We left the Davis home with a better sense of who Molly was. She didn’t seem to have planned to disappear, and from the condition of her room, she hadn’t planned on leaving for good. Clothes lay scattered about, and a nice outfit—likely what she’d chosen to wear to the party that night—hung over the top of the closet door.
I checked for any incoming calls or texts once we drove away. “Here we go. Stone checked out Mitchell Carter. Uh-huh, now I understand.”
J.T. backtracked the way we had come and got on Central Avenue heading northwest. “What’s that? Is the guy dirty?”
“Nope, his record is clean. He’s just married.”
“Dirtbag.”
I smirked. “You’re quick with the clever comebacks, but either way, he still needs a talking-to. Okay, let’s get back to the police station. The noon news is going out soon with the description of Molly’s running suit and shoes. Hopefully the tip line will begin lighting up like a Christmas tree. Also, I want to know if we’re monitoring Alex’s incoming and outgoing calls. We need to get things checked off our list.”
We entered the station at twelve fifteen and dropped off the bag containing Molly’s hairbrush and toothbrush at the forensics lab. At that time of day, many of the officers were either out on patrol or eating their lunch in the break room. We headed to Sullivan’s office to let him know we were back. We saw him through the glass, elbows on his desk and staring at the computer screen with his sandwich suspended in his hand. I knocked on the half-opened door. “Sir?”
“Come on in, guys. Take a load off.”
We entered and sat in the two guest chairs that faced him.
He wiped his mouth with a paper napkin. “Stone tell you the news?”
“About Mitchell Carter?” I asked.
He nodded and took another bite.
“Yeah, we know he’s married with no priors. That doesn’t make him innocent, but it doesn’t make him guilty of a crime, either. We’re going to check on a few things, grab a bite to eat at the vending machine, and pay Mr. Carter a visit later. What’s the status on Alex’s phone?”
“We’re good. Charlie has a couple of his guys listening in on the calls.”
“So it’s in real time?” J.T. asked.
Sullivan grinned and took a swig of his soda. “Is there any other way to go?”
“Anything on Heather’s car?” I asked.
“Mills is on that. He’s looking through the CCTV camera footage at the toll plaza in Indiana on I-90 going toward Chicago. The problem is, Heather had an E-ZPass, and even if the plate reader caught her car passing through at sixty miles an hour, it’s unlikely they could tell who’s behind the wheel. Paying at the booth would be much more helpful, but there are a lot of variables.”
I groaned. “Enlighten us.”
“Her car hasn’t hit on a plate reader at all. That means either it wasn’t driven on an interstate or freeway or the license plates were removed or swapped out. If Heather’s car was driven into Illinois, we sure as hell haven’t found it yet. He probably took back roads.”
“What about Michigan?” J.T. asked.
“Let’s put it this way, J.T. None of the interstates between Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan have had a plate reader hit on her car.”
“Then that leads me to think it’s either parked in the killer’s garage or it was chopped and sold off already.”
Melanie Fitch rushed into Sullivan’s office.
“Where’s the fire, Fitch?”
“Sorry, boss, but we just received a very interesting tip that came in on the noon segment of the news. I think this one is legit.”
I spun in my chair. “Who took the call?”
“I did, and the conversation is taped. Come and listen to it.”
We gathered around Melanie’s desk in the bull pen. Several other officers in the room stopped what they were doing and listened in too. We heard the female voice begin by saying she saw the noon news and thought she might have seen the woman in question. Mel’s voice took over for a minute and asked the caller’s name and what time she thought she saw the woman at the trails. The caller, Erin McNare, said she and her boyfriend were finishing up their jog around two o’clock. They were doing a short cooldown lap when they passed a man and woman sitting on a bench near the parking lot. She said they were kissing.
“Pause that tape for a second.” I turned and gave J.T. a frown. “That can’t be right unless Mitchell Carter was with her. What makes this Erin so sure it was Molly?”
“Here’s where it gets good.” Melanie clicked the button on the phone, and the message continued. Mel asked the caller that very question.
Erin continued talking. “The description of the woman never rang a bell with me until today when her outfit was described on the news. I remember chuckling at the running suit because the purple with the green stripe clashed so badly. But when I saw the lime-green shoes, I understood and continued on. I even mentioned the crazy color combination to my boyfriend. I’m positive it’s the lady that disappeared.”
Mel clicked the button again. “That’s the gist of it. She gave me her phone number and address, which I have right here.” Mel held up a piece of paper where she had written down the information.
“That whole kissing part doesn’t feel right,” I said. “What we need is a good description of the man Molly was with. Then we have to locate Mitchell Carter and see if he resembles that description. Call her back, Mel. I want to know everything she can remember.”
Mel sat at her desk and dialed Erin’s number.
I jerked my head toward the door. “We’ll be right back.”
J.T. and I headed for the lunchroom. We hadn’t eaten anything since that morning and needed a little something to hold us over until dinner. We returned to the bull pen in less than five minutes, each with a can of soda and a club sandwich.
Sullivan suggested we go into the conference room, where it was more comfortable. He led the way as J.T., Mel, Larry, and I followed. We took our seats and waited as Mel got situated. She placed the paper with her notes on the table and looked at each of us.
I held up my hand before she got started. “Give us a second here.” I tore open my sandwich wrapper and popped my soda can tab. J.T. did the same, then I gave Mel a nod. We didn’t want to cause a distraction while she talked.
“Okay, I got Erin back on the phone, and here’s what she said. The guy and girl were on the bench nearest the parking lot. That would be the west bench. The woman was on the right, the man on the left. Erin and her boyfriend were heading toward them.”
“So the man would be facing them?”
“That’s correct. She admitted she was looking at the woman’s clothing more than anything else, and the fact that they were kissing distracted her too. From the twenty seconds it took for them to pass, she said the man didn’t appear much taller than Molly because they were face to face. He wasn’t leaning down to kiss her.”
“Molly is—”
“Five foot seven,” Mel said.
“Then the guy could be anywhere from five seven to five ten without looking much taller. What else?”
“She said they both had on stocking hats, and she thought she saw blond hair sticking out from beneath the man’s cap.”
“Molly’s hair was auburn, right?” J.T. said.
“Yes, and Erin confirmed that the woman’s hair was red.”
I bit into my sandwich as Mel continued. I was glad everyone was taking notes. That gave J.T. and me time to wolf down our lunches. I swallowed a long gulp of soda. “What about body size?”
“Average build. He was sitting and wearing a jacket, but she didn’t think he looked heavy. She estimated from her own boyfriend’s size and weight that the man on the bench was somewhere around one hundred eighty pounds.”
I opened my mouth to speak then closed it.
Sullivan noticed. “Jade?”
I waved it off. “I was about to ask his eye color, but if they were kissing, I assume their eyes were closed. Anything else that could help, Mel?”
“Only that he was wearing a windbreaker type of jacket, and it was black.”
“That should do it. Now the fun begins.” I elbowed J.T., grabbed our food wrappers, and pushed back my chair. “Come on. Let’s go find Mitchell Carter. His wife is in for quite a surprise.”