I answered my ringing phone just as Frank and I were about to leave. I held up my hand for him to wait as I listened to what Lutz was saying.
“Hang on so I can write down the address.” Pinning the phone between my cheek and shoulder, I pulled out a pad of paper and a pen from my top desk drawer. “Okay, go ahead. Ninety-Fifth and State at the Quick Fill station’s dumpster. Yep, got it, and Foxworthy is waiting there for us to arrive. We’re on our way.” I grabbed evidence bags and gloves from our supply closet, then we took the back staircase out.
“So what’s going on?” Frank asked as he followed me down the steps.
“A gas station employee said he found a purse in their dumpster. Human nature says he likely pulled it out, checked its contents for money, and then called us.”
“We’ll have Foxworthy bring him and the purse back here. He’ll have to be printed and questioned before we can rule him out, but it is what it is,” Frank said.
Mills climbed into the driver’s seat of the first available cruiser, and I took the passenger seat. I called Foxworthy as Frank drove.
“Hey, pal, it’s Jesse. Ask the gas station employee if he handled the purse.”
“No need to. It was behind the counter when I got here. He said he moved it for safekeeping.”
“Damn it. Tell him he’s going back to the station with you to be printed and that he better hope he doesn’t have a criminal record.”
“Will do.”
“We’ll be there in less than ten.”
After pulling into the gas station a few minutes later, Frank parked facing the dumpster. With his phone in hand, he began snapping pictures, and I went inside to let Foxworthy know we’d arrived and to have a talk with the employee who found the purse.
Foxworthy jerked his head to the right. “That’s him stocking the soda refrigerator.”
“Come on. Let’s have a word with him.” I introduced myself to the kid, who looked to be no more than eighteen. “What’s your name, son?”
“Craig Forrester.”
“How did you come upon the purse, and why did you touch it?”
“I’d been stocking shelves, and I took the broken-down cardboard out to the dumpster. When I opened the lid, I saw the purse lying right on top of the trash.”
“And you didn’t think to leave it alone until the police arrived?”
He shrugged. “Sorry. I just wanted to make sure nobody stole it.”
“And you didn’t open it to pull out the money first?”
“No. There wasn’t a wallet inside, anyway.”
“So you did open it to take the money?”
He stammered. “Okay, yeah, but it was empty, so I called the cops. I should have left it in there since there wasn’t an ID to know who it belonged to, anyway, but I wanted to do the right thing.”
I chuckled. “Sure you did. Show me exactly where you found it in the dumpster.”
I escorted him outside, and Frank moved to the right.
Craig pointed. “It was right there on top of that black trash bag.”
Frank took pictures of the bag and the surrounding trash. “You got a criminal record, kid?”
“No.”
“That’s a definite no?”
“I promise I don’t.”
I raised a concerned brow. “So we can confirm that with your folks?”
He looked from Frank to Foxworthy and then back at me and nodded.
I waved Foxworthy on. “Get his information off his driver’s license and cut him loose.” I handed Foxworthy a pair of gloves and an evidence bag from the cruiser. “Bag the purse and take it to the crime lab.” I turned back to the kid. “You better hope you aren’t in the system. If we pull your prints off the purse and you’re in our database, you’re going to be in a lot of trouble. Feel me?”
“Yes, sir. Sorry I touched it.”
“Okay.” I squeezed his shoulder. “Next time anything looks off to you, call the cops first.”
I sent the kid back inside and had Foxworthy leave with the purse. Firing off a text to Henry, I told him to meet us outside at the Quick Fill station on the corner of State and Ninety-Fifth Street. We’d start our search for camera footage there.