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CHAPTER 29
“Our bird has flown,” Johnson said, stepping into Thomas’s office in the late afternoon.
He was on the phone, just ending the call from the assistant ME. He held up a finger, stopping Johnson, and listened to what he already knew: Margrove had died from blood loss due to a wound that had severed his carotid artery and sliced his jugular on the left side of his neck. “I’ll look for the report. Thanks.” Then he turned his attention to his partner. “What bird?” he asked, but he had a bad feeling he already knew.
“Just got a call from the deputy charged with watching Jonas McIntyre. His attorney, ‘Just Alex,’ as she so proudly wants to be called, did her legal magic and worked with the hospital staff to get him released. He’s already on his way to Portland. The excuse was that he needs to be seen by ‘specialists.’”
“For what?”
“Who knows? It’s bogus! According to an ‘anonymous source,’” she said, making air quotes, “but someone on staff. An aide probably. Anyway, the word at Whimstick General, Jonas wasn’t that bad off. The doc was probably going to discharge him today anyway. But his attorney swooped in and off they went.”
“Shit.”
“My thoughts exactly. As soon as he heard about it, the deputy assigned to McIntyre called, but by then it was over. Pisses me off.” Obviously agitated, she plopped down in one of the visitor’s chairs.
“Portland’s not that far.”
“Out of the jurisdiction.”
“Margrove’s homicide is in ours. The Portland PD will work with us.”
“If you say so.” She wasn’t convinced and let out a long, hard sigh. “You find anything more on Marlie Robinson?”
“Not yet.” He shook his head, feeling his eyebrows pinch together as he studied some of the shots. “But I pieced together some of the people who showed up at the hospital and connected them to individuals online.”
“And?”
“And there are the usual suspects, people who’ve been vocal about claiming Jonas got a raw deal.”
“Like Mia Long?” she suggested.
“Among others. McIntyre’s got other pretty rabid fans. Brenda Crawley, she’s always got a comment online. The same goes for Simone Hardesty. And there’s even a guy, Aiden Cross. I checked the noisy ones out. Simone went to school with Jonas and so did Cross. Brenda, she’s involved in any and every cause that comes along.” He leaned away from the screen with the pictures on it.
“So?”
“Well, then there’s a lot of people who are in the group who don’t say a word, probably have given up.”
“Yeah? Is there a point to this?”
“By process of elimination, I’ve taken care of most of them, at least the ones who live within a fifty-mile radius.” When she was about to ask a question, he said, “It’s a computer app that crosschecks known people and their addresses.”
“Big Brother.” She eyed him. “There’s a reason we get a bad name, you know.”
“And a reason we need information. Protect and Serve. Remember.”
“Yeah, yeah, so what did you find?” She was intrigued enough to get out of the chair and round his desk to stare at his computer screen.
“There are several pictures of the woman Kara described.” He pulled up three group shots where he’d highlighted the woman with long coat, scarf and colored glasses, though in most shots she was turned away from the camera. “There’s a resemblance.”
“Okay, I guess.” She leaned closer, then studied the digitalized picture. “Could be.”
“I was hoping to see one of her getting into a car or talking with someone who might know her, just find some sort of connection. Someone we could ID and talk to.”
“Did you?”
“No, but if you notice there’s this other woman near to her. The redhead with the ponytail. But they’re never together, the redhead is in the background, but no matter where she moves to, the redhead is nearby.”
Johnson shrugged. “So?” Just then a cell phone chimed outside the doorway and someone said, “Hello,” footsteps approaching, then fading.