Chapter 22. a Verdict, a Tackle, and a Missing Pin #2
By then, officers on duty in the courthouse were rushing over.
Alonzo explained the situation, and two officers hauled Sanderson to his feet.
He looked down the hallway, where Bianca cowered near the doors of the courtroom we’d just left.
“I just wanted to know why you were here!” he cried.
“I just want to see my son! I have rights!”
It would be nearly a year before he’d have another chance to pursue visitation in family court. The judge who’d released Sanderson from jail had warned him that if he violated the order of protection, he’d be smacked with the maximum sentence, eleven months and twenty-nine days in jail.
Once the officers had hauled Sanderson away, Bianca walked over to Alonzo and me, fresh tears in her eyes. “Thank you for catching him.”
Alonzo brushed dirt from her jacket. “That takedown makes me miss my days as a beat cop.”
I was glad one of us had found the capture entertaining. I’d acted on reflex but, once I had, I’d been scared to death Sanderson would kick me and hurt my baby. Luckily for me, Alonzo had been quick with the zip ties.
I arrived at the barn bright and early on Thursday to see the new doors Buck and Owen had hung on the barn while I’d been at the courthouse on Wednesday. “Wow!” I told my cousins. “The doors look fantastic.”
Owen took a bow, while Buck blew steamy breath on his fist and pretended to polish it on his shirt.
Rather than the sliding doors that suited the barn when it had been used as a horse stable, these were hinged wooden double doors, each with a large diamond-shaped pane of glass in the center at eye level.
The doors were flanked by vertical panels of glass known in the industry as sidelights.
A wide horizontal transom window above the door filled in the remainder of the large opening.
Though the doors remained unpainted for now, my cousins had applied tinted window film to the glass to allow filtered light into the corridor while decreasing reflection so birds wouldn’t inadvertently fly into the windows.
The glass would also enable residents to see in and out for their safety.
We planned to install a keypad security system whereby residents could buzz their visitors in.
We wanted the people who lived here to feel safe.
We’d also provide residents access to the security camera feeds so they could monitor people coming and going around the building and parking lot.
As Tyler Yee’s murder had proven, you could never be too careful.
An enormous stack of two-by-fours sat on Buck’s flatbed trailer.
The two of us carried them into the barn and stacked them in the center, where we could easily access them.
We set about framing the first apartment, using the existing stalls as guidelines.
We intended to keep the stalls in place as a design element, though we’d refinish the wood and cut an opening between them so the residents could move between their kitchen and living areas.
Having completed several projects together, Buck, Owen, and I fell quickly into rhythm, working efficiently without sacrificing skill. Before we knew it, we had the first apartment framed, and it became easier to visualize how beautiful and unique the place would look when it was done.
Buck climbed down from the extension ladder and wiped his brow. “Let’s take a break.”
We were sitting on a tarp under a tree outside, enjoying sandwiches Colette had prepared for us, when a car turned from the county road onto our newly completed drive. Buck spotted it first. “Someone’s coming.”
I sat up to see better. “That’s Detective Alonzo’s car.” Ruby ran along the pasture fence, barking up a storm as she escorted Alonzo up the drive. Maisy strolled after the dog, casually chewing her cud as her bell gave off its trademark clang.
Buck and I stood and walked to the edge of the parking lot. Alonzo’s tires crunched on the gravel as she pulled up. She unrolled her window.
“Has there been a development?” I asked.
“There has,” she said. “I got a call from Devin and Bess Carmichael this morning. They said someone showed up at their Wednesday fellowship dinner last night without his Redeemed pin.”
“Who?”
“Thad Gentry.”
“But he’s been cleared. He had the early morning flight to Charleston.”
“He wasn’t on it. I visited a neighbor of Gentry’s who has a doorbell camera and asked to see their footage starting at eleven the evening before Yee was killed.
They assumed there’d been a burglary or a car break-in overnight.
I didn’t say otherwise. The footage showed Gentry’s Infiniti driving by at half past eight in the morning.
If he’d taken the flight he’d booked, he should have already been airborne. ”
My mouth fell open. “Oh, my gosh!” I realized then that, even though I’d been the one to suggest him as a possible suspect, I hadn’t truly considered him a viable one.
Then again, maybe I was just shocked to learn that a person I’d interacted with on multiple occasions was capable of such a heinous act.
Alonzo raised a palm. “Before you get too worked up, you should know that there could be another reason why he missed his flight. You should also know that Gentry told the Carmichaels he’d simply forgotten to put the pin on before heading to the church last night.”
“Is that true?”
“I don’t know yet. I called Gentry’s office this morning and his assistant gave me his cell number.
I called it and told him I wanted to speak with him in person.
He told me he’d be over at River Valley Ranch today.
I’m heading there now. I’d like to take you with me again.
He might say something you know to be false, or ask a question only you know the answer to. ”
She didn’t have to ask me twice. I shoved the last bite of sandwich into my mouth and headed to the passenger side of her car.
After I climbed in, she executed a three-point turn to get the car aimed back toward the county road.
As we headed out of the parking lot, she glanced to our right.
“Didn’t that dirt road behind the pasture used to have gravel on it? ”
Leave it to a detective to notice. “It did.” I explained that the easement had ended when the partnership that Gentry was involved in purchased two adjoining parcels with county road access. “Buck and I moved the gravel to the walking trails when we were working on the driveway.”
“Big improvement over the potholes and mud.”
I raised my index finger. “But still with rustic charm.”
“Retaining the country vibe, huh? Folks will like that.”
I hoped so. I wanted Gail to be inundated with rental applications when the project was finished.
Ruby turned around and ran along the fence as Alonzo retraced her route down the driveway. Maisy, who’d just made it to the back fence, also turned around to follow her friend. At her plodding pace, she’d never catch up to the dog.
We reached the county road and waited for a pickup truck to pass before Alonzo turned right and drove down to the stone entry of River Valley Ranch.
As she approached the sales office, I could see that the crew had made good progress on the house being built farther back in the subdivision.
Several men were on the roof now, installing shingles.
Gentry’s midnight-blue Infiniti Q70L sedan sat next to the white Land Rover I’d seen when I’d gone to the sales building before.
Even if I hadn’t been familiar with his car, the vanity plate that read TGENTRY made it clear who owned it.
A brown Audi sedan was parked there, too. The golf cart was gone.
Detective Alonzo and I went inside to find Thad Gentry in one of the offices with his door open. The salesman from last time was nowhere to be seen, nor was the owner of the Audi. Presumably, they were out on the property, the salesman showing the potential buyer the available lots.
Gentry looked up from his desk. A flicker of annoyance crossed over his face when he saw me.
I supposed I was a thorn in his side. After all, I’d snagged two properties he’d wanted to get his hands on.
He’d actually been lucky I’d refused to turn the first one over to him.
It had later caught fire due to a faulty old knob-and-tube electrical system.
Thankfully, nobody had been hurt in the fire, though I’d briefly been unable to find Sawdust and had panicked that my little guy might have met his demise.
Buck and I had been able to fix the damage, but at unexpected expense.
Gentry stood and came to the door, ignoring me now as he addressed Alonzo. “You must be the investigator who called earlier.”
“Detective Alonzo,” she said, extending her hand.
He cast a glance at me, but addressed his question to her. “Why is Miss Whitaker here?”
“It’s Mrs. Flynn now,” I said.
His eyes said whatever, but his lips said, “Pardon me. Mrs. Flynn.”
“Whitney found what we believe to be a critical piece of evidence in Tyler Yee’s murder case.”
His brows rose just enough to show interest, but not enough to show alarm. He addressed this next question to me. “What did you find?”
“We’ll get to that,” Alonzo said. “Before we do, I’d like to know about your relationship with Tyler Yee.”
“That’s easy,” Gentry said. “There was no relationship. He called my office, identified himself as a journalist, and requested an interview. He’s hardly the first reporter to do so.
I’m in the business section of the local rags all the time, sometimes even the society pages.
He said he was working on an article about development in Leipers Fork and wanted to get the perspective of someone who was involved in it. ”
“Did you agree to an interview?” Alonzo asked.
“I did.”
“You agreed because…?”