Page 29

TWENTY-EIGHT

Mr. and Mrs. Banner had just left his office when Lisa knocked on Adrian’s door.

“How was it?” she asked after he told her to come in.

“About how you’d expect,” he said. “I got the feeling they blamed me somehow. That if our department was larger, Chloe wouldn’t have died.”

“I’m sure they don’t think that.”

Adrian shrugged. “Not consciously, but there was an... undercurrent. Of course, they were extremely upset after identifying their daughter’s body at the morgue. That made it worse. But I’m sure some of it was because I couldn’t give them much information. I can’t bring up the other bodies because we’re not sure they’re connected to Chloe’s death. I know what Erin and Kaely think, and I agree with them, but there’s no proof yet. Nothing to tie them together. For now, all these poor parents know is that their daughter came here on vacation and now she’s dead.”

“Why did Chloe come here?” Lisa asked. “A woman alone, who doesn’t seem to know anyone? Doesn’t make much sense to me.”

“Seems she had a friend who vacationed here last year. Went on and on about it. Chloe had been going through a stressful time in her life. She broke up with her long-term boyfriend, and her job had been taking a lot of her time. She wanted to get away and have some fun.”

“She just called the resort out of the blue?” Lisa asked.

“No, actually, the friend referred her to Steve Tremont.”

“The guy who owns the Watcher cabin?”

Adrian nodded. “He mentioned the resort. That’s all I know about it.” He frowned. “I’ve known Steve a long time. We’re acquaintances, not friends, but I can’t see him mixed up in this. Might be best though...”

“To find out where he was Saturday night?”

“Yeah.”

Lisa had a knack for finishing his sentences. It didn’t irritate him though. They’d just worked together for so long they knew what the other one was thinking.

“Where are the Banners staying?”

“At the resort. Merle gave them a free room. Told them to stay as long as they needed to.”

“Merle? That’s surprising.”

Merle Hubbard wasn’t known for his benevolence. Of course, he was in business to make money, not friends. Merle had never had a guest murdered, though. Something like that could make anyone compassionate. Even Merle.

“I agree.” He shook his head. “I think the Banners were in shock. I wish I could have said something to help them, but I couldn’t find anything comforting.” It would be a long time before Adrian would be able to get the look in Mrs. Banner’s eyes out of his mind. They were dead. As if her daughter’s murder had stolen her life as well. Mr. Banner was more aggressive. Trying to take charge. Probably for his wife’s sake. But Adrian noticed his hand tremble when he reached out to shake hands with Adrian. The man was suffering. “Oh, here’s the picture they brought. I promised we’d copy it and get it back to them.” He handed Lisa the photo. It was weird, looking at Chloe when she was alive after seeing her body. It was hard to believe they were the same person. The fire of life changed someone’s features. Her pale face had color in the photo. Her eyes sparkled, and her smile made her look like someone else. Someone who hadn’t suffered at the hands of a depraved human being who had no respect for the living.

Talking to the Banners left him feeling drained. He wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep. Try to forget the past few days. The quiet bodies, the lifeless eyes of the living and the dead. His past had come back to haunt him, and he hated it. He came to Sanctuary to start again. To be a law enforcement officer in a place that wouldn’t exact such a terrible toll. But the horror of murder and destruction had found him again.

“Hello?” Lisa said.

“Sorry. Just...”

“I know. I feel the same way.”

Adrian sighed. “Go ahead and start sending the photo out to bars and restaurants in the area. If you get any nibbles, send Lonzine and Dale out to talk to them. We’ve got to have more information. Check for video surveillance. I’d like to see who she was with, although I have a feeling he’s too smart to get caught on camera.”

“Sure, boss. I’ll get right on it.”

Lisa had only been gone a few minutes when she swung the door open again. “Boss, Erin Delaney and Kaely Hunter are here to see you.”

“Thanks, Lisa. Send them in.”

Adrian stood to his feet and waited. When they entered his office, he waved them toward the chairs facing his desk.

“Good to see you,” he said.

“You too, Adrian,” Erin said. “Anything new on your end?”

After they were seated, he sat down too. “Yeah, the autopsy results. Something interesting there.”

“Care to share?” Kaely asked.

“Chloe had been given flunitrazepam prior to her death,” he said. “With alcohol. It would have rendered her unconscious.”

Kaely frowned. “So, he took her to that event... what was it called?”

“Grits and Grains?” He shook his head. “I doubt it. There wasn’t any food in her stomach. Oh, and we found her car. One of its back tires had been slashed. It went flat, and she pulled it off on the side of the road between the resort and Townsend.”

“I don’t understand,” Erin said.

“My officers found tire tracks behind her car. It looks like someone pulled up behind her. My guess is that it was the killer.”

“This isn’t the first abandoned car connected to these deaths,” Erin said.

Adrian nodded. “Terri Rupp’s car was also found abandoned. However, further checking reveals that there was a problem with the engine. There wasn’t any sign that it had been tampered with. Not sure we can connect the two cars.”

“Back to Chloe,” Kaely said. “So, was the killer the person she dressed up to meet?” Kaely asked.

“Possibly. Whoever it was, she must have gotten in his car,” Adrian said. “So she had some level of trust in him. And it seems she was comfortable enough to get a drink with him. Somewhere.”

Erin looked at him like he had three heads. “None of that makes sense. She was dressed to the nines. She wasn’t planning on having a drink with this guy. She was going to that festival. Probably planned to meet him there. And if there wasn’t any food in her stomach, then she was prepared to eat. So, even if it was her date and he just happened to find her on the road, why didn’t they call a tow truck and then go on to the festival?”

“And if he didn’t pick her up, I’d guess that he lived close to the event,” Kaely said slowly. “Otherwise, wouldn’t he have offered to drive?”

“I’d think so,” Adrian replied, “but that’s a lot of speculation. Maybe she wanted to go somewhere afterward. Or maybe she didn’t feel she knew him well enough to let him drive her there and back.”

“You could be right,” Erin said. “But it appears she went somewhere with him to get a drink. Odd that there wasn’t any food in her stomach. Bars always have some kind of food to snack on.”

Adrian sighed loudly. “It’s frustrating. I agree that it doesn’t seem to make sense, but there might be an explanation we haven’t thought of.”

“You need to look at bars near the place where they found her car,” Erin said. She looked at Adrian. “Could you ask the detectives if there was a spare tire in her car?”

He nodded and picked up his phone. Lisa answered. “Lisa, either Lonzine or Dale here?”

“Dale’s out, but Lonzine is still here.”

“Have her come to my office, will you?” he said.

“Sure, boss.”

He hung up the phone. “I think I know where you’re going with this,” he said, directing his comment to Erin.

There was a knock on his door, and he called out, “Come in.”

Lonzine stepped into his office. He introduced her to Erin and Kaely before saying, “Was there a spare tire in Chloe Banner’s car when you found it?”

“No, boss. I looked because I wondered why she didn’t change her tire. Most women know how to do it. Especially single women.”

“Thanks, Lonzine.”

After she closed the door, Adrian nodded at Erin. “Tell me why you asked that question, but I think I know.”

“Why didn’t she change the tire?” Erin said. “Or, why didn’t the person who pulled off the road help her change the tire? Because there wasn’t a spare. I think the man who stopped to supposedly help her knew that. He could have told her he knew someone who could assist her. Either he could bring a tire that would fit her car, or else they could have her car towed to a garage where she could get her tire changed the next morning. If that happened, it would explain why they went for a drink. She was waiting for something.”

“And that’s also why there wasn’t any food in her stomach,” Kaely said. “She was still planning to go to the festival.”

Adrian stared at her for a moment before saying, “That makes sense. So we need to find someplace nearby where she could get a drink, and close enough so she could get back to her car when help arrived.”

“Help that never came,” Erin said softly. “He lied to her. He didn’t want to go to that festival. Too many eyes. Too much of a chance they would be noticed. So he roofied her drink, and then when she couldn’t fight back, he took her back out to his car and completed his plan to kill her.”

He picked up the phone again and asked Lisa to limit her search to bars or restaurants close to the place where they’d discovered Chloe’s car. He could only pray that they would find a place where someone would remember Chloe... and the man who took her life.