She took a deep breath. “I’m fine, just glad to see you,” she said.
The scared look on her face, coupled with her words, made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He straightened in his seat. “I can tell it’s something else. Did something happen while you were at the shelter?”
“It may be nothing, but I can’t shake the feeling that I just witnessed something sinister.” She quickly told him of her meeting with Herman and how he’d left when Marty Weaver came into the dining room. When she’d finished, she leaned closer to Seth. “It was as if Marty scared him for some reason. He couldn’t get out of there fast enough. Even gave up the chance to have his name drawn for a bed, which he’d told me he was looking forward to.”
Seth rubbed the back of his neck and frowned. “I agree it sounds suspicious, but the homeless are often afraid of the police. Then again, you may have just stumbled on somebody that might be able to help us on the racketeering case we’ve been working on. I need to talk to Herman. Where was he going for the night?”
“He said he slept in an abandoned warehouse, but I don’t know where.”
“I have a friend who patrols the area where a lot of the homeless sleep. I’ll call him and see if he knows Herman. If he does, maybe he can keep an eye on him tonight.”
“That would make me feel a lot better.”
Seth punched in the number and gave a slight nod to Callie when his friend answered. “Max Prince speaking.”
“Hey, Max, this is Seth Dawtry. Glad I was able to catch you.”
“Seth, good to hear from you. What can I do for you?”
“I’ve been working on an unsolved murder related to a racketeering case for a while, and I just got a lead that a homeless man named Herman Miller may have some information. Do you know him?”
“Yeah, we call him Champ. He hangs out in an abandoned warehouse down near the river. We’ve been trying to pass the word through the homeless community that the building is scheduled to be demolished in thirty days, but there are a lot of people who have their spaces set up there. They don’t want to move.”
“Do you plan to check on that building tonight?”
“It depends on how busy we get with other calls coming in, but we’ll try to get by there.”
“Would you check on Herman for me? Tell him I really need to talk to him.”
“I’ll do it. I go off duty at seven in the morning. I’ll give you a call before I go home.”
“Thanks, Max. Talk to you later.”
Seth ended the call and turned to Callie. “He’ll check on Herman and call me in the morning.”
Callie smiled at him. “Thanks, Seth. My heart went out to that man as I listened to him tell his life story.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “Maybe today has been more productive than we expected. I met a man who may give you a lead on that racketeering case, and you found Uncle Dan’s note about sending Hope’s DNA to the TBI lab. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could solve both cases?”
Seth chuckled and started the car. “It would be, but don’t get your hopes up. I’ve been disappointed many times when I thought I was onto a hot lead, and it turned out to be nothing. It takes a lot of patience and time to solve most of our cases.”