I took a seat at my desk and gathered my notes about the John Keller murder. I would fill out the necessary paperwork, give it to Royce, then wait for a confirmation from Tapper about the actual manner of death. We also needed to go through John’s cell phone to look for any texts between him and his assailant. After the cause of death was determined, we would contact John’s next of kin. Before Rue and I got started and I lost track of time, I had to find out if Tom was able to enhance the photograph of the sunglasses man.
“Which task do you want?” Rue scratched his cheek.
“I don’t care. Just start with whatever you feel like doing. I have to talk to Tom before anything else, or I’ll forget to do it.” I lifted my desk phone’s receiver and dialed Tech.
“Tech, Tom speaking.”
“Tom, it’s Cannon. Were you able to enhance the photograph of that man in the cemetery?”
“Somewhat. At that distance, you can’t see detailed features, but it is better than before. Too bad he’s wearing those shades. People have no idea how much sunglasses actually hinder making positive IDs.”
“Yeah, no shit. That must have been deliberate. It was cloudy that day, and nobody else was wearing sunglasses.”
“An easy camouflage for sure.”
“Right. Can you print out a handful of copies? I’ll be right down to pick them up.”
“No sweat.”
I hung up, told Rue I would be back, and headed out the door. Downstairs, I studied the enhanced version of the picture Rue had taken on his phone. The image appeared closer, as if magnified, but like Tom said, it didn’t show better details of the man’s face. And then there were those damn sunglasses.
“So if somebody saw this guy in person with his shades on and then saw him in this photograph, do you think they’d be able to say without a doubt that it’s the same person?”
Tom wrinkled his brow. “Depends on how the guy was dressed both times, the location where he was seen, and of course if he spoke, but that’s a moot point in a photograph.”
“Yeah, well, I can only try. I’ll pass these around to the detectives and let Patrol copy a bunch. Thanks, Tom, for doing the best you could.”
As I headed to the second floor, I knew I would have to show a copy of the man’s photo to Marie. I could make up a story that a complaint had come in about that man being a neighborhood nuisance, but that wouldn’t fly. He’d asked for me by name. I’d have to come clean with her and tell her to be cautious at all times. If nothing else, she and Mom could spend their daytime hours at Meg’s house, but Marie would have to drive back and forth to Savannah every day to take the kids to and from school.
Yeah, that isn’t going to work. She’ll have to keep the cameras activated, alarms set, and the doors locked. We need to apprehend that man as soon as humanly possible to keep my family out of harm’s way. God knows they’ve been through enough.
I stopped at Royce’s office to give him a copy of the man’s picture.
“So, that’s as good as it’s going to get, huh?” He stared at the photo.
“I’m afraid so, but we can pass off a few to Patrol, and as they watch for that black sedan, they can also watch for a six-foot-six man who looks like this guy. The thing is, if he is the person who killed Kim and the couple, that means he either lives in Savannah or close by, is staying with somebody he knows, or is holed up in a hotel room. Kim’s murder was nearly two weeks ago. We still have rental car agencies to call and hotels, too, if our search warrants it. We’ll ask if a tall man with black hair and a black sedan is staying there.”
“All good ideas but extremely time-consuming.”
I shrugged. “Not if the murders were committed by one man. We’ll have all the day and night shift detectives working on it. Some can call hotels and motels or vacation-stay locations. That’ll tell us if he’s an out-of-towner or not. The others can work the rental car agencies. The guy might be local but using a rental car so we can’t track him.”
Royce let out a long groan. “Okay, I’ll get these copies to Patrol. We’ll go over our options at the night shift briefing. How are you going to handle telling Marie that a possible murderer came to your house looking for you?”
“I still haven’t decided. I guess the truth is always the best idea. If nothing else, we’ll have Patrol make rounds past my house every hour.”
“Mitch?”
I waited before heading out the door. “Yep?”
“Why do you think he’s interested in you?”
“I have no idea, but I’ll be sure to watch my back.”
“You better.”
I patted the doorframe and continued on. Back in our office, I showed Rue the enhanced photo.
He studied it then shook his head. “Still can’t tell what the guy looks like. All this tweaking did was bring the image in closer, but it isn’t more detailed, and then those damn glasses.”
I held up my hands. “Yeah, I know. Marie said he was dressed nice, but she didn’t say he was in a suit. Just the difference in clothes could throw her off.”
“How about we assume it’s the same guy? The precinct should keep a unit stationed outside your house until he’s caught.”
“I know. Royce and I talked about that. Meanwhile, what did you decide?”
“I’ve already started. We’re working on the car rental agencies, and I’ve already eliminated three companies.”
Over the next two hours, we contacted every car rental agency in Savannah, including private companies and every chain at the airport. A number of them had large luxury fleet sedans in black but none whose license plate matched the one the tall man drove away from the cemetery in. I grabbed my phone and called Royce.
“Hey, Boss, Rue and I have exhausted the car rental agencies in Savannah and at the airport. No matches.”
“Damn it. Okay, expand countywide. After that, it’s just a guessing game that we don’t have time for.”
“Got it.” I hung up and passed on the bad news. “Guess we aren’t done yet.”
Devon sighed. “Now what?”
“The entire county and then we call it quits.” I glanced at my watch. “The night shift will be here in a few hours. Let’s try to finish this up so they can focus on checking the hotels and motels.”