Dixon sighed and nodded and rubbed his hands over his face. “Does anybody else have anything?”
“Lisa Warwick’s vacation plans didn’t turn up anything,” Hamilton said. “But her phone records show a lot of calls to the law offices of Quinn, Morgan and Associates. Two calls the day she disappeared.”
“She volunteered as a court advocate to women from the center,” Mendez said. “Morgan handles most of the family court cases. I think she might have had a thing for him. He’s tougher to read. I haven’t spoken to his wife yet.”
“Steve Morgan is as straight an arrow as they come,” Dixon said.
“He’s the guy in the photograph?” Trammell asked.
“Yeah,” Mendez said.
“I finally talked to the next-door neighbor last night,” Trammell went on. “Nosey old bat. She said she saw a man coming and going from Lisa Warwick’s house from time to time at odd hours, late at night. She—the neighbor—is up at odd hours on account of her sciatica, she told me. I showed her the photo. She couldn’t swear he was the guy, because it was always dark, but she thought it could be. Right height, right build.”
“When was the last time she saw him?” Mendez asked.
“She wasn’t sure—I think she drinks for that sciatica—but she thought it was maybe the night before Warwick went missing.”
Dixon swore under his breath. “Tony, talk to Morgan again.”
“We’ve got the maintenance man from the Thomas Center in,” Hicks said. “He denies any connection to the stolen cars or to the women, but Miss Vickers’s friend told us he had his eye on Karly and she didn’t like it.”
“He did five in Wasco for stealing cars—”
“That’s where Gordon Sells was,” Mendez said.
“Lyle claims he didn’t know Sells there, but he has been to Sells’s junkyard.”
“And Lyle had charges on him for abusing a girlfriend?” Dixon asked.
“Six months’ worth.”
“He’s still here?” Dixon asked.
“Holding him on a bench warrant for outstanding traffic violations. But unless we come up with his prints in one of those cars, we’ve got nothing to charge him with. He can pay his fines and go.”
“Talk to him again,” Dixon said. “If nothing turns up, kick him loose. Hamilton and Stuart, I want you to canvass the businesses around Peter Crane’s dental office. So far, that’s still the last place anybody saw Karly Vickers. Trammell and Eaton, knock on every door within half a mile of Gordon Sells’s place.”
Mendez turned to Leone. “You coming with me? I’m stopping at the elementary school to talk to the Crane boy and Wendy Morgan to see if they know how the Farman kid got that finger.”
“No,” Vince said. “I have to make a call to Quantico. But do give my regards to Miss Navarre,” he added with a smug smile.
“Yeah,” Mendez said, rolling his eyes. “I’ll get right on that.”
37
Tommy hurt all over. He had a whopper of a black eye. The back of his head hurt from where it had bounced off the ground when Dennis knocked him down. The doctor at the emergency room had taken X-rays and said that his ribs weren’t broken, but they sure were bruised. His whole stomach was black and blue from where Dennis had kicked him, and it hurt like crazy when he tried to breathe.
Still, he felt pretty proud of himself for going after Dennis. There was no way Dennis was going to do anything but kick his butt, and still Tommy had taken him on. His dad had told him he had done the right thing defending Wendy. A man should always defend women.
His mother, of course, had flipped out about the whole thing. She had spent much of the evening screaming about Dennis Farman and Dennis Farman’s parents, and how she was going to press charges AND sue—sue the Farmans, sue the school, sue Mr. Alvarez.
His father had been calmer, but still upset. He had gotten on the phone with Principal Garnett after Tommy’s mother had finished screaming at him, and asked a lot of questions about what would be done about Dennis.
His mother was voting for prison, but Tommy knew they didn’t send kids to prison for fighting during gym class. Tommy figured Dennis would get expelled, which was good, except that that left Dennis free to harass and attack people when school was out. And he had no doubt that Dennis would come after him.
Dennis would blame him for everything. Never mind that Dennis had tried to shove a rotten finger from a dead person down Wendy’s throat. That right there was enough to get him expelled. But Dennis wouldn’t see it that way.
Tommy and Wendy sat in the outer office while their mothers were in with Principal Garnett. Tommy could hear his mother’s voice as she ranted and raved. She was down a hall and behind a closed door, and he could still hear her. He felt bad for Principal Garnett.
He felt bad for himself too. He was afraid his mother would come storming out of the principal’s office and drag him home with her just because she was mad. She had already made threats about moving him to another school, which he didn’t want at all.
He looked at Wendy sitting next to him and made an impatient face, rolling his eyes. She just looked at him.
“Are you all right?” Tommy asked.
“No!” she said, her voice lowered so as not to attract the attention of the secretaries. “I’m mad! Dennis tried to stick the finger of a dead person in my mouth! He touched my face with the finger of a dead person! I’m still totally grossed out!”
“Oh.” He knew better than to say too much when a girl was really mad.
Wendy’s expression softened. “Are you all right? You look like you hurt all over.”
“Yeah, but I’m pretending I don’t or my mom will make me stay home. I don’t want to stay home with her. She’s crazy mad.”
A door opened back in the depths of the office. Tommy snapped his head around, wincing at the pain. His mother came storming out of the hall, her face as red as the suit she wore, her eyes bugging out of her head.
Tommy cringed, waiting for her to grab his arm and haul him off. Why hadn’t he had sense enough to hide in the lavatory?
But she went right past him, her high heels clicking against the floor. She didn’t even look at him.
Open-mouthed, Tommy watched her go. He and Wendy exchanged a look.
“You lucked out,” she said.
He had, but they hadn’t, he thought as Detective Mendez came out of the hall and crooked a finger at them. He got up gingerly, trying not to suck in too big a breath.
“Hey, Tommy,” the detective said as they followed him down the hall. “I hear you can take a punch if you have to.”
What was he supposed to say to that? “I guess so.”
They went into the conference room. Principal Garnett was standing by the door, red-faced and breathing too hard.
“I’m going to leave this to you, Detective,” he said. “I have to call our attorneys.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Wendy whispered.
Wendy’s mom came over to her. She looked upset too.
“Have the office call me if you decide you want to come home,” she said.
Wendy nodded. Her mother kissed her cheek and started to leave the room.
“Mrs. Morgan?” Detective Mendez said. “Can I have a word with you in private before you go? We’ll be finished here in a few minutes, if you don’t mind waiting.”
Wendy’s mom looked unhappy, but she said, “I guess so. I’ll be out here.”
Miss Navarre came over then, turning as white as a sheet as she looked at Tommy.
“Tommy! Oh my God,” she said. “Should you be here?”