Page 42 of The Fragile Ones

“Do you happen to know when you’ll be coming back out here?”

“Not sure, we’re evaluating our evidence and priorities right now.”

“I see,” he said with a sigh, just as McGaven entered.

Katie made a gesture that she was on an important call. “Would you like for us to let you know when we’re on our way?”

“That would be fine. Again, I hope our little town didn’t discourage you.”

“No, of course not.” She rolled her eyes in frustration so McGaven could see her reaction. “Thank you again, Chief.”

“My pleasure. Bye now.”

Katie ended the call and put down her cell phone.

“So what did the chief have to say?” asked McGaven.

Katie smiled and leaned back in her chair. “Good morning to you too. We got a name.”

“You mean the police chief wants us back?”

“Well, he gave us the name: Darren Rodriguez at 261 Pine Street.”

McGaven immediately flipped open his laptop and began searching through the police database. Files and background information scrolled down his screen.

“Anything?”

“Yep.”

“That was fast.”

“Well, Mr. Rodriguez here has had some bum luck. Quite the change from Mr. Mayfield, where I can’t seem to get any real information besides a prior, but nothing substantial like work history or places of residence.”

Katie rolled her chair next to McGaven. “What do you have?”

“Drunk and disorderly…quite a few of those.”

“That fits what the chief said,” she said, reading over her partner’s shoulder.

“Trespass, low level assault…shoplifting…and it looks like he did eight years for vehicular homicide from ten years ago.”

“It shows he drinks and drives, and gets angry,” she said.

“Our killer?”

“Can’t rule anyone out at this point. For now we need to talk to him about his buddy Mayfield.”

McGaven looked at Katie’s desk, which was covered with steno pads and several small sticky notes. “You’ve been busy.”

“It’s mostly notes, but 372 has been bothering me. In fact, it’s a bit of an obsession right now.” She flipped through her notes. “What are the odds of three numbers showing up in two different places that I happened to visit?”

McGaven shook his head.

“It’s more than one hundred thousand to one…could be more. So,” she said. “I’ve done the usual rundown of what these three numbers might mean. Like birthdates, addresses, locker combos and such. It’s not enough for favorite lotto numbers.”

“And?”

“Nothing,” she said.