Page 77 of Ride the Lightning

“I just need to know what you’ve discovered to trigger such a violent reaction. Do you have a lead?”

“Didn’t I promise to share vital information with you?” Jonah asked.

“Yes,” Ellie acknowledged, “but surely you can understand my concern.”

“Am I talking to the police commissioner or my aunt right now?” Jonah asked.

Ellie stopped at a red light and glanced over at him. “They’re one and the same. I am concerned about your safety and making sure I find out who really killed Earl Ison.”

“Honest, Aunt Ellie. The only trouble I’ve stirred up is at work.”

“Explain.”

Jonah told her the sequence of events that culminated in his suspension and the restricted access. “After Trexler suspended me, someone slashed my tires. Trexler restricted my access, so I went to the storage facility to look through the evidence, which is now missing, by the way.”

“Son of a bitch,” Ellie growled.

“Then I got bashed over the head when leaving the facility.”

“What about the homeless guy? Could he have hit you?”

“He could have, I guess, but to what purpose?” Jonah asked. “Hank didn’t steal my wallet or my phone. In fact, he helped Avery find me. It wasn’t him.”

“Who knew you were going to the warehouse?” Ellie asked.

“No one.”

“Someone must be following you,” Ellie said, then instinctively checked her rearview mirror. “But who? Trexler?”

“Who else? He’s the common denominator in all of this.”

“Butch Trexler can be an absolute asshole sometimes, but I find it hard to believe he’s trying to kill you.” Ellie took a deep breath. “We can’t afford to rule anyone out at this point.”

“Rocky is digging into his background to see if Trexler has ties to anyone connected to either investigation.”

“Tell me everything you’ve uncovered so far in your investigation.”

Jonah started at the beginning and recanted each of the interviews, starting with Sandy Jasper at The Cockpit and ending with Milton and Morrissey slamming the door in their faces.

“The only one left to interview is the guy Earl dated after he broke up with Jerry,” Ellie said. “Any idea who it might be?”

“None,” Jonah admitted. “Nothing I uncovered would want to make someone kill me. I’m not any closer to solving this case than when I started.”

“They might not know it.”

“How’d they get inside a GBI facility to steal the evidence?” Jonah asked.

“We can’t say for certain someone recently took the evidence, Jonah. There’s a vacant spot on the shelf where Ison’s evidence boxcould’vebeen. Maybe it was a different investigation from the same year, which would have a similar case file number. We can’t possibly store the evidence from every investigation.”

“Maybe,” Jonah admitted. “Any luck on finding my attacker?”

“Nope,” Ellie said. “Locke and Key have talked to the owners of the surrounding warehouses and none of them have exterior security cameras. They haven’t been able to locate your friend Hank either.”

Jonah hoped to run into the homeless man again someday so he could thank him. He also wanted to find a way to get Hank off the street, if possible.

“My vice cops are asking around too,” Ellen continued. “So far, we’ve got zilch.” Jonah wasn’t surprised. “The official police report for yourmuggingis temporarily stuck in our internal reporting system. Modern technology is great when it functions properly.”

Jonah chuckled. “Is that the official excuse you’re going to give if anyone requests the incident report?”