“Anything yet?” I asked with a long sigh into the phone.
“Nah, mostly undesirables milling around on the sidewalks in the general area,” J.T. said. “They’re probably waiting for drug buyers or sellers to show up. There’s a dozen or so vehicles parked along the curb on both sides of the street, but I haven’t seen anyone entering or exiting any of them.”
“Damn it. What store are you in?”
“I’m two doors north of Second Life at a corner bodega. Some of these places, given the fact that they’re dumpy neighborhood bars, don’t open until mid-afternoon.”
I walked to the window and looked out. “Hey, some guy just went into the store across the street. Hang on. Jan?” I pointed out the window. “What’s that place over there?”
She looked at where I was pointing. “The yellow building?”
“Yeah, that one.”
“It’s a check-cashing place. They’re stocked with cameras since they need to keep a lot of cash on hand.” She glanced at the time. “Yeah, they just opened.”
“Great, thanks. Okay, J.T. leave the bodega and go to the yellow building directly across from Second Life. Jan said it’s a check-cashing store with plenty of cameras. I guess they just opened.”
“Got it. I’m on my way.”
My phone rang just as I returned to the office and clicked the arrow to restart the video. Sullivan was calling again. I leaned back in the chair and answered. “Hey, Captain, what have you got?”
“Charlie is pretty confident that the initials are an S and an R.”
That’s awesome, and our guesses were close, but close only counts—well, in my opinion, close doesn’t count at all. Anyway, J.T. is checking out a business across the street as we speak. We were told it has a decent number of cameras since it’s a check-cashing store. Have Stone and Mills started compiling names of everyone interviewed?”
“Yeah, and now that we’re relatively confident of the initials on that sheet, they can speed through the list.”
“Okay, I’m waiting on the night clerk to arrive so she can go over everything with me. I should know something soon. I think we’re getting somewhere, sir. I have a good feeling about today. Has Charlie replied to the message from last night?”
“Yeah, he’s taking it slowly, though. We don’t want to spook this guy. A couple of back-and-forth emails should do the trick. It’ll make our perp less suspicious and more likely to set up a meeting. Charlie will let us know the minute another message comes in.”
“Perfect, and I have to go. It looks like that girl I need to speak with just walked in.” I caught a glimpse of J.T. out the window as he entered the building across the street. I approached the young lady standing with Jan and introduced myself. “Would you mind sitting in the office with me where we can talk privately, Emma?”
The bell above the door rang, and Jan left and greeted the customer who had just entered.
Emma looked worried. “Sure, but did I do something wrong?”
I smiled to ease her mind. “Not at all, and to be honest, we could really use your help.”
I closed the door behind us as we squeezed into that tiny office. I pulled my notepad out of my purse that hung from the chair back and offered Emma the one and only seat. Leaning against the wall, I had my pen, notepad, and questions ready.
“Emma, I need to know everything you can remember about Tuesday evening around six o’clock. I believe that’s the time you sold two chairs to a male customer. Can you take it from the first contact you had with him?”
“Oh, okay.” She situated herself in the chair and folded her hands in her lap. “He called first and asked if we had any upholstered armchairs. He specifically mentioned that type. I asked if they needed to match, and he said no. I told him we had five in the store. He said he’d come in and take a look. About twenty minutes later, I saw somebody standing near the chairs, so I assumed it was him.” Emma paused while I caught up.
“Thanks. Okay, go on.”
“I think I scared him when I asked if he needed help. He said he was deep in thought. He ended up taking two mismatched heavy chairs. He mentioned something about wanting the arms to be wide enough. I asked for what, and he just said for comfort.”
“Okay, I need you to think hard about his appearance. Take your time and only tell me the things you remember for sure.”
Her forehead wrinkled as she seemed to dig deep into her mind’s eye. “It isn’t like I study the customers’ faces, although I do remember thinking he was cute.”
“That’s good, Emma. I do realize it’s difficult several days later to remember everything about a customer. Just do the best you can.”
“He wore a sweatshirt with a jacket over it. It was chilly that night, and I remember feeling the cold air blow in every time the front door opened. He had the sweatshirt hood pulled up.”
“What color was his hair?”
“Sort of a medium blond.”
“Was he tall, short, heavy, or thin?”
“Average, just like a regular guy.”
“Okay, that works.” I gave her a reassuring nod. “Did he happen to mention his name?”
“No, not that I remember.”
“And he paid with cash, correct?”
“Yes.”
“You said he took two heavy chairs. What did he put them in?”
“I don’t know. I told the guy to pull around to the alley and Jerry would give him a hand loading them. He did and then came back inside a few minutes later and paid the bill. That was the last time I saw him.”
“Jerry should remember the vehicle, though. Right?”
“Sure. I’ll give him a call right now.”
J.T. entered the store as I waited in the retail area for Emma to make her call.
“Find out anything?” He blew on his hands to warm them up.
I jerked my chin at him. “Where are your gloves?”
He stared down at his hands. “Yeah, I left them in the cruiser.”
I smiled. “Humph. Emma, the night clerk, is here, and she’s making a call to the man who helped our guy load his vehicle. We ought to have a description of it any minute.”
“Good to know. The lighting was dim in the video from the check-cashing store, but I did see several people get in vehicles and leave the area during that time. One person came out of the store, but they were empty handed.”
“That was probably him. Emma said she told him to pull around the back to the loading dock. What kind of vehicle did he have?”
“A van, and I know your next question. I couldn’t tell the color except that it was dark, but it wasn’t the extended van Alex’s clan uses.” J.T. tipped his head. “Is that Emma?”
I turned around. “Yeah, that’s her. What did you find out, Emma?”
She approached us, smiling. “Jerry remembered the vehicle. He said the guy had a charcoal-gray van that had sliding side doors. He said it was completely empty from the front seats to the back. That’s the only way the chairs fit inside. Oh, and he said the van seemed older just because it looked a little run-down.”
“He didn’t happen to see the plate number, did he?” J.T. asked as he took notes.
“He said he didn’t even think to look, but he remembered seeing a parking pass sticker on the windshield.”
“That ought to help.” I gave J.T. a hopeful glance. I let out a long breath. “Okay, anything else at all that you can remember, Emma?”
“Just that he said he was artsy and wanted to reupholster the chairs. That’s why he didn’t care if they matched.”
“Okay, thanks. You’ve been a big help.” I handed her and Jan my contact card. “We’ll be in touch. I have to find out from our tech department if there’s a way to pull Tuesday’s footage from the camera. That way we can review it at the precinct. We may be sending someone over to take a look.”
J.T. and I headed back to the station with the information we had gathered. As J.T. drove, I pulled out my notepad to give everything a thorough review.
“Did Charlie get anywhere with those initials?”
“Yeah, he says they’re an S and an R.”
“That rules out Alex. How about the rest of the people in his group?”
“Fitch and Andrews are going through the names of everyone interviewed.” I flipped through my notepad in reverse.
“Looking for something in particular?”
“Yeah, we did interviews too, you know. I may as well go through those names while I’m sitting here, anyway.”