Chapter Three Bradley #3
“Here’s the thing.” Bree perched on the stool next to him.
“The first forty-eight hours are the most crucial when it comes to a case like this. The detectives only have a small window to collect the evidence. They have a bit more time to form relationships with the witnesses to help paint a picture. We’re now on the start of day three.
” Her face flinched. “They’ve ruled out some of the more obvious people that Maggie knew.
So, now we’re here following a new lead.
Thanks to your coming forward.” His shoulders lowered as he nodded.
“Look.” He opened his hands. “I served the man, then her. I had to read her lips—it’s noisy in here when we’re busy. Then I repeated her drink order back to her.”
“Which was?” I asked.
“Lemon martini.” His eyes rolled up as he thought. “I turned away to make her drink, so I had my back to her, then when I turned to hand it to her, she immediately took a quick sip. I remember she didn’t really look at me. She kind of scanned the room.”
“Like she was watching for someone?”
“Maybe.” He shrugged, and the fatigue of the last two days was evident by the way his shoulders sagged forward.
“Anyway, since she didn’t go for her purse right away, I took the person’s order next to her.
When I looked at her to wait for her to pay, I noticed her eyes were watering, like she’d just stopped a sneeze.
I didn’t think anything of it, just slid a napkin over in case she needed it.
She paid, took her drink, and left without her card. I figured she’d come back for it.
“It was more than a minute or so later that I felt funny. I went downhill fast, and I ended up at the hospital. The doctor said I must have gotten drugged or something, but they had no idea what it was. After what happened, I feel lucky to be alive.” Bree gave me a small glance when he lowered his head. “Am I in trouble here?”
“Did you kill anyone?” I asked.
“No.”
“Then you shouldn’t be in any trouble.”
“No, we just want justice for the girls’ families, and with what you provided, it gets us partway there.” Bree’s soft voice seemed to soothe his tension again. She pulled out a card. “If you think of anything else, give me a call.”
“Okay, yeah.” He stood, and we joined him. “I will, thank you.” He gave me a look, and I stepped back to dismiss him.
“You know you’re a big man, right?” Bree’s odd comment threw me, and I moved my attention to her now that the bartender was gone. “You’re six foot, what, three?” She put her hands on her hips.
“Your point?”
“Brad, you’re built like an NHL defenseman. You have a resting brooding face, and look at the size of your hands.” She pointed at one. “You’re intimidating. Tone down the whole I’m a detective, therefore I have knowledge on how I can hide a dead body thing.”
“It’s Bradley or Detective Stone,” I said, and she rolled her eyes. I grabbed my notebook while Bree hooked her purse over her shoulder, and we moved to a table. I waved at Longboard to join us.
Longboard lowered his phone a minute or so later, then joined us at the table. “Everything okay with my bartender?”
“Yes, we just need a few more minutes, then we’ll be on our way.
” As he spoke to Bree, I took a moment to study the place.
The room was all dark wood with vinyl black-studded chairs around high tables.
More standing tables were scattered about.
The ceiling held bars of strobe lights above the dance floor.
The hallway that led to the restrooms was across from the bar.
I noted where the entrance was in relation to the rest of the room. Satisfied, I looked at Bree.
“So, how about that dinner?” Longboard pressed again.
“How about you take my card, and if you think of anything else, you give me a call?” Bree handed it to him, then joined my side as Longboard scurried away.
“Jerk,” I muttered.
“So”—Bree ignored me and thought out loud—“I read through the information Cap sent me on the case. Let’s start from the beginning.
From what we know, the first victim, Shelly White, age twenty-four, ordered a drink here.
” She stepped up to the bar top. “She orders a pina colada, a drink that requires the bartender to turn his back to make it. Shelly takes the drink, starts to feel funny. Her friend said she sloshed the drink as she put it on the high-top table they were at.” She walked to the table and mimicked putting down a drink.
“Then she heads to the restroom”—she pointed to the restroom door—“where she drops to the floor. The other women in the restroom freak out, and moments later a bouncer is giving her CPR, but it’s too late. She’s gone.”
“Okay, yeah, that’s about right,” I agreed. I enjoyed watching her work. She was a quick study, always had been. She went back to the bar top and took three steps down from where Shelly had stood, then pulled out her camera and took a couple of photos as if from the victim’s point of view.
“The second victim, Maggie Deloitte, age twenty-two, orders her drink here, another drink the bartender turns away to make. He gives her the drink, then helps another customer. When he turns back, he notices her eyes are glossy. According to a different witness statement, she hands him her card to pay, and before the bartender is back from running the card, she pushes away from the bar and stumbles through the crowd. She heads outside toward her car, gets about five feet, and collapses.”
“That autopsy will be ready by tonight,” I commented.
“Come here.” She waved me over, and I stood next to her.
“Closer.” She pushed into my side as she looked at the file the captain must have given her.
“Shelly was a little taller than me; I’m five eight.
” She leaned her body over the bar like she was giving her order to the bartender.
“She was in jeans and a tank like mine, and Maggie was in a short dress—she was more my height.” She moved the flannel shirt that was wrapped around her waist to look like a mini skirt, then leaned over the bar top.
“I assume this is roughly where the attack happens.” She ran her hands along the bar.
“Maybe one step back.” She looked up at me then and tilted her head to the side.
“Flirt with me,” she ordered, and I chuckled.
“What?”
“Work with me here. We’re jammed in like sardines, and both girls were gorgeous. I’m sure they were being hit on the entire night.”
“The place was packed.” I followed her thoughts as she got close to me again.
“He could have leaned over to speak.” I leaned down, trying to think how he could make contact without it looking like he was.
“He slips something into her drink.” I made the motion of doing it.
“But nowhere on the tapes does Maggie Deloitte talk to anyone other than the bartender, and no one really seemed to be trying to grab her attention. Also, both bartenders were cleared thanks to that little camera right there.” I pointed to a staged tequila bottle that I’d been told had a hidden camera.
It pointed straight down to where they mixed their drinks.
“Not that I plan to rule out anyone just yet, but they’re in the clear as of right now. ”
“Okay.” She pressed her lips together. “And we know for sure they weren’t into drugs or affiliated with drug dealers?”
“No, and no drugs were found in their systems. At least none of the usual ones. We checked that angle multiple times from the start. According to their families and friends, these two young women were focused, had drive, and Maggie often had to do drug tests for her job.”
“Good.” Bree’s brows went up. “It makes sense it had to be a poison, though. One passes out in the bathroom and one out in the parking lot. The timing is about the same between when they ordered their drinks and when they collapsed.”
“Correct.”
“He just lets them die. Doesn’t do a thing to them.”
“Seems so, yeah.” I flipped a page in the folder and scanned the page. “Nothing stolen, no assault—they just drop and die.”
“Then why kill them?” She stepped back and looked around the room. “For sport?” She cringed at how monstrous that sounded. “Maybe this guy hits on girls, and whoever rejects him becomes his target?”
My phone rang, and I held up a hand. “Hi, Cap.”
“Stone, I need you and Bree to swing by Maggie Deloitte’s house and speak to her parents. They’ve put together some stuff for us. I want you to pick it up and go over it with them.”
“All right.”
“It’ll be good for Bree to have a look around too,” he quickly said before he hung up. I could kill him for not giving me a heads-up about her.