Alex raised her head from the laptop in front of her. She contemplated Macklin’s logic. It wasn’t that there was anything faulty with it, she just wasn’t sure it was strong enough, but it was easy enough to check out. He’d emailed the photos and video he’d taken when she’d asked him earlier. She filed the material away with the rest of the case files.
Lance’s gaze came up. “Now what does lover boy want?”
She shot him a look of mock disgust, liking the camaraderie and gentle teasing developing with him. It made for a much nicer working relationship—as long as he respected her position, it was all good. “Remember, we’re not lovers.”
“Yet. You’re not lovers yet,” he said with a smile. “Besides, he’s had some good ideas so far.”
“And he might have had another one.” She quickly explained.
“I can see what he means. If you haven’t found any friends, and no lovers, who are the people in her life? Obviously there’s at least one because somebody killed her.”
“Unless it was a random act.”
“No, I don’t think so. But it was somebody who knew her if that blow on the head is indicative of her being seated when the person hit her.”
“Somebody who came over to do her hair?”
Surprise hit Lance’s gaze. “Wow, that’s not a bad idea. Except there was no hair or anything else around to indicate she might have been getting a haircut.”
“Maybe they hadn’t started to cut her hair. It could just be they let her believe they were getting ready to do so.” She stopped to look at him again. “I need to talk with her neighbors who I missed before—at least the ones on her floor.” Alex checked her watch. “It’s nine o’clock.”
“Call them instead.”
She thought about that and shook her head. “No. I really like to see people’s reactions and get a feel of who they are from their facial expressions.”
“You want to take a drive over there?”
She shook her head. “I’m not leaving here until we know if we’ve got this guy or not.”
“But it’s being handled,” he said. “We’ve got good men on it. Having you here right now, not to insult you, but it won’t make a bit of difference. How many neighbors did Marsha have?”
“She was on the bottom floor. I think seven apartments were on that floor.”
“So, six doors to knock on. Chances are, they could be home right now. Check in with me so I know you’re safe. Because, if there’s a killer out there… they’ve already killed once—and a woman at that. They won’t balk at killing a second one. Cop or no cop.”
“Give me a ride back to my car. I’ll head over there and see who might be home.”
Ten minutes later she was in her own vehicle with an update of what was happening at the house. They were still waiting for somebody to enter, and, so far, their suspect was out walking the blocks. She really didn’t want to leave, but, at the same time, she felt like she needed to check out Marsha’s neighbors.
It meant two separate people were involved, and that made more sense than anything because murder versus break-ins weren’t the same level of crime at all. Making a sudden decision, she pulled away, barely noticing she passed Macklin. From the startled look on his face he’d seen her.
She drove to Marsha’s apartment building and parked. She had a key to Marsha’s place, and, on impulse, she opened the door and walked in. It had occurred to her after the news coverage that maybe this guy was staying in Marsha’s empty place too.
But it was empty. Bloodstains covered the living room floor and the couch.
Back in the hallway she headed to the first neighbor and knocked on the door. An older man came out with his wife peering over his shoulder. Alex quickly identified herself, asked a few questions as to whether they’d ever seen anybody coming or going in Marsha’s place. Both were horrified to find out their neighbor had been killed. Apparently they hadn’t heard the news or seen the police activity. Alex understood keeping to themselves, but, to this level, it was dangerous.
“We never really saw her. We don’t get out much.”
They both were apologetic.
“I couldn’t even tell you what she looked like.” The older lady turned to her husband. “Isn’t that a terrible thing to have to admit?”
Alex moved on to the next apartment. Two young men were living there. From the looks of them, they were in a caring relationship. She asked similar questions and was told they’d seen Marsha coming and going but never saw anybody else there.
No one answered at the third apartment, which happened last time and wasn’t helpful right now. Alex wrote down the number, figured she’d check it out as soon as she got back to the office.
The fourth door opened to a neighbor she’d spoken to earlier. The woman smiled and said, “Did you find anything new?”
Alex shook her head. “No, sorry, not yet. I’m just back double-checking that nobody has seen anybody around the apartment.”
The woman’s face twisted in confusion. “You mean, now that she’s gone?”
“Sometimes killers come back to their hunting grounds,” Alex explained.
The woman gasped and shook her head. “Honestly I race past that apartment these days.”
“Do you live alone?”
“No, I don’t. My sister lives with me.”
“Is she here now?”
The young woman shook her head. “No, she’s out with her boyfriend.”
After writing down her name and her sister’s name, Alex thanked her. “Is there somebody living next door to you? Nobody’s answering the door.”
“I believe they moved out a couple weeks ago.”
“Any idea if they knew Marsha?”
The woman lifted her shoulders. “I’m sorry. I don’t know anything about my neighbors.”
With an apology for disturbing her so late, Alex moved on to the next door. She got no answer here, but she had spoken to a young woman earlier this week. She’d try once more before she left.
Moving on to the last door on this floor, a young male opened the door, looked at her, and started flirting.
Alex held up her ID. “I’m here about the murder of your neighbor.”
His smile fell away, and he held up his hands. “I didn’t have nothing to do with it. I wasn’t even home.”
“Where were you?”
“Back east,” he said. “I have my flight itineraries to prove it.”
“I wasn’t here to accuse you,” she said with a half smile. “I’m wondering if you knew her. If you ever saw her with anyone? Anybody coming or going out of the apartment?”
He nodded. “I saw her occasionally. She wasn’t terribly friendly, but she did have one visitor who I saw more than once.” He looked down the hall. “I thought maybe the woman lived here too because I saw her coming from that hallway. But I don’t know.”
“What did she look like?”
“She was tall and slim and easy on the eyes. She had a really short haircut. It looked good on her.” He grinned and shook his head. “I don’t think she swung that way. I did put the moves on her a time or two.” He went silent. “I have been striking out a lot lately.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t try to strike. Maybe let things happen a little more naturally.”
He chuckled. “Nah. Life’s too short. You’ve got to make a move or miss out.”
Despite everything, she liked his youth and humor. He wasn’t old enough to be jaded by relationship troubles. After getting his name and seeing a copy of his airline tickets, which he swore he’d scan in an email to her, she left him alone. She walked back to the previous apartment and knocked on the door. When the door opened this time, the woman had a harried look on her face.
“I had just gotten into the bath,” she explained, wrapping the bathrobe tighter around her neck. “I wasn’t going to open the door, but I saw it was you again.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to disturb you a second time, but I was just speaking with one of your neighbors.”
The woman frowned. “Which neighbor?” she asked suspiciously.
Alex pointed.
The woman rolled her eyes. “Yeah, him. He’s flirty with all the girls. He should be able to tell you something about Marsha. It seemed like he was chatting her up all the time.”
“He also said he saw another young woman with a short haircut at Marsha’s apartment.”
The young woman before her shook her head. “Doesn’t sound familiar to me. But that’s the back entrance hallway at that end. Lots of people come and go from there.”
With a sinking heart, Alex realized that was quite true. “So, in other words, she could’ve parked in the back lot, come in through that entrance, straight through to Marsha’s place?”
The woman nodded.
“Okay, I’m sorry for bothering you,” Alex said as she stepped back.
The door was closed firmly in front of her, and the bolt shot home. Good afterthought. It wasn’t smart to go to bed with the doors unlocked. Not given the intruder these days.
Out of curiosity, and just on pure instinct that she was missing something, she walked back into Marsha’s apartment and strolled around. It was so strange to be in here. Only a few days before a vibrant young woman had picked up the coffee cup and sipped from it, used the water from the taps, and dried her face and hair with the towels. Alex wandered around. They’d gone through everything, fingerprinted the place, and had yet to find anything useful. There was just no forensic evidence.
She stood in the middle of the empty room, hoping something would jump out at her. After a moment, she shook her head and said aloud, “I’m sorry, Marsha. I will get to the bottom of this. I promise.”
She walked back out to the hallway, locked the door, and headed out to her car. As she buckled her seat belt, her phone rang. “Lance, how are we doing?”
“We’ve got him in custody,” Lance crowed. “He’s on his way to the station right now.”
She grinned. “Now let’s just hope it’s the right guy.”
“Well, he resisted arrest pretty damn good. At least this way we can fingerprint him, get some DNA, and see if he was maybe the guy who the neighbor saw. He had his driver’s license on him, so we’ll do a full check to see what pops.”
“Now that you’ve got him, let’s get that house checked over too. We need fingerprints that match. At least let’s prove he’s the one who’s been in the house. It’ll still take a bit to prove he’s the intruder from the other houses, but it’s a damn good start.”
“Are you coming in?” Lance asked.
“I’m about five minutes away. One of the apartments here is empty, but I’ve spoken to everybody else on Marsha’s floor.”
“Any news?”
“Not really. As usual nobody knows anything about anyone.”
She closed her phone, put the keys into the ignition, and turned it on. It was good news about the intruder, but she couldn’t stop worrying that maybe it was just an innocent man out for a stroll after all. It would take a lot of police work to put that asshole away. If it wasn’t this guy, she was back to square one, and that was not where she wanted to be.
*
“Do you want to go to the coffee shop again?” Corey asked. “Or head home?”
They were still standing on the corner after the suspect had been picked up.
“Home. Although I’d rather go to Alex’s house.”
Corey shot him a sharp glance. “Is that wise?”
“I don’t know. No way to know if she caught her man or not. She caught one, but is it the right one?” He shrugged. “I’m just saying what I’d like to do.”
“Better to stay away until this is done,” Corey advised. “I know she’s a Keeper, but you don’t want to do anything to jeopardize her job either.”
“Keeper?” he asked, a note of humor in his voice.
Corey stared at him. “And you know it. She doesn’t maybe, but I haven’t watched a dozen friends find that special someone to not recognize one when I see one.”
“So?” He was right but that didn’t mean Macklin felt like listening. It was odd waiting on someone else to fix something in his life. Normally he was out there fixing things for other people. Still it was nice to hear Corey’s evaluation. And he was right. They’d both seen a lot of their teammates find the right woman. Hence the joke about Mason’s Keepers. “You looking for yourself?” Mac asked.
“Nah, I’m hoping I’ll trip over her, like you guys did.” Corey walked backward as he spoke. “Coming or staying?”
“I’ll head home,” he decided, “and maybe call Alex later.” He wasn’t going back to Corey’s. There was no way to know when another break-in would happen. He didn’t want to impose on his friend for days, weeks possibly.
“You sure?” Corey turned toward his vehicle. “Do you want a lift?”
Macklin lifted his nose and sniffed the fresh air. Now that they’d caught the suspect, the air was lighter, fresher. It held hope that this could be over soon and also joy that he could see Alex openly.
“Nah, it’s a nice night out. I’ll walk.” And, with a wave, he turned and headed home, his footsteps lighter than they’d been for days.