“Thanks,” Chase said. “Call me if you find anything new.” When she was gone, he turned to Daniel. “We got Lisa Woolf’s cell phone LUDs. No calls from anyone she hadn’t been receiving calls from for months.”
“And her roommates?” Daniel asked.
“They say she went to a bar last night to unwind. She never made it home. But they did find her car about five blocks from the bar.”
Everyone at the table seemed interested by this. “What?” Alex asked.
“None of the other cars have been found,” Daniel said.
“What kind of car?” Chase asked.
“She was a grad student with no money,” Chase said with a shrug. “She drove an old Nissan Sentra. It’s being brought down here on a flatbed so we can take it apart. Maybe we’ll get lucky and find something he left behind.”
Daniel considered it. “Janet had her Z, Claudia a top-of-the-line Mercedes, and Gemma drove a ’Vette. None of those have been found, but he ditches the Nissan.”
“The boy likes fancy cars,” Luke said.
“We processed the scene at Alex’s bungalow,” Ed said. “Lots of prints to work through. It was a rental property, after all. Nothing on the bathroom window or sill. The bowl of dog food had a very high concentration of tranqs. If your dog had a normal digestive tract, Daniel, he’d be barking with the choir eternal right now.”
“I stopped by the vet on my way in from Bailey’s,” Daniel said. “Riley will be okay and now we know they were likely looking for the key that Bailey sent to Alex.” He looked at her. “Don’t forget to call your ex.”
“I won’t.”
“Then until tomorrow,” Daniel said and started to get up.
“Wait,” Alex said. “What about Mansfield? I mean, I understand how you have to be careful not to show your hand, but the man can’t be allowed to simply roam free.”
“We’ve got him under very close surveillance, Alex,” Chase said. “We started setting it up minutes after Hope picked him out of the photo array. Try not to worry.”
She huffed out a breath. “Okay. I’ll try.”
“Then until tomorrow,” Daniel repeated and started to get up again.
“Wait,” Luke said. He’d been typing on his laptop during much of the conversation. “I eliminated all the minorities and dead people from our list of graduates.”
“Right,” Daniel said, then caught his breath. “But there was one other that was killed ‘for the secret.’ ”
Luke nodded. “Still taking out the minorities, there have been five deaths among the Dutton males graduating within a year of Simon, not including Simon, Wade, and Rhett.”
“Check them out,” Chase said, “along with their families.”
Daniel looked around the table. “Anything else?” When nobody said yes, he said, “We’re sure? Okay then. We all meet back here, tomorrow, eight a.m.”
They all stood, then Leigh poked her head in the door. “Daniel, you have a visitor. Kate Davis. Garth Davis’s sister. She says it’s urgent.”
Everyone sat down again. “Show her in,” Daniel said. He looked at Alex. “Can you go and wait with Leigh in the outer office?”
“Of course.” She followed Leigh to the front where a young woman in a trendy suit waited. Alex searched her face and the woman met her gaze unflinchingly. Then Leigh took her back to the room while Alex settled in one of the chairs to wait.
Chapter Twenty-one
Atlanta , Thursday, February 1, 5:45 p.m.
According to Luke’s speed-of-light Google, Kate Davis was a bank manager in her uncle Rob’s bank. She was barely a year out of college, but her eyes looked old.
Daniel rose when Leigh brought her to the door. “Miss Davis. Please sit down.”
She did. “My uncle’s grandson was killed last night.”
“Yes, Atlanta Homicide is handling the investigation,” Daniel said evenly.
“He was a sweet boy, a little slow. Not the kind to mastermind any plot.”
“We didn’t say we thought he had,” Daniel said. “What can we do for you?”
She drew a breath. “I got a call from my sister-in-law an hour ago. She’s somewhere out west with my two nephews.”
Daniel lifted his brows. “Not a vacation, I take it.”
“No. She ran because she was scared. She called me because she wants this to be over, because she wants at some point to be able to come home. Garth and my uncle Rob argued this morning. Garth’s done something that’s made him a target. He’s been sitting down the street from my house for the last two nights, watching me. I saw him both times. I thought it was sweet. You know, he’s my big brother, and he cares.”
“But?” Daniel asked.
Her chin lifted a fraction. “My sister-in-law said Garth received a threat on my life with a demand for money. Garth wired a hundred thousand dollars from his sons’ college fund. She wanted to go to the police, but Garth wouldn’t let her. He said Rhett Porter was executed because he said too much. This doesn’t surprise you.”
“Go on” was all Daniel would say.
“Then Garth said Jared O’Brien had also been eliminated.” Her eyes narrowed. “That does surprise you.”
Daniel glanced at Luke. Luke typed, then shook his head. “He’s not dead.”
“He’s not been declared dead,” Kate corrected. “He disappeared more than five years ago. I was still in high school at the time. I’m sure you all can dig up the old police reports. Unless, of course, it was investigated by Loomis’s department.”
Daniel wanted to sigh. Instead he kept his voice even. “Explain, please.”
“Garth asked my uncle if he would go to the police. Rob said, ‘Not in this town.’ Then Garth threatened to report Rob for bank fraud if he said a word. My sister-in-law said she’d put up with Garth’s affairs for years, but wouldn’t allow him to jeopardize the safety of her sons.”
“Do you know where she was?”
“No, and I didn’t ask. I suppose you could subpoena my phone records if you really wanted to trace it. She used her own cell phone. She asked me to come and talk to you if I wasn’t afraid. If I was afraid, she said she would call you herself. But she said she wanted me to know that Garth was afraid for my life.”
“Are you not afraid?” Daniel asked softly.
“I’m terrified. I’m afraid I’ll end up like Gemma or Claudia or Janet. Or Lisa.” Sadness swept over her face. “And I’m afraid for my family. Both Garth and Rob have enough ammunition to ensure the other’s silence. That terrifies me most of all.”
“You’ve taken a risk coming here,” Daniel said. “Why?”
Her lips trembled and she firmed them sternly. “Because Lisa and I were friends. I used to borrow Gemma’s nail polish during lunch. Claudia helped me pick out my prom dress. They were part of my childhood and now they’re all gone and part of my life is gone with them. I want whoever did this to pay.” She rose. “That’s all I have to say.”
Alex stood at the end of the hall outside Leigh’s outer office, next to a window where she could get decent cell phone reception. And a little privacy. Her toe tapped and she realized she was nervous as the phone rang on the other end.
“Hello?” a female voice answered, and Alex wanted to sigh. She’d been hoping Richard would answer. Instead she was talking to Amber, Richard’s wife.
“Hi, this is Alex. Is Richard available?”
“No.” The word came too quickly. “He’s not here. He’s at work.”
“I called the hospital. They said he was at home. Please. It’s important.”
Amber hesitated. “All right. I’ll get him.”
A minute later she heard Richard’s voice, quiet and awkwardly formal. “Alex. This is a surprise. What can I do for you?”
“I’m in Dutton.”
“I heard. I… saw the reports on the news. Are you all right?”
“I am. Bailey sent me a letter. I think it came to the house. Can you check?”