Chapter Seventeen #4
Yeah, and Ethan knew that was likely how this collector got her. Routines were dangerous. Going home the same way was dangerous.
It was always best to deviate.
“Do you hear what the ladies talk about?” Gene asked. “You know…when they are doing their arts and crafts?”
Sarah Beth nodded.
“I’m always here when it’s the ladies, and Johnny covers mixed parties or birthday parties. The women were talking about Easter, and their boyfriends or husbands. We put out a charcuterie board, and they bring their wine.”
Ethan was making notes.
Gene kept going.
“And Phylis never said anything about anyone annoying her?” he asked.
Sarah Beth considered it.
“I mean, she told her one friend Stacy that the lady she worked with, Merle, I think she said, was giving her the cold shoulder because their boss liked her more. She didn’t say that this last time, but a couple of weeks ago.”
Yeah, well, that was something they’d write down.
“If I show you some pictures, can you tell me if she ever came in here with these women?” Gene asked, pulling up the photos on his phone again.
Then, he shared it.
Both of them looked at the photos and shook their heads.
“No, sorry,” Johnny offered. “I’ve never seen them in here,” he stated.
Sarah Beth confirmed that.
“They weren’t part of Phylis’ friend group or ever came in here. I’ve never seen them in town.”
Well, so much for that.
They knew that the first and second victims knew each other, with a tie to the bar, so they’d have to see if that held true for the third.
The possibilities were almost to the end.
Gene put his phone away.
“Thank you for helping,” he offered.
The man was honest.
“We are grateful you got the reporters away from the door. They are blocking the entrance for anyone to come in. We were supposed to have a party today, and they’ve made it impossible for anyone to get in here.”
Dannie gave him a heads-up.
“Call the police if they come back, and they’ll dispatch them from your door.”
He thanked him.
Heading out, they got into the rental and took a few minutes to regroup.
“So, this person watched her, and knew her patterns. He could have grabbed her, and pulled her into the bushes right there,” Gene admitted.
The detective was curious.
“Did he knock them out? Chloroform them?” he asked, curiously.
As he did, both men turned in their seats and stared at him.
“What?” he asked, looking around.
Gene went there.
“We’d have the answer to that if your goddamn ME didn’t duck and run,” he stated. “See the dilemma?”
He actually laughed.
Well, they had him on that one, now didn’t they?
“My bad?” he asked.
Gene just shook his head.
Because they needed answers, someone had to do the weird and dirty work. He broke it to Ethan.
“I’m going to go look in those bushes. Keep an eye out for me,” he stated.
At his words, Ethan grabbed his arm.
“If you think I’m letting you go in by yourself, you’ve lost your goddamn mind, Gene. That’s not happening, Mr. I’m Not Supposed To Be Actively Working A Case.”
He snorted.
Oh, someone was feeling spicy today, and he liked it.
He liked it a lot.
“Want to go together?” he asked, winking at him. “Maybe I can get some kisses without an audience.”
The detective didn’t miss a beat.
“I mean, you can kiss your love muffin all you want. I’m not offended. If you swapping gum is essential to your thought process, here. Get to kissing,” he said, pulling out a pack of gum.
Then, he planned on distracting himself as they went bushwhacking.
“Have at it. I’ll call Leah and tell her we’re good for tomorrow since you’re out of interviews.”
Ethan actually snorted.
“He grows on you,” he said to Gene. “He’s not nearly as annoying as we thought he was.”
Yeah, well, Gene was still not totally sold on the cops here. For detectives, they’d missed a few steps along the way.
“No comment,” Gene offered.
Then, he was on the move.
As the two feds headed out, Dannie stayed behind to make a call to his partner. As he watched the two Feds slipping into the bushes, he dialed Leah.
“Yo,” she said, answering on the first ring. “I called and you didn’t answer.”
He clued her in.
“I was busy trying to get them to let you help,” he offered. “You have shit timing. Maybe get a hobby that doesn’t involve sitting on your phone.”
She had plenty of hobbies. She was a detective. She liked to detect twenty-four-seven, like her father had before her. It was in the blood.
“Well?” she finally asked.
Dannie clued her in.
“They are going off duty for the night to do research and wait on their ME, who is coming to redo our ME's work,” he began, and was cut off.
She gasped.
“He won’t like that.”
Yeah, well, he was aware.
Only, their ME opted to piss off the feds, and he was going to be cockblocked from his own morgue because of it. That was on him.
In fact, his partner had done the same thing.
Well, at least the men were consistent.
He continued.
“They need that forensics in order to work this case. Keep that to yourself, Leah. There are only a few people who know it’s happening.”
She gasped again.
“I wouldn’t say shit!”
He believed her, but the Feds were already at their last straw with the leaks.
“I know. It was just a side note. Anyway, you can help tomorrow. I got them to let you assist, but it wasn’t easy. Don’t piss them off! Tonight, they are going to do the last interview, at the pub, and then calling it a night.”
She was antsy.
“Already? It’s the middle of the day.”
He slowed her roll.
“Leah! We’ve all been up late, and it’s been a long day.
The Fed was shot at, and he’s tired, too.
Unless they have answers from the autopsies, there’s not much they can do but research and do follow-up work on the suspects.
Chill out. That’s why they don’t want you helping.
You’re up their asses trying to run their case.
Everyone has a different process, but it doesn’t make it wrong. ”
She tried to do what he asked.
The last thing she wanted was to be sidelined.
That.
Would.
Suck.
“Where are you now?”
He told her.
“We just interviewed the owners of The Tipsy Easel. They’re clean. While the memorial is going down at the school, they are going to talk to the owners of the pub and get some food. We’ll meet them tomorrow at the morgue.”
Honestly, she wanted to be out with her partner, but at least he’d managed to clear her a path back onto the team. The last thing she wanted was to be sitting at her place doing nothing when there was a case to work.
“Need some help researching?” she asked. “Because there’s no doubt in my mind they want help with the boring shit.”
He rolled his eyes.
She wanted to be involved, but then complained about the work that had to be done.
What the hell?
Instead of being confrontational, he chilled out. There was no point in butting heads with his partner. When the Feds left, he had to be here to work with her.
“Yeah, I’ll send you over the names of the owners of the painting place. Get them researched. I’m working on someone else,” he said, thinking about Randal, and how he couldn’t be killing people in his condo.
Hitting send, he got her the names, so she could tag in and assist.
“You should have the information,” he stated.
Her phone chimed, and Leah had the names.
“Got them. See you in the morning,” she stated. “If you need anything else researched, just tag me in.”
Yeah, he could do that.
As he hung up, that’s when he saw that the two men were coming out of the bushes.
When they reached the car, both hopped in.
“Well?” Dannie asked. “Did you find anything in the bushes other than Ethan’s mouth?” he asked, busting ass.
Without missing a beat, Gene flipped him off, and then promptly ignored his comment. He wished he’d been screwing around in the bushes with Ethan.
Only, they’d legitimately been focused on NOT GETTING SHOT AT AGAIN.
“Someone was definitely in there,” Gene admitted. “There are broken branches and the ground looks disturbed,” Gene added.
That was good.
Right?
“So, are there footprints?” he asked.
Gene glanced back at him.
That was the bad news.
“It’s been on and off flurrying. All of the evidence is toast at this point. It looks like she was dragged backward and through the trees. There’s a parking lot back there. It’s behind the boutique that victim three worked at. I guess it’s their private parking lot.”
Dannie whistled.
“Someone was definitely plotting this one out. All the bases were covered and handled. Also, it’s weird how the businesses share that common space.”
Ethan agreed.
The killer definitely had a hunting ground, but until they could figure out how the women connected…
He didn’t buy for a second that it was random. Not with the ‘see no evil’ message left behind.
Blackhawk was focused on another aspect, too.
“With the anger from all those stab wounds, I’m going to say someone is pissed, and it happened a while ago. Someone had time to plan all of this out. Not a step was missed.”
And that wasn’t good.
Because this person was still way ahead of them, and day one would be coming to an end.
Shortly.
Or so they thought.