A Waffle Death, page 20
Naomi shook her head. “It doesn’t have anything to do with the murder. You know that. He was just as shocked as anyone.”
“You never had any issues with his social security number?”
“Why would I?”
“Because Dave Wolfe isn’t his real name.”
Naomi frowned. “But it was… that was the name I used when I talked to his references. They all knew him. There weren’t any issues.”
“There weren’t any issues because the references didn’t actually exist. They were set up. People telling you what Dave had told them to tell you.”
“I can’t believe that. He’s been such a good employee. I’ve never had any trouble with him.”
“He had to keep his head down and stay out of trouble if he didn’t want to be caught.”
“No,” Naomi continued to shake her head. “I can’t believe that.”
Terry’s phone rang. He looked at the number on the caller ID. “Do you mind if I take this?”
“Sure, of course.” Naomi looked around. “I should go. Give you some privacy. I guess…” She motioned to the faux manuscript, “You’ll keep that.”
“Yes, thank you for bringing it in,” Terry told her, reaching for his phone before the call could go to voicemail. “It was enlightening.”
Naomi nodded and left the office as Terry picked up the phone.
“Piper here.”
“Officer Piper.” The voice on the other end of the call was low and gravelly, sounding like the owner of it had stayed up half the night drinking and wasn’t quite ready for the day, even though it was mid-afternoon. “Detective Percival Jones here.”
The caller ID already told Terry what police force Jones was calling from, and Jones didn’t bother to supplement or repeat that information, driving straight to the topic of his call. “You are looking for information on a subject surnamed Pinckney.”
“Yes. That’s the name I was given. It may be an alias. I’m not sure yet; this is very early stages.”
“We are also looking for information on Pinckney. Am I to understand that you know where he is?”
Terry’s heart started to beat harder in anticipation. “He’s a murder suspect in Tennessee.”
“So he’s there? You know where he is?”
“Yes. Do you have an active warrant on him?”
“He is wanted for questioning in connection with a felony murder. Owner of a convenience store who was shot during a hold-up.”
“And wanted for questioning means he is your prime suspect?” Terry double-checked.
“Our investigation led us back to Pinckney but, by the time we had identified him, he had disappeared. In fact, it would appear that the hold-up was part of his departure from Maine. He was on the road at the time. Needed money. By the time we had identified him, any trace of where he had gone from there was gone. Though indications are,” Jones paused for effect, “that he was headed south at the time.”
Terry thought about that. “Just over two years ago?”
“Yes.”
“Sounds like he came straight here.”
“If you’re investigating him for murder, chances are you’re on the money. You’ll want to keep eyes on him until you have enough to arrest. Make sure he doesn’t slip through your fingers like he slipped through ours.”
“Do you have enough for an arrest?”
“We have fingerprint and DNA evidence, but they need to be verified as being his. If you happen to have either on file, that would be most helpful.”
“No. But I’ll see what I can do about getting them to you.”
“If they are his, we have enough for an arrest. The rest of what we have is circumstantial. Surveillance videos are grainy and he doesn’t look directly at the camera. Eyewitnesses were shaky and aren’t likely to have gotten any better with a two-year hiatus. But fingerprints and DNA would confirm his presence at the scene.”
“Okay. I’ll see what I can do. If we can make an arrest based on your evidence, then we can hold him while we pursue the investigation here. See if we can get him for both.”
“Good. Anything else you need from me?”
“Anything you have on file that you would like to share. Contacts who knew him before he changed his identity. I’ve managed to track down a couple through a mutual acquaintance but, the more we can get, the easier it will be to make our case.”
“I’ll go through the file. Pull up any family or friends.”
“Great. Appreciate that. I’ll be in touch.”
After Terry hung up, he stared at the phone for a few minutes, not seeing it, just working through everything in his head. It was hard to see Dave as a possible murderer instead of the polite and earnest young man who had worked at the bookstore for two years, respectful and hardworking, never causing any trouble. Most criminals gave themselves away eventually. Went to the bar and started a fight or got talking too much. Couldn’t resist pulling a scam that they had done before. Did something to attract attention to themselves.
But Dave had been good. He had been very good.
CHAPTER 40
Terry drove to Dave’s place of residence, but parked around the corner where the man would not be able to see his police truck when he looked out the window or door. Best to keep it all on the lowdown until they had a way to get a sample of Dave’s fingerprints or DNA. A garbage search was the obvious route. Dave was unlikely to be wiping everything down before he threw it out. Even if he’d thought to do that two years ago, the chances that he would still be doing it two years later were pretty low.
But Terry wanted to get the lay of the land before moving in. He had called Naomi to ask what Dave’s work schedule was, but hadn’t been able to get through to her and had to be content with leaving a message. Terry checked out the back of the house first, peeking in the garbage bin to see if there was anything he could grab. Unfortunately, garbage pick-up day had been just a couple of days before, and Dave hadn’t thrown anything out since then. Or else he burned his garbage or buried it somewhere out in the woods. Some people did that, but it was too much trouble for most. Since Bald Eagle Falls had started a municipal garbage collection program, all but the oldsters who were too set in their ways to change had adopted it.
In a few days, he would come by again and, if there were a fresh bag of garbage, he would throw it into the back of his truck and search through it in the parking lot behind the town hall.
K9 sniffed with interest around the base of the bin, and Terry let him for a few minutes, then gave his collar a little tug and ordered him to heel. K9 fell into place and they walked around the block to the front of the house.
Terry stopped and stared at the yellow VW bug in front of the house next door. Erin could not have driven anything much more recognizable. Her bright yellow bug stood out like a sore thumb wherever she parked it. He looked along the street for any sign of her. Had she come over to see Dave about something? Had Dave decided that she was too much of a liability and he needed to get her out of the way? Erin had been right in the thick of things from the time she had discovered Brandon Quayle’s body. Dave couldn’t let that go on forever.
Terry ducked back as a truck pulled into Dave’s driveway. It was moving quickly, and he was worried at first that he might have tripped a burglar alarm or some other kind of early warning system that Dave had in place to let him know if someone started nosing around his property. But he saw Dave hop out of the truck and cross in front of his house to the neighbor’s house.
The one Erin’s car was parked in front of.
Terry hesitated, hanging back to see what Dave would do and whether there was any reason to interfere. Dave might have a completely innocent reason for visiting his neighbor at the same time as Erin. Dave might, for that matter, be completely innocent and have nothing to do with Brandon’s murder or the robbery case gone bad.
But where there was smoke, there was fire. The chances that Dave was involved increased dramatically with every crime that he was suspected of.
Dave went to the door and pounded on it several times. There was no answer. He was already jangling a ring of keys and, in a moment, fitting one key into the lock.
There were a lot of reasons that Dave might be visiting his neighbor. The fact that he had keys and would go in the front door in broad daylight suggested that he had a legitimate reason to be there. A reason that did not involve Erin.
K9 whined at his side. Terry should have been reassured by the fact that Dave had keys to the house, but he was not. It didn’t matter to him that Dave’s neighbor trusted him.
They had all trusted him.
Naomi, Erin, Terry.
They all thought that he was a nice young man, an upright citizen, a nice guy working at the bookstore, not getting in any trouble.
But he thought K9’s instincts were right. There was still reason to be concerned about what was going on. Why was Dave going into the house? Why hadn’t the homeowner answered the door? He would have assumed that the house was empty or Dave was house-sitting while his neighbor was away, except for Erin’s car parked in front of the house and the fact that Dave had knocked on the door.
Erin could be visiting with another neighbor on the block. She could be across the street and just hadn’t turned around to park on the correct side. The odds that she and Dave would just be in the same place coincidentally was about as likely as the chances that Erin had randomly stumbled across Brandon Quayle’s body after he had died.
Twice.
He waited until Dave stepped into the house and then followed, moving quickly, wishing his shoes were quieter when they clicked on the concrete sidewalk blocks. He slowed down when he reached the doorstep, unsnapped his holster, and eased his gun out. Somewhere in the house were Erin and the homeowner. And a suspected killer. A man who may have killed multiple times.
He moved silently, K9 at his side, on high alert.
“Jane?”
Erin heard Dave’s voice. He was inside the house already. She wished she’d had more time to piece the clues together and figure out what was going on, but it was too late now. He was there and there was no time to call the police or bluff. Atheist though she was, Erin begged the universe that Dave wouldn’t discover their hiding place. He could come in, look around, and then decide that Aunt Jane had just gone out for a walk or something equally innocuous. Erin had not left any sign of her presence.
Except, of course, there was the bright yellow bug parked in front of the house. Erin swore in her head. He was too close for her even to whisper it aloud.
“Aunt Jane, it’s Dave. Where are you?” There was a pause as he looked around, taking the time to check each of the bedrooms as he walked by them. It would have made sense to hide in one of them. In the closet or behind the door, and then when he made his initial pass, jump out and run away.
“Is there someone here? A visitor?” Dave asked. “I thought I saw Erin Price’s car out front.”
His voice was calm and conversational—no reason for Jane and Erin not to show their faces.
Except that they knew he was a killer.
Dave made his way steadily toward them, his feet progressing quietly down the hall as he checked each room on the way to the back of the house.
“Jane, Erin, where are you hiding?” Dave asked in a pleasant, good-humored voice. “What kind of game is this?”
Neither of them moved. Neither breathed more than they had to. Dave came out of the hallway. He checked the kitchen and then the mud room.
The long red broomstick handle with the hook on the end was still leaning against the wall, not put away in the broom closet where it had been. Dave stepped over to it and picked it up. She could hear the gears turning in his head. Though she couldn’t see him, she imagined him looking up at the rectangular patch in the ceiling. He was taller than either of the women and would find it easier to reach the attic door.
It only took him one try to get the hook through the eyelet. He gave the trapdoor a little tug, and the hatch opened slowly and noiselessly. The ladder unfolded and touched down right in front of Dave’s feet.
Erin’s heart was racing so fast she could barely breathe. But she suppressed the urge to gasp or draw in any more air than usual. If he couldn’t see or hear her, maybe he would just give up and go home.
“In the attic?” Dave asked as he mounted the steps. “What are you ladies doing hiding in the attic? Did you really think that I wouldn’t find you up here?”
Erin listened to him climb the ladder, step by step. She pictured his head and shoulders protruding into the attic and squeezed her eyes shut tightly, trying not to give their position away.
“Hold it right there, Dave.”
CHAPTER 41
Erin swallowed a gasp. She knew that voice! Terry!
She did nothing that would distract him from his task at hand. Screaming and attracting attention to herself would not do any of them any good. She stayed still, though a shiver ran through her body that had nothing to do with how warm or cold she was.
“Who’s that?” Dave demanded.
“I said to hold it there. Don’t move. Drop the gun, Dave.”
A gun? Dave had come after them with a gun? His dear old Aunt Jane?
“Officer Piper?”
“Yes. Let’s see the gun. Just drop it through the hatch to the floor.”
“I’m afraid it might go off if I do that,” Dave said, wheedling, looking for a way to put himself back on the same level as Terry, to get an advantage over him.
Normally, the high ground won out as the best position. But with his head above the ceiling, Dave couldn’t see Terry, but Terry could see him.
“I’ll take that chance,” Terry countered. “I said drop it. I’m not going to tell you again.”
Still, Dave hesitated. Erin swallowed. Her eyes were still tightly shut as if Dave wouldn’t be able to see her if she couldn’t see him.
Then Erin heard the clunk of Dave’s gun hitting the floor. Another noise that sounded like Terry had slid it along the floor. Away from Dave, Erin supposed, so that Dave wouldn’t be able to get it again, like the criminals did so often on TV dramas.
“Come down slowly. Keep your back to me. Put your hands behind your head before you take the last step down.”
She could hear Dave moving slowly and carefully, looking for a way out of the situation as he came down to Terry’s level.
“What’s this all about, Officer Piper? I was just looking for an intruder…”
“You’re under arrest for breaking and entering,” Terry told him firmly, handcuffing him and then feeling his pockets for any other weapons.
“Breaking and entering?” Dave laughed. “I have a key.”
“When I hear that you had permission to come in here with a gun to check for intruders, then I will reconsider. Sit down cross-legged.”
Erin could hear Terry lowering Dave to the floor. K9’s collar jangled.
“Erin? Are you here?” Terry called.
For a moment, Erin couldn’t respond. She had been doing everything she could to keep quiet, and her brain and her body didn’t want to release and take the chance that something could happen to her if she were discovered. She forced her eyes open and tried to take deeper breaths.
“Erin?”
“We’re here.”
As Erin emerged, she saw Terry looking around in confusion. He looked up at the attic hatch and then at Erin and Mrs. Pooler.
“What?”
Erin giggled as she stepped out from the coat she had been hiding behind in the mudroom. She stepped out of the boots that had been hiding her feet and legs below the coat. Mrs. Pooler did the same, straightening the coat neatly on the peg and stepping out of a pair of gardening boots.
“I thought…” Terry looked up at the attic.
Erin shook her head. “I couldn’t get it open. We didn’t have enough time.”
He chuckled and looked over at Dave, sitting on the floor. Dave’s face was red, embarrassed that he had fallen for their trick, that he hadn’t seen them standing right there in front of him. Not that it would have made any difference with Terry coming in right behind him.
“Erin, I think you know Kyle Pinckney,” Terry said, looking down at Dave.
Erin felt like she’d been slapped in the face. “What? Kyle?”
“That’s not my name,” Dave protested. “I’m Dave Wolfe.”
“You’re not,” Terry said firmly. “You have been identified as Kyle Pinckney. Who, by the way, is a person of interest in at least one other criminal investigation at this time.”
“Kyle,” Erin repeated breathlessly.
Terry looked at her curiously.
Dave’s—Kyle’s—eyes were dark and angry as he stared at Erin, threatening her without words. Warning her that he would come after her if she opened her mouth and spilled what she knew.
“I know Kyle,” Erin explained. “That is… I know his name. I never knew his last name or met him. I just… heard him on the phone one night. Heard Brandon talking to him.”
Dave tried to jump to his feet, but Terry knocked him down again easily and didn’t let him get up. “You want me to shackle your ankles too?”
“I don’t know what she’s talking about. I didn’t have anything to do with… Brandon. I never met him. She’s the one who killed him. She’s the one who kept saying that she’d just happened to find him. You really believe that? She’s the one who knew him; of course it was her!”
Terry stared at Dave for a moment, then shrugged. “It probably doesn’t make any difference what Erin says at this point. Detective Jones in Maine wants you for felony murder. We’ll get enough evidence to prove that you killed Brandon when he confronted you with his fake manuscript. Anything else is icing on the cake.”
“Fake manuscript?” Dave repeated, blood draining from his face.
Terry nodded. “The one he had with him when he met with you was fake, anyway. I don’t know if that means there is no real manuscript or he just had the sense not to bring it with him.”
