Need to meet U, he typed. You’re in danger.
When? Where?
He was supposed to be Kenny, who was supposed to be at school, twenty minutes from downtown. 12:30, he typed. Will sneak away at lunch.
McD’s by school?
He frowned then. The McDonald’s was across from the sub shop, where he’d grabbed the interpreter. Too many cops looking for you. Library parking lot.
Okay.
Hide till then. Cops looking for you. They lie. Don’t trust them.
That should take care of Austin Dent until he could take care of him in person.
Wednesday, September 22, 11:20 a.m.
“Not home,” Olivia muttered, standing on Eric Marsh’s welcome mat.
“We could try for a warrant,” Noah said and she shook her head.
“Brian Ramsey couldn’t get me one last night for Joel and that was with proof he’d been in a fire. We’re not getting a warrant. Not unless we find something else.”
The apartment door to the left opened and a grumpy-looking old man stared out. “He’s probably at school. Some kind of engineering major. Whaddya want with him?”
“We want to talk to him,” Olivia said. “I’m Detective Sutherland and this is Detective… Webster.” She’d almost said Kane. “And you are?”
“Jed Early.” Early glared. “Comings and goings and goings-on. Give a kid that age an apartment and you’re just asking for trouble.”
“Who’s been coming and going?” Olivia asked.
“Kids. Mostly that Frenchie. Albert,” he sneered. “I guess they’re free to do what they want in their own place, but I should be free not to have to listen to it.”
“So Eric and Albert were…” Olivia said and Early nodded sourly.
“Every night. All night. God.” He shuddered. “Made me wish I needed hearing aids.”
“You mentioned kids, more than one,” Noah said. “Who else?”
“Another boy and a girl.”
Olivia’s ears pricked. “You get any names?”
He frowned. “I don’t snoop.”
“But you’ve got good hearing,” Olivia responded cagily and he grinned.
“I do indeed. Mary and Joel. No last names, though. I think they were studying together. Always had their laptops. Sometimes Joel brought big charts, rolled up.”
Of course you don’t snoop, Olivia thought. “When did you last see Eric?”
“Yesterday, carrying a box. I didn’t see him after that. I had to go to the doctor.”
“When did you come back from the doctor?” Noah asked.
“I got back after two, and I haven’t seen them since. But something was going on over there. They were all arguing early Monday morning. Woke me up.”
The hairs rose on the back of Olivia’s neck. “What time, sir?”
“About one, two. My eyes aren’t so good and I couldn’t see the clock. Sorry.”
“No, you’ve been very helpful,” Olivia said. “Will you be around later?”
He nodded. “They did something pretty bad, didn’t they? I mean, I recognize you now. You worked the case of all those murders in that pit. You’re a homicide cop.”
“I am. Right now, we don’t know what they have or haven’t done. But thank you.” She waited until they were back in Noah’s car to talk. “I think we can get a warrant now.”
“You call the ADA. I’m going to call the airports and make sure Eric doesn’t slip away. The Fischers said he had money. He could be a flight risk.”
They each made their calls and Olivia was relaying all the details to ADA Brian Ramsey when Noah waved at her to wait.
“Tell him that Eric Marsh bought a ticket yesterday morning-one way to Paris. It took off at five-thirty yesterday afternoon, but he never showed.”
“I heard,” Brian said. “I’ll have the warrant in thirty.”
Olivia hung up. “Let’s do a halftime check. We’ve got Joel who was at the fire. Lovers with Mary and friends with Eric, who is lovers with Albert.”
“Maybe they all did it together. Didn’t Micki say there were at least three?”
“She did. But how do Joel and pals connect to Tomlinson and this Dorian Blunt?”
“And which of them did Austin Dent see shoot Weems and then get in a boat at the dock on Sunday night?”
“And how does Tomlinson’s wife factor in?” Olivia’s eyes narrowed. “Why lie to us?”
“And why the glass balls? Why only two? Why not leave one at last night’s fire?”
“Something tells me that once we find Eric, Mary, and Albert, we’ll get answers. Let’s get a key from the super and wait by Eric’s door. I don’t want him slipping by us.”
Wednesday, September 22, 12:00 p.m.
Insisting he not drive, Glenn and his mother had met him at the firehouse. His mom had driven him back to the apartment, Glenn following behind in David’s truck. His mother was making a pot of soup, which David knew would cure anything that ailed him. It always had. Or maybe it was just having her fuss over him. Both worked.
Now he and Glenn sat in the Gorski sisters’ garden, David on the phone with Ethan while Glenn looked on, chomping at the bit.
“Well?” Glenn asked when David hung up the phone.
“That man is scarily efficient,” David said. “Ethan says the domain registration for Lincoln’s Web site was paid for by a Mary Francesca O’Reilly, aged twenty-three.”
“Did Mr. Efficient get an address for Ms. O’Reilly?”
“PO box on the card, but her social security number brings up several addresses. Most recent is a dorm at the university.”
“Where that kid Joel Fischer went,” Glenn said thoughtfully.
“Where thousands of kids go. Doesn’t mean she knew Joel. Doesn’t mean she was at the fire. But it does mean she had some contact with Lincoln Jefferson. She couldn’t just go in and pay his bill without his user name and password.”
“Unless she had somebody like Ethan helping her. Or she is somebody like Ethan.”
“Ethan’s a white hat,” David murmured, then smiled when Glenn laughed. “That’s what they call them. Guys who use their hacking skills for good and not evil. I’m thinking Mary isn’t a white hat. Plus, she paid with her own credit card. How covert is that?”
“You’re probably right. Still, I’m thinking your pretty detective needs to know this.”
“I’m thinking the same thing. She’s not gonna be happy about the way I found it.”
“After last night, do you think she’ll really care? After last night, do you?”
David thought about Jeff. About Kane. “No. And no. It could be that this Mary O’Reilly is just some Moss fan, like Lincoln. Maybe she’s the one who helped Lincoln track me down yesterday and again I have to ask why?”
“More importantly, will she do it again? Better call your cop.”
David reached for his cell just as it rang, Ethan’s number on the caller ID.
“I checked out Truman Jefferson,” Ethan said. “Lincoln called him from his cell.”
“Lincoln’s older brother,” David said. “I found his name last night. What about him?”
“He’s a Realtor. It would have been nothing for him to look up your friend’s address.”
“So Truman helped him. Not Mary.”
“Truman is likely, Mary is unknown. The only other call Lincoln made was to a prepaid. The prepaids are traceable, but they take more coordination to do so. I’d need a lot more time and contact with the holder of the phone. You need anything more?”
“This brother, Truman. Any idea on his stability?”
“You’re asking if he’s crazy? That I don’t know. Has he been in trouble? No. Hasn’t even had a parking ticket. Lincoln on the other hand, had a long string of problems over the years. Mostly loitering, public disturbance, a couple shopliftings. On paper, Truman seems like a regular guy.”
“Thanks, Ethan.” David hung up his own cell and from his pocket pulled the prepaid phone he’d purchased the night before.
“What are you doing now?”
“I’m setting up an appointment with Truman Jefferson and I don’t want him knowing it’s me. I want to meet him, be sure that he’s not nuts and that he understands what would happen if he helped Lincoln again. And then I’m calling Olivia to give her this info.”