Page 89 of The Whispering Girls

“Perhaps not,” she said smiling. “But there’s no lock on the door.” Katie pointed to the entry for the remnants.

“Let’s check it out. John was here talking with the owner. We’re following up.”

Katie grabbed two sets of gloves, and the detectives got out of the Jeep. Katie shuddered. She wasn’t enjoying the coldweather, but it could’ve been worse. The air was cold, but not as bad as last night. She pushed through her uncomfortable feelings and glanced over to McGaven as he walked toward the storage area. She noticed he walked stiffly, slowly, and every so often he put his left hand on the side of his chest. It was clear he was still hurting from the aftermath of the hospital explosion.

“Gav, you okay?” she said.

“Fine. Why?”

“Well, I don’t know, we were nearly blown up last night.”

He stopped and turned to face Katie. “It’s uncomfortable, I’ll admit, but it’s healing. When we get back, I’ll have the doc take a look and change the bandages.”

Katie was relieved to hear that. “Good.”

They looked around again, ascertaining that the store was indeed vacant. McGaven flipped the metal gate lever up and pulled the door open. It was fairly organized with like things piled together. There were many piles of carpet remnants that probably wouldn’t sell even at a high discount.

Katie immediately spotted the green carpeting. It wasn’t the typical medium or dark green; it was a lighter version, more yellowish green. She pulled out the larger pieces and worked her way to small remnants that had been cut off from corners, and trimming lengths and widths.

“This is what John checked out,” she said. “But I’m wondering how long they keep these pieces here.”

“There’s probably a trash area or recycling,” he said.

Katie exited the enclosed area and walked farther to the back of the property. That was where she saw a van that was obviously used for deliveries. Her first thought was…could the van’s tire impressions have been found at the crime scene?

“Gav,” she said.

He joined her.

“Didn’t John say that the tire impressions from the crime scene were from a truck or van?”

McGaven nodded.

“We need to dig more up on the owner, employees, and Bill Westin so we can clear them of being suspects.”

McGaven made notes in his phone.

“Do you have a dollar bill?” she said.

McGaven handed one to her and she went to the area where the old van was parked. Katie took photos of it and the license plate. She tried the doors, but they were locked.

“Anything?”

“Not yet.” Katie scrutinized the van, especially the side sliding doors. Not seeing anything suspicious, she took close-up photos of the tires and then of the tire impression leading out the back entrance—even with the snow the tracks were discernible, which meant it had been used not long ago. Using the dollar bill to give the size and dimension of the tire treads, Katie finished with a couple more photographs for John to compare to the crime scene impressions.

The detectives were just about ready to go when Katie spotted a large dumpster along the alleyway.

“Wait a minute,” she said.

McGaven looked toward the alley. “Oh no, not another dumpster,” he said with sarcasm.

“Why not? It’s not on their property, so it’s open season.”

“It’s freezing out here.”

“So?” Her thought was that they needed to follow every lead and make sure to be thorough.

“So?”