Chapter 61
COOPER
I need to get out of Ken’s house as quickly as I can.
He’s got a fence encircling his property, so hopefully the neighbors did not see me. It’s about five o’clock, close to dinnertime, and people probably aren’t paying much attention to this house anyway. They’re focused on getting home to their own families.
I consider wiping down anything I might have touched in the house. I can’t remember what I touched though. I definitely touched the doorknob and the front door, but that could be easily explained. He’s my boss after all. It’s not suspicious that I would have been in his house.
There’s his phone though. I would have trouble explaining why my fingerprints are on that.
I find his phone where I left it on the coffee table. I want to get out of here, but I’ve got to wipe this down, or else it’s going to look really bad for me. I go into his kitchen and grab a paper towel. This shouldn’t take long.
Unfortunately, wiping fingerprints off a phone proves to be more difficult than I thought.
If I had gloves, it would be easy, but attempting to wipe it down without touching it more during the process seems impossible.
I am tempted to search his kitchen to see if he has any rubber gloves I can borrow, but what if I got fingerprints on that?
I do the best I can. I wipe one side, then I hold it around the edges to flip it onto the other side and wipe it down while it’s lying on the coffee table. I can’t guarantee there isn’t a partial print left behind, but I’m wasting too much time. I’ve got to get out of here—now.
I think about slipping out the back, but that seems like it could be worse.
Someone sneaking out the back could be more suspicious to the neighbors.
Better to just walk out the front door as casually as I can.
It’s dinnertime, and a person entering or leaving a neighbor’s house shouldn’t attract much attention.
But as I’m going out the front door, I notice something I hadn’t seen when I came in. Something that makes me realize I shouldn’t have been quite as concerned about the neighbors.
There’s a door cam.
A camera is mounted over the door, which captured me entering the house and now leaving. I was worried about the neighbors, but this camera will tell the police everything they need to know. I am beginning to realize how screwed I am.
But wait. Ken must’ve been shot at least a day ago.
The police will match up the camera feed with the time I’m here, and they will recognize that it does not coincide with the time of his death.
Maybe this will be fine. I can pretend that I came in here to water his plants, and I never went upstairs.
Again, a voice in the back of my head is telling me that I should just call the police and let them deal with it. And I will.
But first I have to get home and check my garage.
I walk as briskly as I can over to my car and jump into the driver’s seat. I grasp the steering wheel with both hands, taking deep breaths to calm myself down. I need to get a hold of myself. I’m not going to make the situation better if I get in a car crash.
I think about Coach Pike, who dared to kick Izzy off the soccer team, and now he’s in jail. Then I think about Lexi’s boyfriend, Zane, who is lying in a hospital bed with a broken neck.
I reach into my pocket for my phone. I send off a text message, then I start driving.