Chapter 26
“Did anyone luminol the Camry or check for hair?”
“Nobody mentioned what was done at the PD’s crime lab. I’ll double-check to see what our own lab searched for. Even if they find blood or hair, it would only belong to Beth. It still wouldn’t connect Della and Beth since the killer only had the Camry for a few days.”
I grumbled. “If only we knew what kind of vehicle he rented when he abducted Della. Have you heard back from Bill yet?”
Renz took his turn glancing at the clock. “Nope, but I better give him a call before he bails for the day.”
Renz put his desk phone on Speaker and made the call.
According to Bill, two of his detectives had finally made contact with the marina personnel.
They were looking at footage of the man in question as he walked through the marina’s gate last Saturday night at one forty-five a.m. His face was never visible, and a hoodie covered his head.
On his back was a large duffel bag, and he pulled a medium-sized cooler on wheels behind him.
Renz fist-pumped the air. “Tell them to pull the date-and-time records for every time that man passed through the gates. We may be able to backtrack to Della’s abduction and murder.
Have them check the parking lot cameras, too, to see what kind of car was in the lot.
If he was at the marina in the middle of the night again after killing Della, it should be the only vehicle there. ”
“Got it, and I’ll call you back as soon as I pass that on to my guys.”
“Our end-of-the-shift meeting is starting soon. Call me on my cell at six o’clock. By then, you ought to know more.”
Renz hung up the phone, leaving us ten minutes to go through more of Della’s belongings before our meeting. I would continue going through her things tomorrow while Renz followed up with the PD and the Manitowoc marina.
“Hey, here’s an actual photograph, Renz!”
“No kidding. Let’s have a look.”
I passed Renz the photo of a child and two women and waited for his take on it.
“This doesn’t do us any good, Jade. It’s a twenty-year-old photograph. Della, if that’s her, was a kid. The women could be her mom and a neighbor or an aunt. There’s nothing in the background that’s identifiable as far as a location.”
“Well, damn it. Maybe this is a waste of time. I’ll call the Iowa DMV first thing in the morning and ask if she ever had a driver’s license in their state, an ID, or a voter registration card. That’ll tell us something, I’m sure of it.”
“It won’t tell us who killed her, though. Even if the guys find an earlier date when the mystery man went through the marina gate, and even if they see the car he drove in the parking lot footage, do you think we’ll ever track down that car so it can be forensically tested?”
“I doubt it, but I know what might work!”
Renz pulled back. “Okay, let’s hear it.”
“We can stake out the marina.”
“Jade, there was a month between Della’s disappearance and Beth’s. Taft isn’t going to give us permission to stake out a marina in Manitowoc in the middle of the night. She won’t pay us overtime for that, or are you willing to do it on your own time?”
“Okay, then maybe the Manitowoc PD will do it.”
“Not if we take over the case.” Renz checked the time again. “Come on. The meeting is about to start.”
The Lake Michigan cases weren’t mentioned in our evening updates simply because we weren’t in charge of them yet, even though I felt like we were.
Tomorrow was another day, and something had to break.
Before we called it a night, Renz checked with our lab to see if they’d run a luminol test on the Camry. They had, and no blood was found.
I was discouraged by the news. “So much for that. Maybe the Manitowoc PD should handle the case.”
“No body parts washed ashore there, Jade.”
“I realize that, but if James Smith’s boat is moored there, then they have jurisdiction. Nobody has control of the currents and where things wash ashore. All they have to do is watch and wait.”
“Let’s call it a night. We still have tomorrow to figure this out. We’ll contact the Manitowoc PD in the morning and see what they say. By then, Bill will know more anyway.”
“Aren’t we going to get James Smith’s driver’s license photo on the air?”
“The PD will have to do it, and when Bill calls me at six o’clock, I’ll remind him.”
I huffed. “I hope they get it done tonight, here and in Manitowoc.”