There were no Peeps left for breakfast the next morning, so I ate half of Amanda’s spaghetti and one of the meatballs, then took the last of the previous day’s coffee and all of the previous night’s observations up to the roof.
It was chilly, but as always it promised to be my best place to mull and brood. I unfolded one of the two webbed lawn chairs and settled in to think about what I knew and what to do about what I couldn’t yet prove.
After an hour, I called Sergeant Bohler at the county impound garage. ‘Ask Officer Gibbs how much blood was in the street the night of that convenience store killing, and where it was found.’
‘Anything else I can do, Elstrom? Wash your windows, gas up your Jeep, help you toss bodies into your river?’
‘I’m all set to advance your career, Bohler. I’m edging toward the truth.’
‘Do hurry,’ she said. ‘I’m broke.’
Next, I called Galecki’s restaurant and asked to speak to Mrs Galecki. When she came on, I got all the way through saying ‘Dek,’ before she hung up. I redialed, told the woman who answered I was calling only to talk about the cameraman, and that Mrs Galecki would know what I meant.
She came on the line, warily. ‘What?’
‘I want to talk to Jimbo, and only Jimbo,’ I said.
There was a pause, one long enough to make me think she’d hung up. But then she said, ‘Why?’
‘Everyone will be safer.’
I gave her my cell-phone number and hung up faster than she could hang up on me.
I started for the trap door, to head back down the ladders and the stairs, when my cell phone rang. Mrs Galecki had worked fast.
It was Jenny. ‘You called my mom, wanting to speak to Jimbo?’
‘Feeling better?’
‘I hurt like hell, but mostly it’s my eyes from squinting at the footage we got.’
‘Did you see anything?’
‘That first camera was aimed at the left side of the estate, the grounds alongside and not quite half of the house. We didn’t capture the guard shack, drive or the front door. So far, we’ve seen nobody coming into view from the left. Still, we’ll double-check every frame to be sure.’
‘Maybe the help lives in?’
‘I thought about that. I don’t know.’
‘Whoever attacked you seized the second camera?’
‘Jimbo had just taken it down when they were on him. That was the most important one. It was aimed dead center at the guard shack, driveway and the front door.’
‘How about the third camera?’
‘The one we left behind?’
‘It would have kept recording, right?’
‘You’re thinking it might show our attackers at least moving toward us?’ she asked.
‘The thought crossed my mind.’
‘That third camera was farthest down and pointed at the right side of the house and the grounds next to it. I doubt the attackers came from there.’
‘Can you show me exactly where that third camera is, anyway?’
‘You mean if the guards haven’t found it?’
‘Marking a zoomed-in satellite photo would be perfect.’
‘You can’t go there. It’s too dangerous. Besides, as I said, that third camera might be too far down and aimed at the wrong side of the house. Nowhere near the guard shack, gate or front door.’
‘Mark a photo anyway,’ I said.
At the time, I thought I was grasping at straws and didn’t think it would lead to anything.