Collateral Damage (19 page)

J.D. said, “If the boyfriend was the killer, they're protecting him for some reason. Maybe they think you know more than you do.”

“Could be,” I said. “Or maybe whoever killed their daughter is after them.”

“Why don't we get Debbie to check out the van rental?” asked Jock. I called Debbie.

She answered. “I'm leaving for work. Don't have time to talk to you.”

“Just need a little favor, sweetcakes.”

“Wow. You call me pet names and my heart goes into overdrive. What do you want?”

I told her and she said she'd get back to me within the hour.

“Now,” said J.D., “let's go talk to the bank about that camera.”

The bank was local. In addition to the one we were in there was a branch in Sarasota down near the Gulfgate Mall. The manager was pleasant and willing to share his technology with us as soon as J.D. had shown her credentials. He took us to a small room off the main lobby, unlocked it, and asked us in.

“This is the computer where we store all the images from our security cameras. They stay on the hard drive for sixty days and then are automatically erased.”

“How many cameras do you have?” asked Jock.

“Six. Two in the lobby, one at the ATM machine, two covering the back parking lot, and the one over the door that covers the front of the building.”

“Can we see some footage from the one over the entrance?” asked J.D.

“Sure.” He went to the keyboard and pulled up a program, used the mouse to manipulate it and sat back with a little laugh. “There.”

The clip he'd brought up showed the three of us walking across the street and into the front door of the bank. “If you'd been robbers, we'd have you,” he said.

“The camera gives us a view of the parking lot across the street,” I said. I pointed out the parking places that were right in front of the bar. “If the mystery man parked here, we should be able to see him.”

J.D. asked the banker, “Can you pull up the video from yesterday afternoon from, say, two to four?”

“Sure.” He fiddled with the computer and then sat back so that we could see the monitor. It showed the area running from the front steps of the bank, the street, and the parking lot of O'Reilly's. A time stamp appeared in the lower right corner of the screen. The images were in black-and-white.

We watched for a couple of minutes as cars on the highway drifted by. A woman leading a small boy came into the bank at 2:02. At 2:03 a car pulled into the lot and parked in front of the bar.

“Freeze that,” I said. “Can you zoom in on that car there?” I pointed to it with my finger.

The car became bigger until it filled the screen. “Home in on the license plate,” I said.

We couldn't read the tag. It was too blurry. The resolution on the video wasn't that good to start with and when it got blown up, it was just short of useless.

“Pull back,” I said, “and let's see who gets out of that car.”

We watched as a man unfolded from the driver's side. I asked the banker to zoom in on the driver. No go. Too blurry. I couldn't see anything about his features.

J.D. said, “Can you make a copy of those few minutes? I think the Sheriff's office has some sophisticated equipment that might be able to give us a better view of this.”

“I'll put it on a flash drive,” said the banker.

We drove south on Highway 41, crossed the Manatee River on the Green Bridge, and a few miles farther turned right onto Highway 301 Boulevard and pulled into the Manatee County Sheriff's Operations Center. Debbie called just as J.D. was parking the car.

“Doug Peterson rented the van from a U-Haul center on North Irby Street in Charlotte yesterday morning at eight o'clock. He returned it at six p.m. yesterday. Paid by a credit card in his name. He put a hundred thirty-four miles on it and returned it full of gas. I checked his credit card, and he paid for the gas with the same card he used to rent the van. He also bought lunch with that card at a McDonalds in Hickory, North Carolina. And before you ask, Hickory is about sixty miles from Charlotte.”

“You're a doll,” I said.

“I know. See you later. I gotta go to work.”

“Thanks, Deb.”

I related the conversation to J.D. and Jock.

“Sounds as if young Doug took the Brewsters to Hickory,” Jock said. “Why?”

“We'll work on that tomorrow,” I said. “Let's see if the sheriff's wizards can help us with this video.”

We entered the building, identified ourselves, clipped visitor's badges to our shirts, and went to the Audio-Visual Department. J.D. knew one of the technicians and she gave her the flash drive and told her what we were looking for. The tech told us to have a seat and she'd see what she could do with the images.

We'd been waiting for about twenty minutes when the technician came through the door with several photos and the flash drive. She had cleaned the images up pretty good. One showed the man in the parking lot clearly. His hair and beard were gray, just like Big Tony and Clyde had said. Based on the height of the car, we guessed the man to be a bit under six feet tall. Maybe 170 pounds.

The car was a late model Pontiac with Florida plates that we could now read. “Got him,” said J.D.

“Unless it's a rental,” I said.

“Let's hope not,” she said.

We thanked the technician, and left the operations center. J.D. called the Longboat Key Police Station and asked somebody to run the license plate number. She held. Then, “Okay. See if Hertz has anything. Tell them the renter is a person of interest in a homicide. That might wake them up.”

She hung up. “The car was a rental from the Sarasota-Bradenton Airport. Those guys are pretty cooperative. We might pick up something out there. Let's go.”

We got in the car. I was in the front passenger seat and Jock was in back, pouring over the pictures the technician had given us. “There's something off about this guy,” he said. “Look at this picture, Matt. Doesn't it look like he's wearing a wig?”

I took the picture and looked more closely at it. The pictures were in black-and-white, and not the best quality, but I could see what Jock was talking about. “I see what you mean. Looks like different colored hair peeking out from under it.”

“If the hair is fake, the beard will be too,” said J.D.

We pulled into the airport and parked in short-term parking, walked to the Hertz desk. J.D. showed the clerk her ID and told him she was interested in who rented the car in the photo she was sliding across the counter.

“Your office just called,” said the clerk. “My manager told me to give you a copy of the contract.” He handed over a sheet of paper. “Do you need anything else?”

“Do you remember this guy?” J.D. asked.

“No. I was working yesterday when he rented the car, but we were pretty busy. All the customers are just a blur.”

J.D. looked at the contract. “Damn,” she said. “Look at this.”

The name of the renter on the contract was John Nguyen.

“That's Vietnamese,” I said. “Nguyen is about as common in Vietnam as Smith is in this country.”

J.D. turned to the clerk. “Do you remember an Asian man renting a car yesterday?”

“Vaguely. I couldn't describe him, though.”

J.D. said, “Let's go find the security chief. The airport has more security cameras than almost anywhere. Maybe we'll get a hit.”

J.D. led us to an office off the main terminal area. She introduced herself to the Sarasota police lieutenant who was the chief of the airport security detail. She explained what we were looking for and why.

“What time did your guy rent the car?” asked the lieutenant.

J.D. looked at the copy of the rental contract. “One p.m. yesterday.”

“Do you know if he came in on a flight?”

“No idea.”

The officer typed onto his keyboard and a schedule popped up on his monitor. “There were only two flights that came in around the time he would have rented the car. His name is not on any of the passenger manifests.”

“He could have been using a different name,” said Jock.

“I suppose,” said the cop, “but let's look at the cameras at the entry points to the airport first. There'll be less traffic there than on the concourses where the flights come in. People don't tend to bunch up at the entrances like they do coming off a plane.”

He pulled some video up on the monitor, showing a slice of the driveway that ran the length of the terminal building and the concrete walkway in front of an entrance. “This is the door closest to the car rental booths. I'm starting it at twelve thirty yesterday.”

We watched for a few minutes and then Jock said, “There he is.”

The officer stopped the video. We were looking at an Asian man who was about the same size as the man we saw on the bank's video. No wig or beard.

J.D. said, “I'd like a close-up of this one.”

The lieutenant fiddled with the keyboard and the mouse and a printer whirred to life. Out popped a black-and-white photo of the Asian man entering the terminal.

“That's the second guy on the boat,” I said. “The one with the man and woman who tried to kill me.”

J.D. looked closely at the photo. “No doubt about it. I want to take this to the clerk at Hertz and see if he can identify this guy. Why don't you two stay here and look at some more video. There might be more Asian men.”

She was back in ten minutes. We were still looking at video. No more Asians. She waved the picture. “The clerk said this was the guy who rented the car yesterday.”

“So he didn't fly in,” said Jock.

“No. I called the station. They're running his name through all the databases. See if anything pops up. You ready to head back to the key?”

We thanked the lieutenant and drove back to Longboat Key.

It was almost five when we crossed the Ringling Bridge. Dark thunder-heads were building over the Gulf, the harbingers of our afternoon thunderstorm. I rolled down my window and a whiff of rain tickled my nose. The storm wouldn't be long in coming.

“Anybody want a drink?” I asked.

“I could use one,” said Jock. “It's been a long day. J.D.?”

“Sure. Let me stop by the office and check out.”

We drove north on the key. Rain drops splattered on the windshield. Lightning slashed the dark sky over the Gulf. Thunder boomed, rolling over us like a low-flying jet. The storm was moving north and a little east, running parallel to the island. It would catch the northern end of the key if it stayed on its course. The worst of the rain was over the water. By the time we got to the police station near the north end a sheet of rain obscured the Gulf, but we were getting only sprinkles.

“I'll be right back,” said J.D. She left the car and ran into the station.

Jock and I sat quietly, each absorbed in his own thoughts. J.D. returned. “Where to?” she asked.

“Let's go to Mar Vista,” I said. “We can watch the storm.”

“There were no hits on John Nguyen,” she said. “Not even a driver's license. He must have used a fake one. The numbers don't match anything on file.”

“I wonder why he would use a Vietnamese name,” I said.

“Maybe to throw us off if we got on his tail,” Jock said.

“Could he be Vietnamese?” asked J.D.

“I doubt it,” I said. “The Vietnamese and the Laotians aren't generally very compatible. A long history of hatred there.”

We parked in the shell lot adjacent to Mar Vista. We sat at a window table, had a couple of drinks, and watched the storm move inland. It came over us and moved across the bay. It was quick, as our afternoon storms usually are. A lot of light, noise, and water, and then it was gone, leaving a bank of dark clouds hovering over the island.

J.D. said, “We've now got three Asians positively identified as being on
Dulcimer
the night of the murders and they just happen to be the ones who have some hand in trying to kill Matt.”

Jock laughed. “My feelings are hurt. Nobody seems to think I'm important enough to kill.”

“Maybe they're afraid of you,” said J.D., winking at us.

“Or,” I said, “nobody sees any percentage in killing a weenie.”

“I've already got a nice eulogy written for your funeral,” said Jock.

“Where do we go from here?” J.D. asked. “Assuming neither one of you gets killed tonight.”

“I think Jock and I need to go to Charlotte,” I said. “See if we can find young Doug Peterson and get a line on the Brewsters.”

“Aren't you getting a little off subject?” J.D. asked. “The connections between the
Dulcimer
murders and Jim Desmond's seem to be pretty thin.”

“They're linked,” I said. “I don't know how or why, but my gut tells me they're part of the same operation.”

“That's not a lot to go on, Matt,” said J.D.

“No, but my gut is hardly ever wrong. I want to show the pictures of the Asians to Billy Brugger. See if he can pick out one of them who was at the Hilton the night of the wedding.”

“I should have thought of that,” said J.D.

“You want to stop by the Hilton before you call it a day?” I asked.

“No. My car's at your place, Matt. Drop me there and you two go ahead. Let me know what you find out.”

Jock and I drove south to the Hilton over a rain-slicked Gulf of Mexico Drive. The rain had moved across the bay, but the low clouds still hung over the island, giving it a look of somberness. Night was approaching and I turned on my headlights. We pulled into an almost empty parking lot and nosed into a place next to the ramp leading to the deck and outside bar. A cool breeze blew off the Gulf giving some surcease to the heat.

“Jock,” said Billy. “I heard you were on the island. Welcome back.”

“Thanks, podna. Good to be back.” We ordered burgers and drinks and took our seats at one end of the bar. A tourist couple in bathing suits sat at the other end. Laughter from children in the adjacent swimming pool floated across the deck. A mother called out to her child to be careful.