Rue sat at his desk that Friday morning and wondered whether he would be working over the weekend.
If we don’t make an arrest today with the overnight leads we got, I’m sure I will, especially since Mitch is laid up.
It wasn’t the same without his partner there. Devon looked across the room at the empty desk where Mitch normally sat. They always bounced ideas, theories, and plans back and forth, and now he sat in the office alone, staring at an empty chair.
But I can still call Mitch and bounce ideas off of him, just on the down low. Nobody will be the wiser.
Rue flipped through the stack of leads he’d been given after the morning briefing. Lawrence and Bentley had an equal number to go through. They would call or stop in at the location of said vehicle if the tipster had actually given an address. Rue had nine leads, and he sorted them from the ones that included the most information to the ones that included the least. He glanced at his desk clock—9:09 a.m. As often as he’d been hospitalized himself, he was sure that Mitch had already eaten breakfast and been checked by a nurse or doctor. Sometime that day, he would be released, and Marie would likely pick him up. After that, Mitch had free rein to call the precinct and ask about the case, even if he was on medical leave for a few weeks.
What harm can it do to get his opinion?
Rue rounded his desk and closed the office door. Back in his chair, he called Mitch’s hospital room and waited as the phone rang.
Mitch picked up after the fourth ring.
“Damn, I was about to hang up,” Rue said.
“A nurse was taking my blood pressure. I couldn’t move.”
“Got it. Is she gone now?”
“Yep, and it was a male nurse.”
“Pardon my ignorance.” Rue chuckled. “So are you bored yet?”
“Absolutely. Whatcha got?”
“Tip-line leads. I have nine, and Lawrence and Bentley have around the same number. I sorted them from the ones with the most potential to the least.”
“Good. Go ahead.”
“Okay, there’s a Mr. Erickson who says he had his truck at Scott’s Auto Repair yesterday, where he saw a green Tahoe up on the lift. He didn’t see the front of it, but he did say it was dark green.”
“That’s easy enough to follow up with.”
“Right. The next caller was a Sarah More. She said her neighbor’s boy is picked up for school every morning by his dad, who owns a dark-green SUV. She doesn’t know the make or model, but she said he wasn’t there yesterday. She called back this morning and said he wasn’t there today either. Might be worth checking into.”
“The neighbor’s name?”
“The mom is Lynnette Gibbs, and she said the ex-husband is Tim.”
“Another easy one to check out on the DMV database.”
“Yep. Here’s a good one. An elderly woman, and Prentice made a side note that she seemed confused, said the dead neighbor from across the street had a green SUV. She also said she’s seen people in and out of the garage this week.”
“That’s weird. What’s the name of her dead neighbor?”
“She didn’t remember. Another side note from Prentice said the woman thought it was Monday.”
“She thought yesterday was Monday?”
“So she said. She told Prentice she lives on Huntingdon Street, though.”
“East or West?”
Rue sighed. “No notation, just Huntingdon Street. She probably doesn’t know there’s an East or West Huntingdon.”
“Did the old lady give Prentice her address?”
“No, but he wrote down the number the call came from.”
“Rue, Kim lived on East Huntingdon.”
“Shit, that’s right! Hang on. I’m typing Kim’s name into the DMV database. Why wasn’t her vehicle mentioned in the police report?”
“Why would it be? It was a murder, not a home invasion and robbery. The first responders said they’d cleared the house and garage, and I assumed Danny handled all her belongings.”
“Okay, okay, it’s thinking. Come on. Hurry up. Our damn internet needs an upgrade.”
“Take a breath, Rue. I think it’s the DMV site that needs an upgrade.”
“I got it! Holy shit, Mitch. Kim had a 2016 dark-green Chevy Tahoe.”
“You boys need to get over there and check out the vehicle and then issue a warrant on Danny’s house. Go tell Royce what you found out. Son of a bitch, I’d sure like to be in on that raid.”
“I wish you could be, too, partner, but I’ll call you back as soon as we put eyes on the vehicle, and if it isn’t there, it’s likely at Danny’s house.” Devon clicked off the call, secured his gun in the holster, and bolted out the door. He made it to Royce’s office in less than ten seconds. “Boss! It’s Danny. He’s the killer.”
“What the hell are you talking about, Rue?”
“Kim had a 2016 green Tahoe. That can’t be a coincidence. We’ve got to get to her house, see if the Tahoe is there and if it’s damaged. If it is, then we have our suspect.”
“Shit. Gather up Bentley and Lawrence. I’ll call Patrol and have them watch the house until we get there. Same with Danny’s house. I need to get an emergency warrant as fast as possible.” Royce waved his hands. “Go, and meet me by the cruisers.”
Rue bolted again, that time in the direction of Bentley and Lawrence’s office. “Let’s go, guys. We think we have a suspect.”
“What?” Lawrence leapt from his chair.
“I’ll explain everything in the car.”
They rushed out the door and waited by the cruisers as Royce instructed. Rue paced, glancing at the exit every few seconds.
“Where the hell is Royce? He said to meet him by the cruisers.” As soon as the words were out of his mouth, his phone rang. Rue ripped his phone from his pocket and saw Royce’s name on the screen. “Boss, what’s up?”
“I’m waiting on the verbal warrant for Kim’s House from Judge Laughlin. We’ll need the paper warrant for Danny’s. My phone rang as I was waiting, and it was a pawnshop owner from Wilmington, North Carolina. Somebody came in and pawned merchandise that was on his stolen property alert from Savannah. He said he has the guy on video. If it’s Danny, then it’s a slam dunk. You boys go ahead. I’ll wait for the video to drop in my email, and I’ll call you the second I get the verbal to enter Kim’s house. If you have to break in, then break in. We have to know if that SUV is in the garage and if it has front-end damage.”
“Got it. We’ll drop an anchor there and wait for your call.” Rue hung up and jumped in behind the wheel, with Bentley in the passenger seat and Lawrence in the back. He gunned the cruiser out the driveway and headed south to East Huntingdon Street.