“We have two most likely theories,” Todd said. “He had a ride or car waiting, or he used a rideshare app.”
Matt turned to Todd. “Can you get a warrant for rideshare company records?”
“Yes.” Todd nodded. “Between the note and the blood, we can argue a severely injured person or potential suicide as an emergency situation.”
They turned back and began walking. The wind was in Bree’s face. Her nose was numb, and her feet were blocks of ice by the time they backtracked all the way to the factory. Inside, Todd snagged one of his deputies and set him on the task of applying for a warrant for the information from rideshare app companies.
In the factory parking lot, Todd walked to his vehicle. “I’ll have the pickup towed to the municipal garage. A forensics tech can look at it there.”
They stopped next to Todd’s cruiser. The other deputies were still inside the factory with Erin’s pickup truck.
“Have a minute, Todd?” Matt asked.
Todd’s brows rose. “You have a lead?”
“A couple,” Matt said. “First of all, did you hear rumors about Jack Halo sexually harassing his staff?”
“No.” Todd’s spine snapped straight. “And we interviewed everyone Erin worked with.”
“He’s intimidated his employees,” Bree said. “They were probably not comfortable speaking freely with the deputies.” When she wanted information about an employer, she interviewed employees off-site.
Todd reached into his pocket for a small notepad. He wrote down some information, then looked up. “You said you had a couple of leads.”
“My sister’s ex stopped by last night.” Bree shivered as she told Todd about Craig’s visit.
“I’ll see what I can dig up on him.” Todd wrote an additional note. “Can you think of any reason he’d want to harm your sister?”
“No,” Bree said. “Craig cares about money. He always came back to Erin when he needed a place to live. I can’t see how he would benefit from her death.”
“The kids will receive social security survivor benefits,” Todd said.
Bree hadn’t thought of that. “Doesn’t seem like that would be enough to commit murder.”
Todd lifted a palm. “The teenager only has a few years left, but the little girl would collect until she’s eighteen. That’s ten years of monthly payments.”
“Craig is always focused on money,” Bree said. “He said he has a job, but maybe being a minister doesn’t pay as much as he hoped.”
“I have some news for you.” Todd opened his vehicle door. “The search warrant for Trey White’s place came through right before you called about the truck. I’ll send deputies to execute the warrant first thing in the morning. We collected surveillance tapes from surrounding businesses, but none show the front of the store. His alibi is still unverified.”
“Did you pull any information from the burner phone that was among Erin’s belongings from Halo?” Matt asked.
Todd leaned on the inside of his vehicle door. “Both Erin’s and Justin’s fingerprints were on the phone. It was purchased at Eddy’s Electronics four months ago. We’re lucky that the store went digital with its surveillance videos last year. They keep security tapes for six months and were able to pull the video of a man purchasing the phone. He used cash, but the image is very clear. There’s no question. It was Justin.” Todd paused, his gaze drifting to the factory before he continued. “We already knew that Justin and Erin had an argument in the parking lot of Halo Salon last Friday. We had asked the salon owner to pull the security feeds from the parking lot cameras. In the video, Justin acted very agitated, and he definitely gave Erin a phone.”
“What’s on the phone?” Matt asked.
“Not much.” Todd adjusted his hat. “According to the call log, approximately once a week, the burner received a text with no message except for a different phone number. If a call was made that week, that was the number used. Other than those number-only texts, the phone was used only to make calls. There were no other text messages.”
Wireless providers kept records of text message content for a length of time. But there was no way to view the content of a verbal discussion. Justin hadn’t wanted a record of his activity.
Todd continued. “Each of the numbers called by Justin’s burner appear to belong to other burners.”
Bree cut to the chase. “Drug dealers switch phones constantly to avoid being tracked or traced by law enforcement.”
“Yes.” Todd rested his hands on his duty belt. “We believe Justin used his burner phone to buy drugs.”
“When was the last time he made a call?” Matt asked.
“Last Friday,” Todd said.
“Shit.” Matt pivoted in a frustrated one-eighty. Sitting at his feet, Brody looked up at him and whined. Matt’s hand dropped to rest on the dog’s head, but Bree wondered who was comforting whom.
Because Matt’s friend had called his drug dealer four days before Erin had been killed.
CHAPTER TWENTY
He paced, his anxiety churning.
The news played on the TV. The police had found Erin’s pickup truck.
It doesn’t matter.
He’d left no clues behind. He’d worn gloves. They would find nothing in the truck to tie her death to him. He was clear. Now he had to focus on what was important—to keep his eye on the prize.
After opening his laptop, he turned on his camera and transferred his recent photos to the computer. There she was. The telephoto lens allowed him to photograph her without her suspecting anything. She had no idea.
He opened his notepad and transferred her activities to the spreadsheet he’d created. He couldn’t watch her 24/7. He’d done his best, but it wasn’t good enough. There were too many gaps in her schedule, too much time unaccounted for. He needed to know where she was and who she was with at every moment of every day.
But he had other responsibilities. He couldn’t devote all his time to watching her. He shouldn’t have to, he thought with an immediate surge of anger that tunneled his vision and blurred his thoughts. He wanted to pummel his fists into something. He gulped air until the urge passed.
He grabbed his keys. He had an errand to run. He needed to be ready in case she betrayed him. A man couldn’t be too prepared. Guns were useless without ammunition.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Back in his SUV, Matt directed the heat vents toward Bree. “What do we do now?”
Brody lay across the back seat, whining softly.
In the passenger seat, Bree shivered, her hands still shoved in her pockets. “We need to regroup.”
“We need to find Justin.” But Matt had no idea of where to look. His friend could be dying right this minute.
“I want to look at my sister’s cell phone records. Let’s go back to the house.”
“OK.” Matt drove out of the lot. In his head, he wanted to charge all over town, kicking in doors. But Bree was right. They needed to reorganize. Running around like idiots would waste time they didn’t have.
“Dana found my sister’s account numbers and passwords. We have access to all her online accounts.”
“So does Todd.” Though Matt didn’t have confidence in Todd’s ability to interpret the data.
“I want to see the information for myself. I never know what will jump out at me. Besides, I know Erin. I might see a pattern an outsider wouldn’t recognize.”
It was four o’clock by the time Matt parked in front of the farm. The sun sank low over the trees.
“Winter is depressing.” Bree opened her door and slid from the SUV. “It’ll be dark in a half hour.”
They went into the house. Bree slipped off her sneakers. Her socks left wet footprints. Her feet must be freezing. In the entryway, Brody’s nose shot into the air. Matt inhaled the scents of garlic and basil.
Bree hung their coats by the door. “Dana has taken charge of the kitchen. If I was cooking, we’d be rotating between Chinese takeout, pizza, and Cheerios
.”
They walked back to the kitchen. Dana and Kayla sat at the table, playing backgammon. Kayla jumped up and raced to greet Brody.
“Where’s Luke?” Bree asked.
“In his room,” Dana said.
Bree went to the oven, turned on the light, and peered through the door. “What’s in there?”
“Lasagna.” Dana got up, filled a bowl with water, and set it on the floor for the dog. “Coffee? It’s fresh.”
“Yes,” Bree said. “I’m going to get dry socks. Excuse me for a minute.” She ducked into the laundry room.
Matt accepted coffee. He wrapped his scarred hand around the mug to alleviate the cold ache. “My sister is always leaving vegetarian lasagna in my freezer.”
Dana refilled her own cup. “Are you a vegetarian?”
“No,” he said, mustering patience for the small talk. “But my sister never gives up trying to convert me. She runs an animal rescue.”
“Good.” Dana returned to her seat. “Because this is the extra-meat kind. I use ground beef in the filling, and I use pork bones to make the gravy. You’ll stay for dinner.”
It wasn’t a question.
Kayla returned to her chair, and Brody stretched out on the floor at her feet. She pulled her bare feet from her slippers and brushed her toes through his fur. “Mommy rescued our horses.”
Matt’s heart squeezed at the wistful tone in the little girl’s voice. “Did she?”
Kayla slid to the floor and pressed her face into Brody’s fur.
“Erin bought them at the livestock auction,” Bree said, walking in from the laundry room, her eyes misty. “They were headed for the kill buyer. She cared about soundness and temperament, not papers.”
“My sister would agree,” Matt said.
Kayla lifted her head and patted Brody’s side before returning to her chair.
Bree picked up her coffee and leaned over Kayla’s shoulder. “Do you know how to play?”
Kayla shook her head. “Dana is teaching me.”
“She’s a quick learner.” Dana scooped the dice off the board.
“You can play next,” Kayla said.
“I have a bit of work to do right now, but we can play later.” Bree picked up her coffee and carried it toward the doorway. “We’ll be in the office if you need us.”
He followed her to the office. Bree closed the french doors and sat at the desk. Matt pulled a wooden chair next to hers and dropped into it. A laptop sat on the desk.
Bree booted it up. “This might take a few minutes. My computer is slow. I’m always too busy to update the software.” She paused. “Erin’s computer, the one the sheriff’s department took, is a dinosaur. She bought Luke a new one for Christmas. She always put herself last.”
“She was a good mom.” Impatient to get back to the case, Matt tapped his fingers on the desk. “Is the blood in the back seat of the truck enough to convince you that Justin didn’t kill Erin? That someone else shot her and likely him as well?”
“I wouldn’t say convinced, but I’ll accept it as a viable theory.” Bree nodded. “Let’s assume for the moment that Justin didn’t kill my sister. Who are our other suspects?”
“Nico, Justin’s drug dealer. I wanted to believe Justin was sober, but I was wrong.” Before Erin’s death, Matt hadn’t suspected Justin was still using drugs. “He totally fooled me.”
“What was Nico’s motivation?” Bree pulled a piece of paper from a printer on a shelf behind her. “I wish I had a murder board to track clues and suspects, but a list will have to suffice.”
“Money, maybe reputation. Drug dealers can’t let clients get away with nonpayment.”
“OK. We don’t know enough about Nico to consider opportunity yet.” Bree wrote his name and a dollar sign. “Who else?”
“Jack Halo.”
Bree paused, her lips flattening. “Maybe Erin had some sort of proof that he was sexually harassing his employees.”
“That would do it,” Matt agreed. “Financial damages awarded in a civil trial can be unpredictable.”
“He wouldn’t want his dirty deeds made public, especially since his business catered largely to women.”
“Alleged dirty deeds,” Matt said.
Anger flushed Bree’s cheeks pink. “My sister wasn’t a liar, nor was she overly sensitive. If she told Steph that Jack was harassing her, it must have been pretty bad.”
Matt raised his hands, palms toward her. “I’m sorry. I meant we have no proof. Hearsay doesn’t count.”
“If Erin was a threat to Jack Halo, she must have had some sort of evidence. Somewhere.”
“Right,” Matt said. “In that case, he’d settle, which would cost him.”
Bree skipped down the page and wrote his name and the word harassment. “We need to ask Todd if Jack has an alibi for Erin’s murder.”
“Yes,” Matt said. “Who’s next?”
“The kids’ father, Craig Vance.” Bree started a column. “Maybe he’s after the social security, or—more likely—he thinks my sister had money put away for the kids. Craig’s motive will be money.”
Matt pointed to the computer. “Open a browser. Let’s see how much the average survivor collects as a benefit.”
“The average monthly benefit is eight hundred dollars.” Bree sat back. “I still doubt anyone would kill over that much money.” She sounded skeptical.
“I guess that depends on your financial situation. Ten years of monthly payments . . .” Matt closed his eyes for a few seconds. “Let’s look at those calls your sister received and the cash withdrawals.”
Bree logged into her sister’s accounts and printed her bank account and call records for the past four months. Then they laid the reports side by side with the bank statements in front of Matt.
He took a highlighter from a pencil cup and marked the withdrawals. “There really aren’t any other large movements of money except for the three cash withdrawals.”
“Erin was paid an hourly rate by the salon plus tips. She had an established client base, and did well, but she wouldn’t have been able to keep this farm if Adam didn’t cover the mortgage, taxes, and insurance. Most of her income went to living expenses.”
Matt gave Bree the dates, and she pulled out the corresponding pages of the call logs.
“There are several calls from this number in the days just before the withdrawal.” Bree used the highlighter to mark the calls.
Matt tapped on the highlighted number. “Could this be Craig’s burner phone? Could he have been blackmailing your sister?”
“Now that sounds completely plausible.” Bree tapped a forefinger on the desk. “Todd needed a warrant for the wireless provider. It’ll probably take a few days to get the records.”
Matt pulled out his phone and dialed the number. No one answered, and the voice mail invitation was computer generated. He didn’t leave a message. “Try reverse lookup.”
The only information was the wireless provider name.
“Let me make a call. I know a former local cop who’s now a PI. He has access to additional search engines.” Matt called Lance Kruger, who called back in ten minutes. Matt thanked him, then relayed the info to Bree. “There’s no personal information available, but the number was activated in Albany, New York.”
Bree froze. “Craig lives in Albany.” She pushed her chair back and got up to pace the small office. “We need to know what he’s up to.”
“Can we talk to his employer?”
She pivoted in a frustrated, tense movement. “We have no official status on this case.”
“Todd does,” Matt said.
“He’d either send a deputy or ask a local cop.” Bree shook her head. “We’re going to have to lie to get the information we need. And we need Craig to be out of the way.”
“Do you have a way to contact him?”
“Yes. He gave me a number.”
“Set up a meeting with him to discuss his intentions.”
Bree spun on her heel
. “I don’t—”
“While you occupy him, I’ll GPS his vehicle.”
A sly smile spread across her face. “I like it.”
“Thought you would.” Matt pulled a piece of paper from the printer.
“It’s not legal.”
“No plan is perfect.” Matt was willing to take risks to find Justin. “I won’t leave prints on the unit.” He began listing their plans. “Once we know he’s away from his place of employment, we’ll decide on a good lie for his employer.”
“He’s the minister of a church,” Bree said dryly.
Matt snorted. “If we survive the lightning strike, we might come away with some useful information.”
“GPS data on Craig could prove to be interesting.” Bree resumed her pacing. “Other suspects?”
“Trey White?” Matt asked. “He was fixated on Erin enough to break into Justin’s house multiple times and steal her underwear. Todd was unable to verify his alibi at the dollar store.”
“We need more than lack of an alibi. I wish we could search his residence.”
Matt shrugged. “He lives alone, and he’s in jail. Who says we can’t?”
“The law.”
“We won’t take anything.” Matt didn’t want to wait, and he was afraid the deputies would miss something. Justin’s life could hang in the balance of this investigation.
“It’s still illegal.”
“Only if we get caught,” Matt said. “It’ll be dark soon. Tonight is our last chance. The sheriff’s department will execute their search warrant in the morning.” Matt wanted to do whatever he could to find Justin now. He could be dying at that very moment.
“We should let the deputies handle it.”
“Todd isn’t going to perform the search himself. Who knows who he’ll send?”
Disapproval narrowed her eyes. “I can’t believe I’m considering this.” Bree chewed on her lip. “We’d have to wait until later tonight, after the kids go to bed.”
“Of course,” Matt said as if it was obvious.
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