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“Jeez, good luck to us. There are a lot of green spaces. That money could be anywhere. Even if we were able to narrow it down to a trail or woods, where would we go from there?”
“No idea. Let’s just hope that I can get Patton to talk.” Her phone rang, and she held her breath as she pulled it out and looked at the caller ID. “It’s Eric.” She answered.
“Hey, I thought you’d want to know. It just got back to me, but Dennis Eaton’s body was found at the labyrinth in Georgetown Waterfront Park this morning.”
THIRTY-SIX
The news about Dennis Eaton didn’t come as a surprise. Sandra was just a little aggravated that the body was found that morning, and it had taken until the middle of the afternoon to reach her ears. What she found somewhat reassuring was that it was the same park where they found Olivia’s phone. For Jennings to dump Eaton’s body there it suggested he wasn’t holding Olivia that far away. There was a message in the location though. It was impossible to ignore that the park wasn’t far from her home. It was where she took her morning runs. Was it a power move on Jennings’s part? But what concerned her more was where had Olivia been when Jennings dumped Eaton’s body? Was she left alone, tied and gagged, or caged? Was she drugged? Her mind was a whirlwind, and the possibilities were endless.
Eric had told her the body was found before seven AM, and there had been no eyewitnesses. That meant Jennings would have left him before that to avoid early joggers who braved the cold morning. But his action wasn’t without risk. It proved yet again that he was impulsive and capable of anything.
The sky was overcast and made four-oh-two PM feel later than it was. Sandra could barely wait for Brice to park the car and for it to come to a complete stop before hopping out.
Even these hours later there was a police presence, and curious gawkers were gathered behind a line of crime scene tape. A loudmouthed uniformed officer was continually barking, “Get back!”
“What makes this Lonnie guy snap and kill his lifetime friend?” Brice looked over at her and shook his head. He was walking beside her, keeping up with her strides. “Forgive me. Dumb question. Money. With Patton in prison, it would all be Jennings’s.”
“Precisely.”
They approached the mouthy officer, who quietened down and stepped closer to them. “Closed scene. You’ll need to get back.”
She and Brice held up their FBI badges, and the officer rolled his eyes and huffed.
“Just because you’re feds, that doesn’t mean you can stomp around wherever you’d like.”
Sandra squared her shoulders as she pocketed her badge. “Detective Birch on scene?”
“I’m not going to answer?—”
“Hodges, let ’em in.” It was Eric, and he was quickly making up ground to get to them.
The officer turned around and said, “I was told to keep this place locked down.”
“Except they’re with me.” Eric waved for her and Brice to walk past the uniform.
“I’m just trying to do my job here,” Hodges mumbled, then raised his voice to the blustering crowd again. “Back up!”
They walked into the park with Eric. Thankfully, Hodges’s booming voice eventually faded into the background.
“We call the guy the Mouth behind his back, but if you want someone to get a point across, he’s your guy,” Eric said.
“He’d get it across all right,” Brice snickered.
Eric laughed, but the expression was short-lived. “Any progress on finding Olivia?” His softened eyes and body language told her he was concerned about her. If they weren’t surrounded by work colleagues, she imagined he’d be taking her into his arms. And she’d happily let him.
“Some. At least we know what Jennings wants now.” She filled him in on the bank robbery and the gold bars.
“And you think you can get Patton to reveal the location?”
“I need to try.” Before she was inundated by thoughts of Olivia, she did her best to push them away. Admitting uncertainty made her feel like a horrible parent, but she was focused on the endgame. Right now, Eaton might be a key to finding out where Jennings was holding her. “Where was he found exactly? By whom?”Focus on business, push through.
“By a jogger, around seven, as I told you on the phone, but he was laid out right in the middle…” Eric pointed to the circle marking the center of the labyrinth. It wasn’t done with hedges but was set out on concrete with green pavement laying out the puzzle. CSIs were around snapping pictures and combing the area outside of the maze, to see if they’d turned up anything for evidence. “Obviously the medical examiner has long been and gone with the body. Identification was easy as he was dumped with his ID.”
“What about his phone?” If so, they could get it over to Tech ASAP. They might be able to use the GPS tracking history on the device. That’s if Dennis hadn’t turned it off before reaching the holding point. Otherwise, it would do them no good.
Eric shook his head. “Jennings was too smart for that, but I’ll reach out to digital techs to see if they can somehow access the phone’s GPS history without the device in hand.”
“Thank you,” she told him.