by C. M. Sutter
I tapped the scrubber bar a little farther to the right. “We’ll have every face coming out. We have to concentrate on every male who goes in between eleven o’clock and four. We’ll give ourselves an hour on each end of Lena’s timeline. It’s going to be a pain in the rear, but we need to jot down the time and clothing description of each man who walked through the vestibule door alone and then the time when he walked out. It’s the easiest way to narrow down the pool of possible suspects.”
Kate squeezed her temples. “It won’t work.”
“What do you mean it won’t work? Why not?”
“Because Mr. Myers always parked in the back and entered the building through the rear door. He owned the place, remember?”
I groaned. “Okay, so we aren’t going to know when he arrived on Sunday, but we can still use that four-hour timeline and watch the men coming and going.”
“Unless they know about the back door and entered that way too.”
My eye roll probably explained my feelings at the moment. “I guess that didn’t occur to me. All right, let’s get started. I feel like this is going to be a long afternoon.”
Kate and I leaned in and watched every male who entered the vestibule alone. Time dragged on, and I had an entire page of descriptions and times when men entered and exited the building.
“Why couldn’t there have been separate entrances? We would have been finished a long time ago.”
“None of the buildings downtown are set up that way,” Kate said.
“I know—it was a rhetorical question.” I leaned back and glanced at the time on the computer. It was after three o’clock. “Let’s cross out the entries that were in and out in less than ten minutes.”
“Don’t you think the killer could have shot Mr. Myers and left in under ten minutes?”
“I suppose he could have. Okay, in five minutes or less.”
We went through the list and crossed off six entries. I made a fresh pot of coffee, and we dug back in.
“Hold up,” Kate said. She leaned closer to the monitor as I backed up the footage and stopped it when she said, “Right there.”
We stared at the back of a man who entered the building at twelve fifteen. I pointed at the image on the screen.
“Him?”
Kate nodded. “Yeah, him. Does his coat look familiar to you?”
I stared at it then wrinkled my forehead. “Not particularly. It just looks like any black winter coat. Why?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know. I guess my eyes are getting tired. Let’s continue on.”
“Write down his clothing description first.”
Kate made note of the man’s black coat, dark jeans, and dark hair that looked as if it reached the nape of his neck. We stopped again thirty minutes later and crossed off the people on the list who had come out within our five-minute mark.
“Two more crossed off,” she said.
“What about the guy you questioned earlier? He’s still inside, right?”
She ran her finger down the sheet. “He must be. I don’t see where we checked him off yet.”
“Our problem is we don’t know if people are going into the hardware store or the apartments.”
“I’d recognize tenants, and they’d probably be coming from the alley, not the street.”
“Good point, and if they are coming out of the hardware store, they’d probably have a bag in their hand.”
We continued on and finally called it quits at four o’clock. Shadows were forming quickly from the sun falling behind the buildings, and the hardware store was closing, anyway. Sunday hours were eight to four.
“Okay, let’s review what we have left.” I looked at the sheet and counted the number of men who had been in the building for more than five minutes. “Shit, Kate, that’s thirty-eight men.”
“How many carried a bag from the hardware store out with them?”
I looked over the descriptions again. “Humph, that’s a bit more manageable. Twenty-three had a plastic bag in their hand, and eight didn’t.” I gave her a hopeful smile.
“That leaves seven men who didn’t come out at all.”
My smile quickly faded. “That means they stayed longer because they were visiting residents upstairs?”
“Probably. Sunday football games typically draw friends together.”
“Right, I forgot about that.” I grabbed a clean sheet of paper from the printer and handed it to Kate. “I’ll read off the times of the seven men who went in and didn’t come back out. You write it down. We’ll review the footage from those times and see if we can narrow it down even more.”
“Good idea.”
Kate was loosening up, and I was thankful. We always worked well together, especially when our full attention was on the task at hand.
We began again and focused closely on each of the seven men. We didn’t have facial shots to plug into our facial recognition database, but from their height, approximate weight, and stride, we could possibly tell if they were old or young, fit, or out of shape. We needed something to work with.
“Okay, that man is too heavy to even get under a car to cut the brake lines. Scratch him out.”
Kate did, and we carried on.
“That man looks like he’s eighty years old.” I pointed at his head. “That’s white hair, not a cap, right?”
She agreed. “Yep, white hair.” She crossed him out too. “That’s probably Anne Nelson’s dad paying her a visit. He usually came by for a few days once a month.”
The remaining five were potential suspects. I noticed how Kate stared longer than she needed to at the man with the black coat and I wondered why he stood out from the rest.
Chapter 36
We returned to the sheriff’s office as the sun was setting. I parked the cruiser in the nearest available spot to the front door. On cold, dreary days like that one, I wished I had a remote start system on my car. Climbing into an icebox that didn’t warm up until I was nearly home made me understand Jade’s dislike of winter. Kate and I rushed to the warmth of the building. As we passed the personal cars parked in our lot, it looked as if everyone was still inside. I assumed Jack wanted to conduct a wrap-up meeting before we went home for the night.
I rubbed my hands together as we took the single flight of stairs to our department. My thin gloves had done little to keep my fingers from feeling numb as I drove back from downtown. Kate pressed the numbers on the security pad, and we entered the bull pen. Jack glanced out from his office, and Clayton and Billings turned their heads.
“That took forever,” Billings sighed. “Hope you found something.”
Jack walked out of his office and took a seat on the edge of my desk. “Anything new?”
I hung my coat and blew on my fingers. “It’s damn cold outside.”
Clayton chuckled. “Nice comeback. You’d think after living here your entire life, you’d invest in gloves that were a bit warmer.” He shook his head. “Kids.”
Jack raised his brows. “Well?”
Kate spoke up. “We were able to eliminate all but seven men who went in and out of that building on Sunday. Two of them wouldn’t fit our profile, though, with one being too old and the other too heavy.”
“Out of how many?”
“Nearly fifty in all,” I said. “I think we did pretty good, considering. The question is, what about the five men who could possibly be our suspect? It’s been several days, and I’m sure they’ve come and gone by now.”
Billings added his opinion. “That’s especially true since we didn’t know about Marvin’s death until Monday afternoon. Every one of those guys could be long gone.”
“I’ll have Horbeck and Jamison pay every tenant a visit tonight. They can find out who had company on Sunday and who didn’t,” Jack said.
“So what happened here while we were gone?” I asked.
“The warrant for the phone records can’t be issued until Friday. Same red tape as usual. Shawn is still on our suspect list, but
we don’t have any proof of wrongdoing. He was deeply in debt because of his gambling habit, but that isn’t against the law. Maybe that’s the reason he was hitting up Marvin for money all the time. He needed to stay afloat with his house and bills.” Jack tipped his chin toward the door. “Good work, guys. Now get out of here. I’ll put Horbeck and Jamison on those interviews right away. Hopefully we’ll know more in the morning.”
We stood to leave. I mentioned how I was looking forward to a cup of hot cocoa when I got home.
“Amber and Kate?”
I turned. “Yep?”
“I know you drove separately today. Keep in sight of each other as you drive home. Stay alert and safe. We’ll catch this guy.”
Kate gave Jack a nod. “Thanks, boss.”
We walked out into the night and kept our eyes peeled and our ears perked.
“Call my cell if anything seems off.”
“Like what?” Kate asked.
“I don’t know, like you feel somebody is following you.”
Kate grinned. “Cars follow other cars because they live in the same direction. How would I know?”
I shrugged. “You’re the psychic. It’s your job to know the difference.” I unlocked my car and climbed in. “You go first. I’ll take up the rear.”
I pulled out my phone as I drove. Luckily, Jade had programmed her new number into my cell after she bought her phone, and I gave that new number to everyone in the bull pen. I’d delete her old contact information later. I wrapped the earbud around my left ear and made the call.
“Hey, Sis, how’s it going?”
“Not bad. We have an outdoor security system now, though. Pretty cool, huh?”
“That’s way cool, and necessary. I think it’ll make all of us feel safer. I bet Kate will be relieved.”
“Speaking of Kate, did you mention that we saw her today?”
“Yeah, and that didn’t go over well. Something is off with her lately. She gets pissed and defensive way too easily. It isn’t like her.”
“Is something weighing on her mind?”
“No clue, but her personality is definitely different. She’s had a bug up her rear since that nightmare Sunday night.”
“Let’s try to keep the drama low and see how it goes tonight. Maybe comfort food will help.”
“Like meatloaf with mashed potatoes and gravy?”
“Yum, like that but with corn too.”
“Okay, I can whip that together. Get the ground beef out of the freezer and start defrosting it in the microwave. We’ll be home in ten minutes.”
Kate and I walked in together minutes later. Three cups of hot cocoa with mini-marshmallows melting on top were sitting on the table.
My eyes widened. “Who’s the psychic now?”
Kate laughed. “I texted Jade before I pulled out of the parking lot.”
We sat at the table and drank our cocoa as Jade told us about the new outdoor security system. “There are two double-mounted cameras and one single camera. One corner mount covers the front and right side of the house, one covers the back and left side, and the single-mount camera covers the porch and front door. At night, the motion-sensor monitor kicks in. I think it’s going to give all of us peace of mind. Finish your cocoa, and I’ll show you where the cameras are located. It’ll only take a minute, then you’ll see how the motion sensor works too. They were turned off temporarily because I knew you were coming home.” Jade stood and showed us the control box that sat on the breakfast bar. “All we have to do is set the motion sensor when it gets dark, or we can use the auto-set feature. Bright spotlights will turn on when anybody enters the perimeter of the yard.”
“What about animals?” Kate asked.
“It’ll hit on deer because they’re taller but nothing small like a rabbit or raccoon. A beep will sound on the control box inside the house. We can set the volume to low, medium, or high.”
Kate looked relieved. “High sounds good to me.”
Jade finished her cocoa. “Come on. I’ll show you how it works.”
We bundled up, and Jade engaged the motion sensor. We walked out the front door, and the lights immediately came on.
“Damn, that’s bright,” I said.
She nodded. “It’s their intended purpose. Now cross the driveway and see what happens.”
Kate and Jade stayed on the porch while I walked to the mailbox and back. The lights came on as soon as I broke the beam of the sensor that was attached to the moving camera.
“Wow, that’s impressive,” Kate said.
Jade tipped her head. “Let’s go in the backyard.”
We followed her as she walked slowly to the back of the house. I was sure her entire body still ached. Jade pointed at the corner-mounted cameras then told me to walk out to the tree line, turn, and approach the house. The camera caught my movement again, and a bright light illuminated the yard. I looked down and saw dozens of footprints. I felt the hair rise on my arms but attributed the prints to the workers setting up the security system.
“How many people came out here today to set up the cameras?” I asked.
“Only one guy. Guess he knew what he was doing. It didn’t take more than an hour or so and he was done.”
“Humph.” I wondered who the rest of the footprints belonged to, but from that point forward, we would see anyone and everyone who took one step on our property.
Chapter 37
With bellies full of comfort food, we gathered in the living room to relax.
“So, tell me about Craig,” Jade said, surprising both Kate and me.
I snapped my head to the side and gave her a scowl. I held my breath and hoped Kate wouldn’t take offense at Jade’s question.
She shrugged. “He’s a new guy in town who’s looking to make friends. He seems nice and is very polite.”
“So are servers at restaurants. Didn’t he tell you where he’s from?”
Jade was applying the pressure, but I knew it was out of concern for Kate’s well-being.
Kate glanced at me. “He already told both of us the other day that he’s from Louisiana. Right, Amber?”
“Um, yeah, I think that’s what he said.”
“It is what he said. Anything else?” Kate locked eyes with Jade.
“Why did he move north? That’s ass-backward in my book. What southern boy would come to the frigid north at this time of year unless it was for work? What does he do for a living?”
I watched as Kate became more frustrated. She fidgeted and inspected her cuticles. “He said he’s in sales, like a regional salesperson, I guess.”
“So he travels to different states to sell his product?” Jade took a sip of sparkling water. “What does he sell?”
Kate stood. “Now we’re playing fifty questions? I’m going to bed. Good night.” She turned and stomped downstairs.
I shook my head. “You pushed too hard, Jade.”
“What the heck is up with her, anyway? Wouldn’t most infatuated women brag about the new man they just snagged?”
“I told you she’s been acting uptight. I’m not asking any more questions about Craig Hartman. She just gets upset.”
Jade stood and headed toward the hallway.
“Where are you going?”
“To grab my laptop. I want to find out everything there is to know about Craig Hartman. If he’s on the up-and-up, fine. If not, then Kate needs to back away from this stranger, and the sooner the better.”
I filled a glass with sparkling water and took a seat at the kitchen table. Jade joined me and plugged in her laptop.
“Give it a second to boot up.” She lowered her voice. “Did he say what city in Louisiana he was from?”
“Nope, only that he was from Louisiana.”
“Did you see what he was driving?”
“Sorry, Sis, that’s also a no.”
“Crap. Okay, first I’m going to plug his name into the nationwide name-search database. We can fine-tune it as we go and see if he has a crimina
l record.”
“That’s if we find him, right?”
Jade nodded and typed in the name Craig Hartman. Three matches popped up for men over eighteen, the age of somebody who could legally be searched.
I leaned in and stared at the screen. “Shit, I wasn’t expecting that.”
Jade patted my hand and chuckled. “Settle down, little sister. It’s a big country. There’s going to be more than one Craig Hartman.” She clicked on the first name, and it came up as a twenty-two-year-old professional foosball player. “I doubt if that’s him. Let’s move on.” Jade tapped the key for Craig Hartman number two. He was a sixty-year-old accountant from Antioch, Illinois. “Okay, this is the last guy. Let’s see who he is.” She tapped the blue tab for the last man, and he came up as a thirty-seven-year-old salesman from Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
“Bingo! That has to be him.”
“Hang on. Let’s see what this dude looks like.” Jade clicked on images, and the man’s face popped up on the screen. “Well?”
“Hell no, that isn’t him. Not even close. The Craig we met has dark hair and green eyes. He had a decent build too.” I pointed at the screen. “Look, this guy has buzz-cut blond hair and blue eyes.”
“Hair style, color, and eye color can easily be changed. What can’t be changed as easily is weight.”
“You’re right. This guy has a double chin and looks heavier overall. He has to weigh two hundred thirty pounds no matter what.”
“And Kate’s Craig?”
I rubbed my forehead. “He was sitting most of the time I saw him at the bar, but I wouldn’t put him over one hundred ninety pounds.” I looked closer at the face on the screen. “Nope, the features are way different, and this guy has crooked teeth too.”
Jade raised her brows. “You noticed his teeth?”
“Yeah, I told you that the other day. They were bright white and perfectly straight. He either has good genes or paid for expensive cosmetic dentistry. No matter what, that man isn’t him.”
“So he assumed this salesman’s identity just by doing an online search, but if he was as smart as he thinks, he would have found somebody who looked more like him. Keep all of this to yourself, Amber. We don’t want Kate to give this guy a heads-up that we’ve checked into his identity. I need to find out more about North Bend’s newest resident and who he really is.”