanced around the table. No one looked like the name rang any bells. “Let me see the master list of Dodge Chargers in Randolph County.”
Matt passed her the list.
Bree scanned for Stanley Hoover. “Damn. He’s not here. But wait. Here’s a Dodge Charger on the same street that Earl Harper lives on.” She slid her finger across to the name. “Guess who it’s registered to?”
“Who?” Matt asked.
Bree laid the paper on the table and tapped the name. “Roger Marcus.”
“That’s the same last name as the neighbor we interviewed.” Matt straightened.
“His name was Joe.” Bree checked the address listed on Joe’s driver’s license. “Same address too.”
Todd typed on his computer. “A Toyota Corolla is registered to Joe.”
“But he said he inherited the house from his father,” Bree said. “The Charger could also have belonged to his father. Maybe he inherited the vehicle too.”
“Is it possible that Earl used Joe’s Charger, with or without Joe’s permission?” Todd asked.
Matt’s gaze sharpened. “They didn’t seem that close, but who knows? All we have is Joe’s statement. We didn’t ask Earl about Joe.”
“There was a van in Joe’s driveway.” Bree reached for her phone. “I took pictures of the front of Earl Harper’s place.” She scrolled. “Here.” Bree transferred the images to her laptop.
Matt tapped on the screen to zoom in on the van in the neighbor’s driveway. “ABC Plumbing.”
Bree pulled up Joe’s driver’s license info. “This is him.” She spun the laptop around so Stella and Todd could see the photo. “How is he related to all this?”
“He went to school with Sara,” Matt said. “He’s known her all his life.”
Stella grabbed for the yearbook. “I saw him in here somewhere. Here.” She tapped on a page.
They all leaned across the table to see the yearbook picture. It was Sara Harper, in her cheerleader skirt, pressing her face against Joe’s and mugging for the camera. “I marked all the photos in the yearbook that Sara appears in.” Stella had used sticky notes. She went from page to page. “There is one picture of Sara with her supposed boyfriend Zachary Baker in the whole yearbook, but Joe is in three with her.”
Matt tapped Joe’s face. “Maybe it wasn’t Zachary who was a sucker for Sara. Maybe it was Joe.”
“What did he say?” Bree closed her eyes and tried to recall their conversation. “He said Sara has a way of mak
ing a guy do what she wants.”
“Maybe she talked Joe into doing something bad,” Matt said.
“Did he kill her?” Stella suggested. “Sara was hot. Joe is not. In high school, relationships between individuals from opposite sides of the attraction index don’t happen very often.”
Bree drummed her fingers on the table. “Joe seemed nervous when we talked to him. At the time, we attributed his nervousness to fear of a reprisal from Earl. But maybe we were wrong.”
They’d made assumptions based on Earl’s criminal record and general nasty disposition. One of the prime rules in investigation was keeping an open mind. Let the evidence lead you, not the other way around. Bree mentally kicked herself. Earl was an ass. But he could be an innocent ass. Or at least, he might be innocent in these murders.
“So, how do Eli, Brian, and Christian play into this?” Stella chugged her coffee like a frat boy with a beer bong.
“Let’s ask Dustin if he recognizes Joe.” Bree printed Joe’s driver’s license photo. To cover her bases, she also printed photos of Earl and Rowdy Harper. “Todd, where is the photo array you prepared for Alyssa?”
Todd pulled a handful of photos from a folder. Bree took them from the conference room and snatched her three pictures off the printer. The squad room was quiet at ten o’clock. The graveyard shift was out on patrol. The deputies at the university were still driving around campus looking for surveillance cameras that might have caught an image of Christian.
Bree went into the interview room. Dustin was sound asleep at the table, his head pillowed on his folded arms. She tapped his shoulder. “Dustin. Wake up. I need to ask you something.”
He jumped, then sat up and blinked at her. “Oh. OK.”
“Do you know any of these men?” Bree placed the photos on the table in a row, adding pictures of Earl, Rowdy, and Joe to the mix.
Dustin shoved a hand through his hair and rubbed his eyes before focusing on the pictures. “Yeah. I know this guy.” He pointed to Joe Marcus’s picture. “He’s the plumber who drained and disconnected our water heater when it leaked a while back. Our douchebag landlord never replaced it.”
“Did anything happen the day he worked at the house?” Bree asked.
See Her Die Page 22