Chapter 37
Taft stuck around long enough to view the brief images we had of Torrie and the killer walking past the pawnshop and of the killer passing in front of the camera at Ed’s Tap before he was out of frame.
Those few seconds of footage didn’t give us much to work with.
Taft was interested but not confident that either of those bits of footage could identify James Smith as the culprit.
We didn’t know for sure that Torrie was actually dead, but if I were a betting woman, I would have said she was.
The MO was slightly different than with Beth’s murder, and we had no idea how he’d snatched Della.
I was sure that the only reason he changed his method with Torrie was because of the cameras at the gas station and the fact that law enforcement knew he drove the white Camry.
The gas station camera was the only way anyone would have known that.
Taft suggested I take my phone down to Tech and have them transfer and enhance the footage, if it even mattered. Unless James Smith was caught committing a crime or a witness saw him commit that crime, we had nothing except a white Camry still sitting in our crime lab’s garage.
“When should we head out, Renz? He could change the time or even the day he dumps Torrie if that’s his plan. I don’t want to miss him arriving at the marina.”
“Then we need to have Tech copy your phone footage and head out. It’s going to take some time to get to Manitowoc, so we’ll have to settle on drive-through food.”
“That’s fine with me.”
The only thing Tech could do was copy the footage I had on my phone and work with that. Their cameras were high tech, not cell phone cameras, and their enhancement methods were the best.
They told us to get back with them on Monday morning for the results since the tech department didn’t work weekends.
After thanking them, Renz and I hit the road. We had a long drive ahead and wanted to make sure we got to the marina before James Smith showed up.
I checked the time—7:09 p.m. We would reach the marina by 8:50, and that included a quick drive-through-restaurant order to eat en route.
Renz pulled off the interstate in Sheboygan at eight o’clock. He made a turn at the first fast-food restaurant he saw. Luckily, only one car was ahead of us in the drive-through lane.
We placed our orders and within five minutes were back on the road. As Renz accelerated to merge onto the interstate, I situated his food and soda so he could eat and drink comfortably while driving.
“Less than an hour to go,” I said enthusiastically. “Have you ever been to the Manitowoc marina?”
With a mouthful of cheeseburger, Renz shook his head.
“Me neither.” I popped several fries into my mouth and rolled my eyes. “These are so good, and I’m so hungry.”
“We should have bought a couple more burgers in case we’re on our stakeout for hours.”
“Yeah, I didn’t think of that, damn it. Maybe there’s a vending machine near the harbor office.”
Renz tipped his head. “Maybe.”
I pulled up a street-view image of the marina as well as a satellite view. Since we didn’t know the layout of the land, we weren’t sure of the best place to park and lie in wait. We wanted to remain hidden from sight yet see the parking lot and dock clearly.
“I found a spot that could work well.”
Renz glanced my way. “Yeah. Where’s that?”
“Well, the harbormaster and several other officials have designated parking spots at the main building. It looks like you can see everything from those parking spots, and the chances of anyone being there at nine o’clock are slim.
Even if someone is, we can go inside, explain who we are, and back into an unoccupied spot. ”
“Yeah, we’ll check out the view from those spots once we get there.”
I finished my burger and fries, licked the salt from my fingers, and wiped my hands on the napkin. The trash went into the bag to be dumped later.
We were getting close. Renz would have to cut the lights before we went in unless we parked a block away, walked in on foot to make sure James Smith hadn’t arrived yet, then go back for the car. I asked Renz for his opinion on that, and he agreed we should walk in first.
At 8:55 p.m., we reached the street for the marina entrance. Renz drove down an intersecting street and parked.
He let out a groan. “It’s going to be a long night.”
“Maybe or maybe not.” I gave that a thought. “No, you’re right. It will be a long night if he sticks to what works for him.”
Renz smiled. “Ready to sneak around?”
“Absolutely.”
We exited the car and scurried across the street to the driveway leading into the marina. We stayed away from the bright streetlights and focused on parking spots that had some cover yet good views closer to the water and dock. From our position, we saw not a single car in the public parking lot.
Ambient lights glowed inside the main office, yet their parking lot was empty.
I walked to one of the spaces, looked out from that spot, and could see everything.
I wondered if James would be able to see us if he parked in the public lot and walked to the dock.
We did have a black fleet car, and from that distance, he wouldn’t be able to tell if anyone was sitting in the vehicle.
“I think right here will work, Renz.”
He walked over and joined me then looked toward the dock. “Yeah, I like it. Let’s go get the car.”