Detective Harmon felt the rush that came with the first big break in a case. This one had been too long in coming. They had gone back to see Meredith and Edward Ball, this time tackling the couple separately. Meredith Ball had talked.
Tyvek was more manipulative than Jarrod had given him credit for. He’d played the couple against each other. When Tyvek escaped the fire, he called Edward and convinced him Meredith had been in on his plan the entire time. That she’d been so set on expanding Branson Medical into the pharmaceutical industry, that she’d partnered with Tyvek on the promise that she’d get to develop the heart drug if the drug trials produced anything useful.
None of it had been true, but Edward Ball hadn’t known that and he’d been willing to do anything to save his wife. By the time Meredith found out what was going on, Edward had been hiding Tyvek for weeks. The couple felt they didn’t have any choice but to keep hiding him.
Jarrod watched as SWAT breached the apartment they had leased in a fake name for Tyvek. It was a rundown kind of place. The type of place you could pay cash for and no one would ask any questions. That was exactly what they had done, which was why a run of their finances hadn’t shown the small monthly payment being made. They had simply taken it out of the pocket money they already withdrew from the bank each month.
Jarrod listened to the calls of “clear” coming from the officers in the apartment, cursing under his breath because he knew that meant Tyvek was no longer here. He and Cal entered as the team lead came back to the living room.
“No sign of him, but he’s been here recently. There’s a wet toothbrush in the bathroom and food scraps in the sink that are day-old at best,” the man said as his team filed out into the hallway.
Jarrod nodded. “You guys clear out as fast as you can. Hopefully he hasn’t seen us. We’ll take a look around here, then post a couple of undercover guys to wait for him to come back.”
The SWAT team left almost as quickly as they had come and Cal and Jarrod did a quick search of the apartment. It was small, with peeling paint and only a kitchenette, living space with bed, and bathroom.
“You see anything useful?” Cal asked a minute later, coming out of the bathroom.
“Nothing that tells us where he is. I called into the station and the captain has two undercover guys on their way. They’ll text when they’re in place, but we need to get out of here. How about you?”
Cal held up the packaging from a box of hair dye. “I’m guessing Tyvek is now a brunette.”
“Can that stuff really cover a guy as gray as Tyvek was?” William Tyvek had had a full head of gray hair, not just a little salt and pepper throughout. He’d always seemed like one of the most recognizable guys to Jarrod, but maybe if you took him out of the designer suits and got rid of his fancy haircut and manicures, the guy could pass for average.
“Apparently.” Cal turned over the box to show an image of a man with a full head of gray hair next to an image of the same man, now brown-haired and looking easily ten years younger.
“Shit. That’s a pretty major difference.” The image was striking and Jarrod struggled to imagine what the change would do to Tyvek. Maybe one of the forensic artists could help them figure out what he’d look like now.
“Still, Tyvek is a pretty well-known face around the city. He’s got to be doing something else to cover his looks.”
“I don’t know. How much of his look had to do with the suits and the fancy cars and things? Would he be as memorable in jeans and a hoodie without a chauffeur?”
Cal’s only response was a curse.
“We need to see if Meredith or Edward Ball has seen him. We need to know what he looks like.”
Cal agreed. “I’ll reach out to them. Can you get with the captain and make sure the undercovers headed this way know what to look for?”
“You think it’s worth the risk to canvas the neighbors right now?”
“No. Let’s give him a day to come back, then we’ll canvas.”
Tyvek continued walking straight instead of turning at the corner. He couldn’t take a chance that the SWAT vehicle was at the apartment building for him. It had been a miracle they hadn’t found him before this. He didn’t have much time left. It was time to finish what he’d started.