Page 17

Story: The First Hunt

“Oh. Hi, Holly.” He heaved an audible sigh and sat forward, leaning his elbows on the desk. “Jared’s not here. He just left.”
“I saw.”
Jared’s desk sat snug against Andy’s, cluttered with papers while Andy’s was neatly organized.
She sank into Jared’s empty swivel chair, trying to read Andy’s expression. “What was he so upset about?”
“Well, you know Jared. It doesn’t take much to get him riled up sometimes.” He studied her for a moment, as if debating how much to say.
Holly thought of Meg and her still-at-large-killer while she tried to piece together what she’d overheard. Her chest wall stiffened. “Was it about the Green River Killer?”
Andy hesitated, and she berated herself for getting her own hopes up.It couldn’t be,she thought. Like Meg’s murder, the killings attributed to the Green River Killer had gone cold almost as soon as detectives had found their bodies. The Green River Killer task force hadn’t had a serious suspect since last summer when Gary Ridgway had passed that polygraph with flying colors.
Harris exhaled through his mouth. “Off the record.” He paused, holding Holly’s gaze.
She straightened, nodding. “Off the record.”
“Yes, it was.”
Holly felt her eyes widen as excitement buzzed just beneath her skin.
“Jared caught a man and his son walking around the woods by Star Lake earlier today.”
Holly stilled. The older guy Meg was seeing also had a son. She swallowed. “Where the last Green River Killer victim was found.”
“That’s right. And he drove a blue Ford Fairmont, just like the car another prostitute saw Sally Hickman get into on Christmas Day.”
And Meg,Holly thought. Her heart thumped against her chest as she watched Andy pull out a smoke, wondering how she could keep him talking.
He extended the pack to Holly. She shook her head. “I quit.”
Andy held it in the side of his mouth while he withdrew a lighter from another pocket. “Good for you.”
Holly tapped her foot against the floor, the seconds it took him to light his cigarette feeling like an hour.What if they’ve finally found him?
Holly sat forward. “The older guy Meg was seeing also had a son. Remember what Meg’s roommate said?” Like she’d promised, Callie had spoken with Andy, telling him everything she’d told Holly. But Holly had been disappointed Andy hadn’t let Callie give his description to their sketch artist since there was no actual proof he was involved in Meg’s death.
Andy put up a hand. “I remember. But lots of people have sons and own blue cars, Holly, including me. That doesn’t make him the same guy.”
“Does the suspect you interviewed have a mustache?”
Andy shook his head. “No.”
“Brown hair?”
“Listen.” Andy returned the lighter to his pocket. “He gave us an alibi for when several of the Green River Killer victims went missing, including three of the victims found in the Green Riverthe summer of ’82. We still need to confirm his alibis, but he agreed to come back later today to take a polygraph.”
Holly’s brows knitted together in confusion. “Coming back? You didn’t arrest him?”
Andy turned his head away from her to blow out a long drag of smoke. “We couldn’t. We have no hard evidence it was him. And he wanted to take his son home first.”
That must’ve been what made Jared so mad. “When is he coming back to take the polygraph?”
Andy checked his watch and took another drag. “In two hours. However, if his alibis check out, he can’t be our guy.”
“What about Sally Hickman? Does he have an alibi for her murder?”
“It’s not as solid, but he said he was at home watching TV with his son.”