For My Brother (6 page)

Chapter 10

Suzanne pulled her teal-colored Ford Focus into the Quikstop. Her gas light was on, and a cold drink seemed to be in order. It’d been a busy day, and she was worn out. She filled her car and went into the store.

Something with a lot of caffeine is called for if I’m ever going to get any housework done tonight.

Grabbing a Red Bull, she went to the counter. While the guy if front of her paid, she got out her debit card, and noticed her address book was missing from its usual pocket. She rummaged around, looking for it.

Where is that stupid thing! I hate this purse; it’s like a bottomless pit.

The man in front was done, so she stepped up. While the clerk ran her card, she continued to search for the address book.

“Thank you, ma’am.”

She reclaimed her card, picked up her drink, and went to the car.

Maybe it’s at home. It had better be; all my clients are in that book.

*******

Donnie sat in his car across from the Quikstop gas station. Resting next to him on the seat, an address book decorated with pink flowers. He watched as Suzanne Cooper got gas, went inside, and then searched her bag for something while standing in line.

It’s not in there, Miss Cooper. I’ll bring it to you later.

He smiled to himself. After he got Suzanne Cooper, there would be just one more.

*******

Jason got on State Highway 281 going southeast; the fifteen-minute drive would bring them to the I-410 access road and their destination, the Texas Department of Transportation.

Nina had brought with her the phone records of Ed Garland and Chelsea Morris. She was nearly three-quarters of the way through them, and still hadn’t found a connection. She wasn’t giving up, even though it was tedious work.

“Bingo!”

“What?”

“I’ve got a phone number from Ed Garland’s record that also shows up on the records of Chelsea Morris.”

“Whose is it?”

“That’s odd. It’s McCollum High School.”

“Really? Why’s that odd?”

“That’s the school I went to.”

Jason laughed. “Not so weird, a lot of people went to that school. Were they incoming or outgoing calls?”

“Incoming. The school called them.”

“We’ll need to go by. Maybe we can find out who made the calls.”

Jason turned into the parking lot of the DOT office and parked. “At least we have a connection besides just the finger prints.”

*******

Suzanne arrived home a few minutes after getting gas. Home was a white, single-story bungalow with a shake-shingle roof and tan shutters.

She’d never married, and her only companion was a Yorkie named Tizzy. The name had come from the way the dog greeted Chelsea at the end of the day.

Suzanne let herself in, and the dog met her at the door. They went through the standard ‘pick me up and give kisses’ before she put Tizzy out in the backyard to do her business.

She went looking for her address book. After several minutes of searching, she found herself standing in the kitchen.

Where is that stupid book? My purse sits by my station all day, and I don’t remember taking the book out once.

She decided to wait until she checked work tomorrow before going into a full-blown panic. In the meantime, the Red Bull was kicking in, and there was laundry to do.

*******

Jason and Nina came through the double glass doors into the cool reception hall of the Texas DOT offices.

“Can I help you?”

Jason showed his badge to the twenty-something blonde at the desk.

“I’m Detective Strong, this is Detective Jefferson. We need to speak with Jack Burns.”

The girl immediately looked concerned, and picked up the phone without saying anything. “Mr. Burns, there’s two detectives here to see you.”

She listened for a minute before hanging up. “He’ll be right out.”

“Thanks.”

Jason called Lieutenant Patton on the way over to find out if he knew someone, and Jack Burns was the name the lieutenant had given him. The lieutenant had said he and Burns went way back.

A short and thin, but well tanned, man with silver hair came through the glass door at the far end of the reception area. Jason guessed he didn’t spend all his time in an office.

“Jack Burns?”

“Yes, that’s me. How can I help you?”

“My name is Detective Strong, this is Detective Jefferson. Is there somewhere we can talk?”

“Sure, let’s go to my office.”

As they walked, the DOT official looked from Jason to Nina. “Did I do something?”

Nina gave him a reassuring smile.

“No, sir. We’re involved in an investigation, and we believe you may be able to help.”

“Oh. In here.”

He led them through the glass door and then directed them immediately to their right, into a spacious office.

Jason and Nina both took the chairs offered them. Jack Burns shut the door before going around his desk and sitting down. “Alright, Detectives. How can I help?”

Jason produced a sheet of paper; a map with Daylight Donuts and the location where Chelsea Morris’s car was found.

“We need to see if you have any cameras along this route.”

He handed the paper to Burns, and after examining it for a minute, the DOT official punched some numbers into the computer on his desk. When he was done, he turned the computer monitor toward the two detectives.

“I have one camera on this route. It’s at Huebner.”

Jason couldn’t make sense of the multiple cameras being displayed.

“Which one is that?”

Burns clicked a couple more keys, and the screen changed to just one image. Jason stared intently.

“Can you call up specific times for these cameras?”

“Sure, but they’re not movie cameras. These are still shots that refresh about every five minutes.”

Jason handed the DOT official another piece of paper. “This is the time and date we need.”

Burns started pushing more keys, and spun a roller ball on his mouse, until he came to a specific frame on the cameras. “Okay, what are we looking for?”

Jason took a quick glance at his notes. “Nineteen-ninety-five Chevy Cavalier.”

Burns started clicking a button, and with each click, a new image showed. Nina saw it first.

“There!”

Jason agreed that had to be the car. “That’s it. Can you blow it up?”

“Some, but I’m limited.”

The picture zoomed in. The vehicle was driving away, and was at least a hundred feet past the camera when the shot was taken.

They couldn’t see Chelsea, but there was a clear image of a man in the back seat. Nina said what both detectives were thinking.

“She was stalked. He was waiting outside and ambushed her before the drive home.”

Jason just stared at the image. This confirmed his suspicions that both their missing persons were likely chosen and hunted. But more importantly, they didn’t know if this man had more targets.

He stood and shook hands with Jack Burns.

“Can you print me a copy of the photo?”

“Sure.” Jack punched some more keys. “Be back in a minute.”

When Burns left the office, Jason turned to Nina.

“The best connection we have between the victims is the phone number from the high school. We need to go there next.”

The DOT official returned with the photo, and the detectives headed for their car.

Chapter 11

Suzanne finished folding the load of towels and went to the kitchen. The Red Bull was wearing off, and she decided it was time to relax with some TV. She got some ice from the fridge, poured herself a Diet Pepsi, and just as she was about to sit down, the doorbell rang.

Tizzy raced to the door and started her incessant barking, which announced every visitor’s arrival.

“Tizzy! Shush! Tizzy!”

Suzanne opened the door to find her walk-in customer from earlier standing there. She raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“Oh, hi. Can I help you?”

“Hi. I don’t know if you remember me, but I was in your shop today.”

“Of course. Donnie, isn’t it? Is there something wrong?”

“Well, in an odd coincidence, I stopped at the Quikstop a while ago and…”

Tizzy was going nuts, barking and baring her teeth at the stranger.

“Tizzy, shush. That’s enough!”

“…Anyway, I found your address book lying next to the gas pumps. I live just around the corner, so I thought I’d bring it to you.”

“Oh, that’s wonderful. I was looking all over for it.”

Tizzy kept at it, barking, and threatening to charge the man, despite her tiny size.

“Tizzy! Excuse me while I lock her in the bedroom.”

Suzanne scooped up the dog, walked to the bedroom, put the dog in the room, and shut the door. When she turned around, the man was standing in the middle of the living room, a gun pointed at her.

“Don’t scream, or I’ll shoot you where you stand.”

*******

Jason and Nina took I-35 south to Military Trail, over to Commercial Ave, and then south to Formosa. Even though Jason knew where the school was, Nina was giving him directions.

“Okay, the school’s just a block that way.”

“Detective, I think you’re kinda excited to be going back to your old school.”

Nina saw she was exposed and laughed.

“Yeah, I guess. My years at McCollum High were good ones. And unlike like you, my high school years weren’t two decades ago!”

“Ouch! You’re brutal.”

They stopped in front of the office and got out. Nina scanned the collection of buildings. “Hasn’t changed much.”

“Lead the way, ex-alum.”

They walked up the sidewalk to a set of double doors and found them un-locked. School was out for the summer, so basic staff and maintenance would be the only people there.

They came in out of the heat, and Jason removed his sunglasses. The office was immediately on the right, and through a large glass window, they could see a collection of desks. No one appeared to be there, so Jason stuck his head through the office door.

“Hello?”

From a somewhere in the back, they heard a woman’s voice.

“Be right there!”

While they waited, Nina watched as Jason scanned the photos on the wall.

“Looking for something?”

“Yeah. Thought they might have your detention records framed.”

“Hey! I was a good girl.”

Jason rolled his eyes and laughed.

A woman dressed in gray slacks came into the room. “May I help you?”

She wore a black, button-down blouse, and black, patent leather shoes. With short, brown hair and hazel eyes, she carried herself with an official bearing. Jason guessed her to be in her early fifties.

“I hope so. My name is Detective Strong, and this is my partner Detective Jefferson. We’re with SAPD.”

They both showed their badges.

“I’m Janice Hayes, the principal’s secretary. Is there a problem?”

“No. We’re involved in an investigation, and the number of McCollum High has showed up on a couple phone records. The calls were outgoing from here. We’d like to find out who made the calls and why they were made.”

“Do you have the numbers called?”

Nina took the phone records out of a manila folder she was carrying and handed them to the secretary. “I’ve highlighted them.”

Janice Hayes followed the highlighted numbers with her finger, across to the names. “I made both calls, Chelsea Morris and Ed Garland were on my list.”

Nina took the reports back and put them in the folder. “Your list?”

“Yes. I’m helping with notifications of the ten-year class reunion coming up. The class president gave me some of the names. I told her I had some extra time and I’d be glad to help.”

“May we see the list?”

“Sure. I’ll be right back.”

Janice Hayes returned in less than a minute with two sheets of paper.

“I have about fifty names to call. We use email for most of the notifications, but these are the ones we only have phone numbers for.”

Jason took one sheet and Nina the other. Jason found one of the names immediately. “Ed Garland, fifth name down on this sheet.”

Nina’s sheet had the other. “Chelsea Morris, near the bottom.”

Jason gave his sheet back to the secretary. “Can we get a copy of these?”

The secretary took Nina’s, as well. “Sure. Give me a couple minutes.”

When she was gone, Jason started thinking aloud.

“Okay. Both victims received calls about the reunion, along with about fifty others on these lists. In addition, there’s the list the class president is calling. Assuming it’s roughly the same size, that’s somewhere around a hundred names.”

“That’s just the call list. There’s apparently an email list also.”

Jason nodded.

“I’m thinking we start with the call list. Nothing has showed on the email list that we know of. Until there’s a connection to that list, we need to limit our search as much as possible.”

“So, you think the connection between victims is the reunion?”

“It’s about all we’ve got for right now.”

Nina was skeptical. “Okay, following that logic, our killer’s name should also be on these lists.”

“Maybe, but not necessarily. If he’s targeting this group, or some of the group, it might be because he’s
not
on the list. When we get back, we need to run a record check on all the names on this list.”

Janice Hayes returned with four pages. “I copied both my list and the class president’s.”

She handed them to Nina, who put them in the folder. “Who is the class president, anyway?”

“Cindy Butler. Her name’s at the top of each sheet, along with her phone number.”

“And when is the reunion?” Nina asked.

“The fifth of next month, here in the gym.”

“Thank you. We’ll be in touch if we need anything else.”

The secretary looked at Jason. “Can I ask why Ed Garland and Chelsea Morris are of particular interest?”

“They’re missing.”

“Missing? Both of them?”

“Yes, ma’am. Both of them.”