Chapter 16
“Okay, that’s hitting too close to home, and the boat? They wouldn’t have brought that up unless Beth, or parts of her, washed ashore. If my client gets wind of this, I’ll be the next one in the lake.”
Alex poured a third cup of coffee and paced the kitchen.
I can’t take the car back to the rental agency.
If anyone there saw the news last night, they’ll call the cops the minute I return the car.
They’ll give the cops my name, fictitious as it is, but I don’t need the grief.
Plus, they have cameras inside the office and in the lot.
I have to get rid of the rental contract, remove the stolen plate, leave the keys in the ignition, and park it at some abandoned warehouse.
Tweakers who party at those locations will snatch up the car in two seconds flat.
I have to wipe it down and get it the hell out of here before there’s too many people out and about.
After gulping down the rest of his coffee, Alex dressed in dark clothing and snugged a black ball cap on his head.
He put on a lightweight jacket, folded a hand towel, then zipped the jacket over it.
He would use the towel to wipe down the car.
Somewhere along the way, he planned to toss the key ring with the rental agency’s name on it out the car window.
At six thirty, Alex nervously stepped inside the elevator. He didn’t want to be seen, and if he was lucky, he would be in the car and gone before other people from his building headed to work.
I can’t risk wiping down the car now. I’ll do it before I abandon it, and I know exactly where to go.
Patting his pocket, Alex made sure he had his phone. He would need to call a rideshare a good three to four blocks from where he left the car. He couldn’t be associated with the vehicle or near the location where he abandoned it.
It took ten minutes to reach the industrial area of South Milwaukee. Some buildings were still in use, but most were abandoned. The site was set for demolition, and a regentrified neighborhood with shops and cafés was scheduled to be built in the next year.
Alex turned in and drove to the building farthest from the street. In case patrol officers cruised the area, he didn’t want the car to be seen.
The sun was lighting the sky, so he had to hurry. Homeless bums and druggies frequented those buildings and at times even lived in them. Alex parked behind a crumbling brick two-story warehouse. Another building blocked him from being seen.
This is good enough. I can’t worry about the perfect spot. I need to wipe down the car after I take everything out of the glove box, leave the keys, remove the plate, and get the heck out of the area.
Leaning over the console, Alex emptied the glove box, jammed the contents into a plastic bag he’d brought, then unzipped his jacket and pulled out the towel.
Every surface inside the car was wiped down.
He looked from front to back and left to right before climbing out.
In a frenzy, he wiped the door handles and trunk latch too.
Alex looked around again—all was clear and quiet.
He still had a few minutes and took advantage of them by wiping down the entire car door and trunk again.
Then Alex stuffed the towel inside his jacket and zipped it up.
Before leaving, he removed the license plate and jammed it into the bag too.
With the bag in hand, he quickly walked away from the area.
Once he was three blocks north of the warehouses, he tapped the rideshare app on his burner phone and entered his James Smith alias, the address where he needed to be picked up, and the location where he wanted to go.
He planned to have the driver drop him off three blocks from home, leaving no connections to the warehouse location or to the Landmark Arms apartment building.
Once inside the privacy of his home, he needed to rethink how to take the next victim out on the boat.
Do it during the day? Absolutely. Just a morning of fishing with the next kill safely wrapped in a heavy-duty garbage bag and stuffed inside a large rolling cooler.
He would have to pick up a fishing pole as a prop too.
Okay, that’ll be how I get rid of the next woman. Hopefully, my client isn’t going to hold the news segment against me. I’ll get to the bottom of that, too, but before I do anything, I need to get another rental car, or I’m not going anywhere.
The rideshare alert showed that Alex’s driver was arriving in six minutes. He was okay with that but couldn’t wait to get home.
Minutes later, a car slowed to a stop. On the windshield was the name of the rideshare company. The passenger-side window went down, and a man yelled out, “James?”
“Yep, that’s me.”