Seven

Evie met up with Ann near Jenna’s apartment building, arranged to ride with her, and waved David on to his interview.

“For efficiency, let’s split up and start by following Jenna’s credit-card purchases, get a look at where she liked to shop around the campus area,” Evie suggested. They could show Jenna’s picture around, hopefully jog owners’ and longtime employees’ memories.

Ann stamped her feet to clear snow off her boots and gamely nodded. With only a little irony, she said, “It’s a beautiful January day for strolling around.” Fortunately, it was a bit warmer than yesterday. Ann handed back Evie’s page of facts and theories. “I like the music-student theory.”

“David’s suggestion on the drive over here. Music is this person’s passion, I’m guessing, and why he chose Jenna. Or she—I’m not convinced yet we’re looking for a guy. Jenna would have opened her door late at night to a woman without a second thought.”

“I saw that,” Ann returned, “and the ‘literally moved her body’? You’re good at seeing the scope of something, Evie, but that’s just macabre. Possibly true, but beyond macabre. Although hauling a body away in a sleeper sofa carried out to a moving van does open one’s eyes to what might not have been explored yet.”

Evie shrugged. “College students move all the time. It’s easy enough to use that to your advantage. ‘The girl upstairs disappeared. I don’t care what the penalty fee is, I’m breaking my lease and getting out of here.’ Remove Jenna’s body in a wardrobe box or that sleeper sofa, wipe your place with so much bleach it stinks because you have to at least get your security deposit back. It’s a simple enough story to sell, which covers up a murder scene and gets rid of the evidence. I’ll look at dates people moved out, see if something interesting shows up for residents in her building or buildings along that block.”

“You think relevant paperwork is still around?”

“Between lease agreements, truck rentals, post-office address changes, student records, and DMV records, I’m sure I can find what I need. If this was a typical case, cops would have solved it already. The best way to use my time is to look wider than they did.”

“You are doing that, Evie. A drunk driver hitting her caught me off guard too,” Ann said. “I could see him dumping her body, but the blood on the street would be difficult to wash away.”

Having already thought about that problem, Evie simply said, “A couple of drunks, hosing off the street where a friend threw up, it could be sold that way. It’s late at night and you wouldn’t see blood as red until the sun is up. The search didn’t begin until Monday, and if Jenna had walked a distance, was a few blocks away when she was hit, the cops don’t see that location right away. There were heavy rains Monday night. It would probably take two people or more in the car who hit her to cover up that kind of involved crime scene, or very good friends of a drunk driver willing to help him cover up such an accident. Still, it can fit the facts.”

Ann considered that. “Sometimes life favors the killer and hides what happened. Yeah, we’ve both seen it.”

They walked for a bit in silence.

“How’s it working with David?” Ann asked.

Evie glanced over at her friend. “You could have clued me to the fact he’s dating Margaret May McDonald.”

Ann smiled. “It was a good surprise. The fact you didn’t already know rather baffled me.”

“I haven’t stayed up with the music scene. I’ve had a busy life and all.”

“David and Maggie will give you a crash course.”

“I expect they will. We have had one unexpected overlap. My missing college student was at a Triple M concert the night she disappeared. David was there and briefly onstage with Maggie.”

“I saw it in your notes. We’ve both seen those odd intersections in cases before.”

“The Triple M concert could be a hunting ground. Maybe more than one of her concerts was a place to cruise for a girl.”

“You think this guy did more than one murder?”

“There’s just a nagging worry in the back of my mind that this case goes really bad. After last fall’s Carin County, I’m wired to see the dark coming at me.”

“That was about as bad as it gets,” Ann agreed. “Okay. Assume the worst. Say he did do more than one murder. Maybe you can use that. The fact you’re looking for the guy will likely get his attention. You have to figure he’s keeping an eye on his past crimes, looking for activity, newspaper articles, public requests for information, that kind of thing.”

Evie considered that and nodded. “So we draw him out. Sharon gets a reporter to write about the task force, our first cases, put out an appeal for the public’s help. Maybe he decides to call the tip line himself, give some misleading information, inject himself into the case. I could use that.”

“Ego has been the downfall of a lot of killers,” Ann replied thoughtfully.

Evie liked the idea enough to stop their walk to make a note. “Anything that has me doing something is better than just hoping the case doesn’t break that way.”

“David will deal with it if that’s where this goes.”

“It’s Maggie I worry about. You know their story?”

“Bryce Bishop is a good friend. I’ve known David and Maggie for years.”

Evie wasn’t surprised Ann hadn’t said anything before. Unless her friends were in the same room with each other, Ann wouldn’t think to make the introduction. Ann kept secrets, and friends deserved their privacy. It was one of the first things Evie had learned about her. “I’m hoping the Triple M connection was simply the fact the college scene was Maggie’s fan base, and any band playing that night would have been the connection.”

“Odds do favor that, Evie.”

They went their separate ways, and Evie stopped at a music store, then a restaurant, a card shop, a flower shop, another music store, showing Jenna’s picture, searching for people who had worked and lived in the area for the last decade.

Ann handed over her notebook as they met again at a diner. “My faith in humanity is rising. Nearly everyone who was around when Jenna disappeared remembers her, the search, the speculation about what happened.” The two found a table and ordered coffee.

“I’m hearing the same,” Evie said, skimming through Ann’s interview notes while Ann read through hers. “One thing I hadn’t considered: Jenna’s disappearance raised the fear level of an entire college campus. Girls didn’t walk alone, boyfriends saw them safely inside and looked around their apartments, volunteer patrols were out with flashlights and phones to challenge any guy who was loitering. Whoever did this, if he was part of campus life, he was getting turned on by the fear. ‘Look what I did. I’m responsible for all this. Everyone is talking about what I did.’”

“Creating fear in others can be a powerful fix, like a drug addict’s high,” Ann agreed, taking her first sip of the coffee. “It’s an emotion that needs to be fed. Give it a year, the fear around campus subsides, he has to do something else to get it back.”

“I’ve got a lot of data coming in on what happened in the years after Jenna’s disappearance,” Evie said. “If he was here, he probably tried to relight that fear, to experience it again. Something should turn up about this guy acting out again.”

“How deep are your lists of names?”

“By end of the day, with the inquiries made, I’ll have a large pool to fish in. The first target will be names appearing on multiple lists—a music major with a rape allegation would certainly get my attention. I’d like to give the researchers the top few dozen names by the end of the day so they can generate deeper histories over the weekend.”

“I can give you some help on that data analysis.”

“I was hoping you’d offer. It’s gladly accepted.”

As Evie drank her coffee and reviewed Ann’s notes, she glanced over to her friend reviewing her own notes to ask, “Are you beginning to see a pattern here? The rumor mill has settled on about half a dozen theories, and we’re getting the same rumors with variations on a theme, depending on which supposition the individual considers the most likely.”

Ann held up Evie’s notebook. “It’s crowd-sourcing crime solving, the collective wisdom of a community on what happened to Jenna Greenhill. You have to admit, they’re pretty good. They’ve nailed down the most likely theories on your master list.”

“I find it interesting that the possibility she’s alive still runs this hot.”

“The need for hope,” Ann replied. “To not allow for her to be alive moves the case from being depressing to being just black.”

Ann closed the notebook and drank her coffee. “She’s dead, Evie. This isn’t another Shannon Bliss with someone taking her for a reason. To be alive after nine years, you need a reason. Jenna wasn’t the prettiest, the youngest, the most outgoing. She was vulnerable, she got grabbed, but I doubt this kidnapping lasted more than a few hours at most.”

It helped hearing another cop confirm what she also had concluded. This was a murder investigation without a body. Evie swapped back notebooks with Ann. “I hope her body isn’t found in this neighborhood. I don’t want to end the mystery by creating another memorial location residents have to pass every day.”

“I sincerely hope it doesn’t unfold that way either.”

They paid for the coffee and stepped back outside. Ann pointed to the Music Hall. “Let’s split up again. You take management, work your way down through security, sound and lighting staff. I’ll track down janitorial employees and work my way through food and beverages, ticket takers, and dressing room attendants.”

Evie pocketed her notebook and took out Jenna’s photo again. “Sounds like a plan.”

Two hours later they met up at the Music Hall entrance. Ann said, “I’ve got what you would expect—guys hitting on girls, drunk-and-disorderlies, three confirmed rapes linked back to these parking lots, several bands that are blacklisted because of drug use in the dressing rooms.”

“I can add security footage of drug deals,” Evie said, skimming through her notes. “Pickpockets galore, a dozen fights, a fire-alarm prank to cause panic, an actual fire, three bands that managed to injure their own members, and five instances of fans with injuries after swarming the stage.” She closed the notebook. “Given the number of concerts and the size of the crowds flowing through this place every week, that seems like normal crime to me over a decade. I’ve got names, promises for more names, but nothing that feels like a pattern, no other incidents that suggest someone works this location trolling for victims.”

“Jenna seems isolated in that respect,” Ann concurred.

Evie was glad to have this particular set of interviews completed. She checked the time. “Let’s walk back to the campus. I’d like your impressions on the building where Jenna lived.”

“Suits me.” Ann fell in step beside her. “How’s David doing with his missing PI?”

“He’s having a hard time getting any traction. There’s a wide time window between when Saul disappeared and when anybody noticed, and no clear geography for where something happened. There’s nothing obvious in his personal life that suggests a reason as to what might have happened to cause him to go missing. So David has been going through the cases Saul was working on, looking for ones that might have a reason to want him dead. There are a number of names in the closed cases to work. And there’s one active case that is promising.

“Saul was working for a husband on an open murder case. The wife was stabbed in a grocery store parking lot and bled to death. Maybe he found him . . . it’s a theory at least. David is planning to interview the husband, Nathan Lewis, today to see if there had been a conversation, something not in Saul’s notes, that might help identify what Saul had been doing the week he disappeared.”

“Evie . . .” Ann slowed to a stop. “Actually, that might not be a good idea.”

Evie stopped too, surprised. “What is it, Ann?”

“I’ve got someone undercover in Nathan Lewis’s office right now, looking into who killed Caroline. I think the murder was done, or at least arranged, by someone close to Nathan.”

Evie was stunned. “Wow. I didn’t see that coming.”

“Nathan’s a friend. He isn’t going to go on with his life until his wife’s murder is solved; he won’t date and put someone else in the crosshairs. So it’s personal with me that the case get solved. If it turns out to be someone in Nathan’s world, odds are he would have tried to tamper with the business, cause Nathan grief in other ways, before it escalated to targeting Nathan’s wife. I asked someone to figure out if there was a pattern of trouble, to see if the murder of Nathan’s wife was just the exclamation point in a sequence of things that had happened in Nathan’s life.”

“Who do you have working in his office?” Evie asked.

Ann shook her head. “Nathan doesn’t know about the person’s real reason for being there, so I can’t give you a name. I don’t want Nathan to know I’m looking at even those he considers good friends. The man has borne enough grief. But this seems to be the most effective way to get an answer.”

“You want us to step back?”

Ann hesitated. “Has an appointment already been made?”

“I’ll find out.”

Evie called David. “Have you made an appointment to go see Nathan Lewis yet? Ann’s got some info that might be useful to hear first.” She nodded to Ann. “Thanks, David. Ann’s coming over with me now.”

She pocketed her phone. “He’ll hold off making the appointment. He’s finishing up a conversation and then heading back to the office for a video interview. Let’s go talk to David—I’m freezing out here anyway.”

Ann laughed. “I wondered when the cold would finally win. You can drive, and I’ll make a call on the way.”

Evie entered the office suite with Ann, heard the music, and realized David had arrived back before them. “David, I brought company.” She dumped her coat onto an empty chair and stepped out of her boots, determined to get her feet warm again.

David came from the conference room. “Welcome back. Hello, Ann.”

“David. It’s a pleasure.” Ann gave the man a hug. “It’s good to have you back in Chicago.”

“I’ve missed being here. Please tell me you’ve got some really useful information for me, because I’m looking for something solid to build on.”

“Of a sort.” Ann draped her coat more neatly over another chair. “Evie mentioned your PI once worked for Nathan Lewis, and a whole array of intersecting matters clicked into place.”

“Let me get you two some coffee to warm you up, and then I’d like to hear all about it.”

“I’d appreciate that.” Ann gestured to the conference room, where he had been working. “Mind if I take a look while you’re getting that coffee?”

David waved her in. “Help yourself.”

Ann stepped into the conference room. Evie went with David to help get the coffee. “How was your conversation with Everett?”

“I like him for the murder. He was still steamed that Saul was the one who busted his alibi, put him in jail, and shattered a stable connection to the painkillers he also depended on himself. He had to come off his own addiction the hard way while in custody. That he could have killed Saul is clear. But to prove it, I need to fill in what he was doing during a three-month period after he was released. I have a couple of names to track down, people who might be able to help me with that question.”

“You hope he said something incriminating to someone who no longer considers him a friend?”

“Basically. I’ll be working names and having conversations around that very question. Any luck on your canvass?”

Evie thought about the notes they had taken. “A lot of useful conversation, but nothing that shifted the direction of things.” She filled him in on the highlights while she got out cream and sugar, deciding she could avoid drinking her coffee black for once.

“It’s good that you were able to get word out around the campus that cops are looking at the case again; it might stir up memories.”

“I hope it helps. We passed out a lot of business cards.”

They walked back to the conference room together.

“David, you’ve been busy.” Ann accepted the coffee David handed her.

Evie studied the numbered list of names with interest; it was a new development.

“My list of thirty-eight people with substantial reasons to want Saul Morris dead,” David explained, “from Charles Bell to Walter York. Most did jail time or suffered a serious setback in their professional lives because of Saul’s investigative work. That’s my target list for interviews.”

Ann tapped number eight—unnamed person who killed Caroline Lewis. “I think the person who killed Caroline is someone close to Nathan. I’ve got someone undercover in his office right now looking into that possibility.”

“Well, that’s interesting news.”

Ann pulled out a chair at David’s gesture. “Nathan’s a friend, the case needs to get solved, and someone working on it from the inside can more easily run down possibilities. I made a call on the way over here and had dates pulled. The last contact Nathan had with Saul was on August twenty-second—it’s in the file as a phone update. Saul was canvassing the area, people were being talked with, queries were out, but he had nothing new to report.”

“That date fits what is in Saul’s own paperwork,” David confirmed. “Saul disappeared in the days after September eighth.”

“If Saul had found out something about Caroline’s murder, that knowledge didn’t have time to reach Nathan. There’s nothing in Nathan’s records to indicate they spoke that week.”

“That closes down one hope I had,” David said with regret.

“Nathan has had three private investigators work alongside the police over the years. The other investigators looked into Saul’s disappearance based on the same assumption you had. I asked to get copies of whatever notes they made regarding Saul for you. Hopefully their notes might narrow down where Saul was last seen.”

“Thanks. You’ve got a better chance of finding anything useful working from the inside of Nathan’s office than I do hoping to re-create Saul’s work for him. So for now, I’ll move on to other possibilities.”

“If you have specific questions, I can try to get you answers without having to go to Nathan directly.” Ann pushed back her chair and stood. “I’m going to spend a few hours helping Evie data-crunch on her names. If you have something specific come to mind, I’ll be around.”

David smiled. “We both appreciate that help, because after Evie solves her case, she’s doubling up to help me solve this one.”

“I’ll take getting these two cases solved however it comes about,” Evie said with a laugh. “I’m ordering in food, as I still owe Ann lunch. I’m thinking steak sandwiches. Want in?”

“Sure.”

Evie ordered them a late lunch while Ann made a brief call to her husband, Paul. It was nice, having a friend helping out who understood this kind of work.

Evie wrote the question Who Killed Jenna Greenhill? on her whiteboard and then numbered one through twenty-four down the side. “We fill up the list with the highest-probability names so that researchers have something to work on, then I’ll send you home.”

“Paul is taking me out to an arcade late tonight—we’re working a small matter for a friend on our own time—so I’m yours until then.” Ann settled in at an empty desk. “Give me the apartment lists, the names of those who lived in buildings on Jenna’s block. I’ll start cross-referencing names with moving records, arrest records, school records, disciplinary actions, and look for signs of trouble in their lives after Jenna disappeared.”

Evie found more answers to inquires in her inbox, all with attached lists of names. She passed printouts to Ann, then dumped the accumulating reports onto a flash drive for her use. “You’ll want to reference those big sheets of paper on the far desk for the resident lists by building.”

“Thanks.” Ann plugged in the flash drive and brought up the reports. “You’ve been busy.”

“I learned by watching you. The more data, the better the odds of finding an answer. If I’ve tossed a big enough net out in the last thirty-six hours, I’ve now got his name.”

“Given your wide array of theories, I’d say you’re covering the bases.”

“That’s my hope.” Evie turned her attention to the music majors, began cross-referencing for the same indications of trouble.

Papers turned, keyboards clicked as they scanned the screens. Evie wrote the name Harold Jefferies at position twelve. A music guy suspected of using a date-rape drug, he had played guitar in a band Evie remembered being mentioned in Jenna’s journals.

“You’ll want to list Philip Walsh,” Ann said. “Put him at five. He’s been questioned twice regarding home break-ins with sexual assaults. He lived on Jenna’s block, moved two weeks after she went missing, never graduated. He’s been arrested four times for theft—he likes lifting handbags from the back of a chair and walking away.”

“That’s promising.” Evie wrote in the name. She added Candy Trefford on the list at number ten. According to her interviews, the ex-girlfriend of Steve Hamilton had a temper, a strong jealous streak, and was in the original police investigation as someone cops repeatedly returned to speak with.

Evie added the name Mark Reynolds at number nine. “This one catches a lot of maybes. He’s a music major. He lived in the building next to hers. My interview notes have him dating one of Jenna’s friends, and that relationship breaking up in high-drama acrimony the month before Jenna disappears. He’s got a history of alcohol infractions, drunk-and-disorderly arrests, two DUIs, and I’ve got him in rehab twice after Jenna’s disappearance, according to prior police conversations.”

“He’s worth a conversation,” Ann agreed. “Let me give you what may need to be number three on that list. Aggravated assault, rape charges stuck, tossed out of school, lived on her block, and did more jail time recently for sexual assault of a girl who looks a lot like Jenna. Adam Wythe.”

Evie wrote in the name. “It’s not going to be a comfortable list when we’re done.”

“It never is,” Ann said.

Evie squeezed in another name at the bottom of the board, taking the list to twenty-seven. The number of guys with a history of trouble regarding women who lived in the area around Jenna’s apartment was disturbing, given this was supposedly the quiet side of campus.

“We have our first volley of names. Thanks, Ann. It’s a good place to be for day two.”

“A useful beginning,” Ann replied. She marked her lists with Post-it notes and handed them on to Evie. “There are a lot of names still to go through.”

Not a surprise, as Evie was barely halfway through the music-majors list. “Tomorrow’s problem. We’ll see what the researchers come back with on these. I figure cops have looked at most of these names in the past, but they caught our attention for a reason. Looking at someone with the benefit of additional history sometimes reveals more.”

“Finding a name on that list who’s now in jail for an abduction-type event or killing would narrow the search very quickly.” Ann gathered up her coat, stepped to the conference room door, said good-night to David.

Evie walked her out. “I appreciate the help today.”

“It’s a pleasure, Evie. I miss this work on occasion. Stack up whatever you most want to tackle tomorrow and I’ll help you move that mountain.”

“I’ll do just that,” Evie promised.

Returning to the office, Evie remembered she still needed to call Rob. She considered the time, made the call, and wasn’t surprised when his private number rolled over to his voicemail. “Hey, Rob. I was thinking about you and wanted to say hi. I’m about an hour away. Let’s meet up for dinner, whatever night works for you. I’ll come your way. Hope your day is going well. Mine is.”

She pocketed her phone. He’d call her back, or text, depending on what was happening.

Back at her desk, Evie sent an email with the twenty-seven names to her researcher at the State Police. He’d disperse them to others and funnel back the results of criminal and general background checks as they came in.

David joined her to study the assembled names. “Think he’s up there?”

Evie scanned the list once more. “I’d give it maybe a thirty percent chance,” she guessed, trying to be optimistic. “How’s yours coming?”

“I’ve finished reviewing Saul’s closed cases. I’m at forty-two names with motives to want him dead. I’ll see which ones lie to me in interviews and hopefully narrow it down to a top ten. I have a feeling there are a lot of Everett types in that data with minor and major infractions.

“I’ve been able to pretty much eliminate the other active cases,” he added. “According to people I’ve spoken with, Neil Wallinski was eventually located in Alaska. The VP position was filled four months later by a name not on the candidate list Saul was checking out. And the gambling husband died in an early-morning car crash a year after Saul’s disappearance; he’d been playing poker most of the night. No one seems to have benefited from Saul’s disappearance in those situations.”

“It’s good to have at least those checked off,” Evie commented.

David smiled. “It’s a start. There are a lot more I need to close with this one.” He gathered up the used coffee mugs. “You ready to call it a day?”

It was after six p.m. Evie weighed her options. “It’s been a long day, but it’s still relatively early. I’ll put in another hour here with things I need to read. I’ve got an interview with Jenna’s boyfriend after he gets off work, and I’ll probably do that later from the hotel. And I still want to try to get through Jenna’s laptop tonight. What about you?”

“I’m meeting up with one of Saul’s neighbors and a longtime friend, Dell Langford. I’ve got calls out related to Everett that hopefully turn into conversations. I’ve got others on my list who work nights—delivery package sorting, bartender, bouncer—so I may try for some late-night conversations. I’d like to end today with the same kind of movement you’re getting with yours.”

“I’ve benefited from help. You are making progress, David.”

“It’s that this case seems stuck. The way through that is to get out talking with people.”

“How many people have you spoken with today?”

David paused a moment, then said, “Ten. His sister, along with the woman who worked the answering service and handled his business calls, his two landlords for the business location and rented home, a friend of Saul’s from his newspaper days, his regular auto mechanic to see if there was anything about his car that might help me find parts if it had been stripped, a taxi driver Saul paid occasionally to help him out, Everett, Everett’s cousin, the other three active-case clients. Make that twelve. The rest of the calls were trying to track people down.” David smiled at the look she gave him. “Busy is not productive. You know there’s a difference.”

“You never know where the right answer is until you locate that lead going somewhere. Don’t work too late is my advice, but I’ll likely be going until midnight so it would just sound foolish. We’re both sprinting when we should be doing a more settled jog.”

“Any idea how Sharon, Theo, and Taylor are faring?”

“I was going to ask you that. I really don’t want to be the last unsolved case in the county.”

David laughed. “We’re sprinting for a reason. It’s called ‘fear of looking bad.’ Or ambition. Or just plain stubbornness. These cases have remained unsolved for too long, and justice needs to be done. Take your pick.”

“Probably all of them. On that, I’m going back to work,” Evie decided, turning back to her laptop.

“I think we’re well-suited for these cases.” He turned to take the coffee mugs back to the break room. “I’m fixing another pot of coffee.”