Chapter 11
Asher arrived a few minutes later and strode into the living room, dividing an all-business look between Noelle and Eli. “All right, what’s going on? Have you made a break in the case?”
After a perfunctory greeting, Noelle turned her back and found a tissue to blow her nose and wipe her face. Asher sent Eli a curious look that silently asked about Noelle’s emotional state.
Eli debated telling his partner about Noelle’s accident and the cause, but until he figured out if and how it fit in with the Fiancée Killer case, he wouldn’t distract his partner with it.
Eli would keep a close eye on Noelle himself, while Asher focused on the new twists to the murder investigation.
He led Asher to the kitchen table where Noelle’s laptop and paperwork were still spread out, and he walked Asher through her findings. Eli covered what he’d learned after speaking to the experts in Seattle and the incriminating evidence that Scott’s work was significantly skewed.
Throughout Eli’s explanation to his partner, Noelle hovered close by, nodding her confirmation whenever Asher looked to her in stunned disbelief.
When Eli finished spelling everything out, Asher’s expression reflected the same shock and righteous anger that had racked Eli since he’d learned the news. Asher huffed his exasperation and slapped a palm on the tabletop.
“That son of a—” Asher cut his eyes to Noelle and swallowed the rest of the epithet. Taking a moment, his jaw tight, Asher asked, “Have you confronted Montgomery yet?”
“No. I wanted you to be in the loop first. And we need to proceed carefully. This is volatile stuff. Until we get an explanation from him, we can’t fly off the handle, or—”
“Or punch him in his geeky, coffee-guzzling face?”
Eli chuffed a humorless laugh. “I know how you feel, but before we blow this case up, we need to be sure we’re reading this right and not making false assumptions. We should build our case before we confront him. This—” he waved his hand at the laptop “—may have a legitimate explanation.”
Asher arched an eyebrow. “Really? I think there are only two possible explanations. He’s covering for the killer, or he’s incompetent in his job. Both are pretty damning for Montgomery.”
Noelle moved from the counter where she’d been leaning, listening, and said quietly, “It could be worse than that.”
Both men lifted their eyes to her.
She wet her lips. “I think you should consider the possibility that Scott is the Fiancée Killer.”
Noelle watched the color drain from Eli’s face, then, in the next moment, his blue eyes turned flinty. “You’re right. All options have to be on the table.”
Asher balled and flexed his fist on the tabletop, clearly struggling with a fresh wave of rage. “Right under our noses,” he muttered before rising from the table to stalk the floor.
“So what is our next move?” Eli asked.
“Call him on it.” Asher braced his hands on his hips, and his nostrils flared as he stared back at his partner. “We show up at his house tonight with a warrant to search his place for evidence.”
“Is what we have here, the discrepancies in his work, enough for a judge to issue a warrant?” Noelle asked.
“I offered the worst scenario only to keep all the possibilities open. But we can’t dismiss the possibility he just made some uniform errors or something threw off his calculations or—” She raised her shoulders and shook her head.
“So we gather more evidence against him,” Asher said flatly. “Where do we start?”
“Well,” Noelle said, moving to her laptop and scrolling through the open files and charts.
She bit her fingernail as she mulled over what they knew and turned it to look at different angles in her mind.
“The thrust of the misinformation has to do with the time of death, the amount of time the bodies had been left to decompose. Why would he focus on that?”
Eli drew a slow breath as he scrubbed hands over his face. “Alibi.”
Noelle cut a sharp look at him. “What?”
“The time of death helps us in several ways, but a key factor in regard to eliminating suspects is whether they can provide an alibi for the time the crime was committed.”
She considered this, a niggling sense they were on the verge of breakthrough teasing her brain, dancing just out of reach. “But we don’t have precise times for the women’s deaths,” Noelle said. “Just estimates, give or take days. Even weeks for the first victims.”
Asher joined them at the small kitchen table again, his eyes bright with determination. “Does Montgomery have an alibi? Where was he for the days or weeks when we believe the women were killed, based on the adjusted estimates the Seattle experts derived?”
Eli shook his head slowly, his frown dark and troubled. “I don’t know, but we need to figure that out.”
“How?” Noelle asked. If her own gut was twisting in knots and adrenaline spiking her pulse, she couldn’t imagine how Eli and Asher felt.
Frustrated? Edgy? Betrayed? Guilt pinched her for having dumped this seismic information on them. But if it was the break they needed, if it led them to catching Allison’s killer, if it meant other women’s lives were spared, she couldn’t regret it.
Squaring her shoulders, she asked, “In order to get to the remote areas where the bodies were found and commit the murders without leaving any evidence that connected him to the crime, the killer would need more than a few hours. That takes planning and time for execution.” She grimaced.
“Sorry poor word choice. I mean, time to commit the murder without leaving key evidence behind.”
The men exchanged a look, and Eli nodded. “She’s right.”
“So who at your office would have a record of when Scott took leaves of absence from work or called in sick? He’d have to have an excuse for being gone for several days at a time without raising questions. Wouldn’t he?”
Eli’s face brightened. “He would.” He checked his phone. “It’s pretty late. Do you think we can get Joetta from HR down to the office now to show us Scott’s personnel file?”
“Not without a court order,” Asher replied.
“Well, then, let’s get busy. Wake a judge or two.”
Three hours later, the groggy and disgruntled human resources manager handed Eli the file with Scott Montgomery’s personnel information. “Can I ask what this is about?”
“You can ask, but I can’t answer.”
The HR manager rolled her eyes. “I don’t see why it couldn’t have waited until morning.”
“Sorry to have disturbed your sleep, Joetta, but this is urgent,” Asher said, looking over Eli’s shoulder as Eli thumbed through the file. The men thanked her again and took the file upstairs to their office where Noelle was waiting.
“Well?” Noelle asked.
Eli waved the file and took a seat behind his desk to spread the pages out for examination.
“Let’s see. Vacation time requests… Here we go.
” Eli read out the dates of Scott’s past vacation days while Asher cross-checked the times with the new information about the murders Noelle’s work had derived.
One after another, the dates synced with the newly adjusted timeline for the women’s murders.
“So every time one of the Fiancée Killer victims was murdered, Scott was on leave from work.” Noelle’s expression hardened. “That sounds pretty incriminating to me.”
Eli ground his back teeth. “Yeah, but it’s also circumstantial. I’m just not ready yet to make such a drastic accusation without hard evidence tying him to the crimes.” He glanced at Asher. “We need to talk to him, clear this up. I’ll call him and ask for a meeting first thing tomorrow.”
“What’d he say?” Asher asked the next morning, long before anyone else in the ABI had made it into the office.
Unable to sleep with this new information ping-ponging in his brain, Eli had come to work, only to find Asher already there.
“He was understandably curious and concerned why we wanted to talk to him, and when I told him it was a personal matter, he suggested we come to his house rather than discuss it at the office. I agreed.”
“His house?” Asher grunted. “As long as we’re going, should we get a search warrant for his house and car?”
Eli nodded. “Can’t hurt. Let’s send it to Matthews again since he just granted the one for Scott’s personnel records and is familiar with the case.”
“Right,” Asher said, turning his chair to get started on the legal forms to request the search warrant.
Eli, meantime, called Noelle and updated her. “We’re meeting with Montgomery at his house later this morning. Do me a favor and don’t go anywhere alone until we figure out who cut your brakes and why.”
She was silent for a moment but finally agreed. “Call me as soon as you get back from Scott’s?”
“I will.”
“And you be careful, too. I guess I don’t have to tell you if he is the killer, and he realizes you’ve picked up his scent, he’s likely to be dangerous.”
“I’m trained for this stuff, Noelle. But…thank you for your concern.” He gave a half grin she couldn’t see, but he poured gentleness into his tone. “It’s nice to know you care.”
She was quiet again, then said softly, “Of course I care. That’s never been the issue for us.” He heard her sigh. “But we’ll finish that talk later. Today you need to concentrate on handling Scott and solving this case. There’ll be time for our personal problems later.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.”
Across the room, Asher stood and grabbed his coat. “We’re on. Judge Matthews will see us in his chambers in fifteen minutes. Let’s ride.”
When Eli and Asher had the search warrant for Scott’s home and car secured, they headed to the street address listed in his personnel file, using a GPS map application as a guide.
“You’ve never been to his house before, either?” Asher asked as Eli drove. “Do you not find that odd?”
“No. There are plenty of folks at the office whose homes I haven’t been to. I got along with him well enough at the office or if he joined the group for a drink after hours, but I never considered him a close enough friend to drop by his house.”
Asher scowled.
“Look, this should go without saying,” Eli said, “but since I know you’re both interested in Kansas—”
“What!”
Eli raised a hand to stave off argument.
“Dude, I have eyes. I’m not stupid. You both stare at her like she hung the moon when she’s not looking.
All I was going to say is, keep an open mind.
We have to keep our personal feelings about Montgomery and the possibility he’s duped us all these years in check. Be professional.”
Asher gave a nod and pressed his splayed hands on his thighs. “I know. I’m cool.”
The voice on Eli’s GPS directed him to turn, and as he did, he asked, “What’s the house number again?”
“Two twenty. That’d be it,” Asher said, bending forward for a better view through the front windshield. “I’m beginning to see why he never had us over for beers after work. That’s one of the smallest houses I’ve ever seen.”
“Don’t judge. He’s a bachelor, and a little house is all he needs. Besides, it may be bigger on the inside than it looks.” Eli parked on the street in front of the small house.
“You’re sure he’s expecting us? The windows look dark.” Asher opened the passenger door and climbed out.
“He picked the time, so he knew we were coming.” Eli got out and joined Asher on the sidewalk to the front door.
The lawn was winter-dead, and the deciduous trees appeared skeletal without their leaves, but Scott’s yard was neat and trimmed, showing it had been cared for through the summer.
“If he’s not here, then we let ourselves in. We have the warrant, so we’re covered.”
Eli reached the door first and knocked firmly.
Asher tucked his hands in his pockets and scanned the yard. “This is a nice area. Not a lot of neighbors, but if you like privacy, that’s a plus.”
When Scott didn’t answer the door after a minute or so, Asher knocked again louder, calling, “Scott? Are you there? Open up! It’s Eli and Asher.”
Eli moved his gaze over the doorframe, looking for a Ring or similar app-synced camera. No buzzer, but he did locate a small camera over the door. He looked right into the camera and waved. “Scott? You there? Can you let us in?”
Asher tested the doorknob, and when it turned, he pushed the door open. “Scott? Hey, Montgomery, are you here?”
They both stepped inside, and Eli led the way deeper into the house. Lights appeared to be off throughout the residence.
“I’ll check the bedroom,” Asher said as he moved down the short hall to the next room.
Eli swept the living room with an attentive gaze. The room was sparsely decorated and had only basic furniture—a couch, a side table with a lamp, a flat screen TV on the wall. The only wall art was a modern piece in dark tones and slashing lines that gave Eli a creepy sensation.
Turning from the disturbing art, he spotted a piece of paper taped to the bottom of the TV screen. His name had been printed on the folded sheet in block letters. He pulled the paper down and opened it. The note read simply, Surprise!
As he puzzled over the note, the blink of a green light caught his attention from the corner of his eye, and he turned to look for the source. What he found under the side table chilled him to the marrow. The wires, tubes and countdown timer attached to an initiator left no doubt.
Scott had rigged his house with a bomb. Eli and Asher had likely triggered the timer when they’d entered the house.
The timer screen read 00:12.
00:11
00:10
Eli’s feet started running before his brain could fully form his next thought.
“Asher, run! Bomb!” he yelled as he fled the living room.