Threads of Suspicion(126)
“Staying with friends? Traveling on cash? Prepaid credit cards?” Evie suggested. Her attention was now pinned to the security feeds—what he was doing, what he was paying attention to, who he was speaking with at the back of the hotel. He didn’t look like a murderer, more like the college kid still living next door, young, neat haircut, clean-shaven, moving quietly through the crowd.
David got up and began pacing, the phone cord corralling him to within a dozen feet of his chair. “We need to get an APB out on him, for the Chicago area as well as Indiana. The BOLO is going to be helpful, but it’s the guy we want to hold on to. We need to figure out how to pick him up tonight. Can we ping his phone, get a location on that? Surely we’ve got enough to get a locate warrant.”
“David, he’s talking with Lynne.”
David whipped around to view the streaming security footage.
Evie felt herself breaking out in a cold sweat. She saw no signs he was invading Lynne’s personal space, trying to lift a wallet, but they were having a long and animated conversation. Lynne’s smile flashed more than a few times at something he said. “Move away from her. Come on. Move on, speak with someone else,” Evie whispered, her voice tight.
David’s hand tightened on her shoulder. He sped up the video so they could see the length of the interaction.
Evie snatched up her phone, clicked on a phone number. “Mrs. Benoit, is Lynne home?” She shook her head at David. “It’s important I find your daughter now. I have a photo I need to show her.”
Evie silenced the phone. “She thinks Lynne’s still with Jim at the coffee shop. She’ll text to get that confirmed, ask her to stay put.” David nodded.
“Yes, let me know, Nancy.”
Evie watched the feed with her heart pounding. It wasn’t good. He talked to Lynne for more than ten minutes, then moved on. But thirty minutes later, he was back talking with her again. Evie watched Lynne share what looked like a thermos of coffee with him—being herself, nice Lynne, not reading this guy properly. He walked out of range just after eight p.m., didn’t reappear in the camera feeds.
Nancy’s text confirmed Lynne was at the coffee shop with Jim, and Evie’s heart rate settled.
“We need to know what those conversations were about.” David ran back the video and froze the security-camera image of Andrew and Lynne talking together, sent the image to the printer. He also sent the FBI photo of Andrew to the printer. “Let’s go find her.”
“Thanks.”
“Guys,” he said into the receiver on his shoulder, “I’m changing phones. Patch me into the conference call on my cell.”
David nudged her with his elbow, pulled out his keys and held them up. She smiled as she took them, not surprised he wanted the longer leg room of his vehicle over hers.
Evie drove to the music store and coffee shop, not using the flashing lights because the situation didn’t warrant it, but pushing the speed where she safely could.
“Indiana PD has an unmarked car at Andrew’s house,” David relayed. “There’s no sign of his car, lights are off, mail still in the box—hasn’t been home today.”
“Can they get a warrant with the info they have?”
“Someone from the FBI team is vigorously arguing that question with a judge right now,” David said.
He joined the ongoing conference call. “Let’s knock on neighbors’ doors, ask where he might be staying in Chicago, what hotel, which friends. Say there’s an emergency. Just get officers to find someone who can place him. If you have to, get a neighbor to call his cell, invent a reason for the call—there’s a gas leak in the neighborhood, a car hit a tree in his yard, something like that.”
She scanned the street and adjacent lots for any sign of Andrew’s car in case he’d followed Lynne.
The coffee shop was busy on a Saturday evening. Evie noted the full tables inside. Dinner hour. My dinner date with Rob . . . As soon as she parked, she sent a quick text: case breaking, sorry have to cancel.
Jim was behind the coffee bar. And there’s Lynne. Evie’s heartbeat slowed into normal territory as she walked toward the young woman sitting on a stool near the popcorn maker. She was keeping the paper popcorn bags filled for the crowd.
It was Jim who spotted her first, spilling the iced coffee he was making. He shook the liquid off his hand, dumped it, and reached for a rag to clean up. He called something to the woman working with him. She nodded and started in on a new drink.
Jim ducked under the counter and came around, stopping beside Lynne, who was facing the other way and so hadn’t seen them enter. Jim motioned toward the music store, and Evie diverted that direction, David following.