“We know Saul was looking into concert connections for Tammy and for Jenna. That he’d found a reason to focus on somebody at another concert makes sense.”
“Tammy—that’s where I’ve seen him. This guy reminds me of a boyfriend of hers from her high school days.” David pulled his notebook out, started flipping pages, then stopped. “Lucas Pitch,” he read with satisfaction. “Saul was tracking down Tammy’s former boyfriends. I can see him doing that on his own time, case suspended or not. He would’ve liked to find Tammy. If this is Lucas, he was at an Arlington Heights concert six years ago. Maybe he’s still in the area. I ran the name through Illinois DMV,” he added, “and didn’t get a current match, but we’ll dig deeper.”
“A good lead.”
David tapped the next photos. They changed to several of an overgrown lot within a block of homes, taken from different vantage points. “This must have been what he was doing up north in Gurnee Thursday morning. The time stamp is close to when he stopped for gas. But I haven’t run across anything like a land dispute.”
“Maybe a favor for a friend? Or he was looking to buy the lot and build himself a home?” Evie asked.
“Could be. Yet another mystery, if it turns out to be relevant.”
“Can you make out the street signs?” Evie lifted one of the photos to check. “Maybe it’s Gradley with a cross street beginning with Tri.” She passed the photo to Ben.
“I’m thinking that’s Gridley—the name of a former mayor in Gurnee,” Ben said. “It shouldn’t be too hard to find this lot. The house number here . . . it looks like a forty-six.”
Evie focused on the mailbox number. “Forty-six,” she agreed.
David had moved on to the next group of images. “These are from Saturday afternoon—I can tell even without the time stamp. This guy is Neil Wallinsky, who lives over in River Glen.” There were ten shots in all, six of a neighborhood and a particular home, four of the man, one taken without his knowledge as he walked toward a mailbox, the other three casuals with him looking into the camera.
“You have to admire Saul. He put in the hours for his clients,” Evie commented.
“He enjoyed the job,” David said. “Cynthia underscored that.”
The next five were taken over a twenty-minute period, all of a gorgeous sunset. “Very sad,” Evie said, thinking about Saul’s last views alive.
“Cynthia might be relieved to have these. Her brother had seen some beauty the last night of his life,” David replied, “had paused long enough to capture it.”
Evie looked over at Adam. “Can you make duplicates of these five for his sister?”
“I don’t see why not. They’re confirmation that he was alive past this particular time of day, but otherwise, not evidentiary.”
Evie nodded her thanks.
“The next time I know Saul’s location,” David said, “it’s eight p.m. and he’s talking to a source in Arlington Heights, looking for a card game he’s heard is going on somewhere in Englewood. I hope you can tell me a sunset isn’t the last photo I’m going to get.”
“It’s not.” Adam spread out the final thirty photos. “My hunch, these are what you’re looking to see.”
It was night, the first obvious difference from the previous ones. These were taken with a long lens, meaning a cropped effect on the subjects. Lighting was dim. Evie doubted her own camera would have been able to get even a faint shadow in such conditions. Saul’s skill was clearly evident—he’d manually held the exposure open on some of these images.
The photos were mostly of men exiting vehicles, the figures caught in headlights, or some on a sidewalk with a streetlight providing angle lighting. Five photos showed groups entering the RB Electric building through a side door, with light from inside shining out and showing features clearly.
“We’re working on the negatives to enhance the contrast. My guess, you’ll get another twenty percent clarity. And since some are of the same individuals, frames can be digitally combined to heighten more details.”
“We’ll need that photo enhancement and more,” David replied calmly, but Evie heard something in his tone that made her glance over sharply. David pushed one photo up from the spread. “Recognize him, Ben?”
Detective Jenkins looked closely and smiled. “I do. And isn’t this interesting?”
“Who is it?” Evie asked. David had worked in Chicago for years before moving to New York. That he would recognize a major criminal player didn’t surprise her.