Page 91 of The Whispering Girls

“I think it’s possible there were more than one person involved.”

“More than one killer?”

“No. Just one killer, but more than one person involved.”

Katie, McGaven, and Cisco were driving slowly to get to 2710 Cedar Oak Street, the house of Bill Westin. The day was overcast, but it wasn’t snowing, and the town was extremely quiet.There were no cars on the road and no snowplows either, which meant that most people wouldn’t be out. Driveways weren’t cleared. There was just a huge vision of white everywhere. It was a little unsettling.

Katie had no trouble navigating through and around deep snow. She left tire impressions behind, which would make it easy for someone to follow them.

“How do you want to handle this?” said McGaven. He had been looking up background information on Westin.

“I don’t think we should go up to his door and knock.”

“Then what?”

“We need to sit back and watch, for now,” she said.

McGaven looked at the digital map on his iPad. “It looks like his house is at the end of the street and there are adjacent roads, which would be good places to park and not be noticed.”

“Sounds good,” she said.

“There’s also an empty lot across the street.”

“Even better.”

Katie weaved the Jeep around difficult places, up and around where the sidewalks were buried by the storm.

“I’ve kept calling Chief Cooper and his officers,” said McGaven.

“And?”

“Nothing. Clark’s and Banning’s just go to voicemail. And voicemail for the chief too.”

“Do we have the capability to ping their phones?” she said.

“I’ve tried to use the software on my laptop, but I haven’t had much luck.”

“These might just be their work phones. Maybe they have personal cell phones?”

“It’s worth a try.”

“Ugh,” said Katie frustrated. “We don’t have all the information and we don’t have access to our working stuff.”

“Hey, I get it. But we are making progress and we will figure this out. I know you, partner, you will find a way.” He smiled.

Katie nodded. She hated showing her annoyance. “That’s only because I have you as a partner.”

“Turn there,” he said. “I think you can access the vacant lot.”

“I see it. There are a lot of trees for cover.” Katie managed to pull into the property and found a flat location where they could see in between the trees but no one should be able to see them parked there. “What do you think?”

McGaven craned his neck and looked in all directions. “It works.”

Katie managed to retrieve some binoculars to see the house more clearly. There was a truck in the driveway, and by the looks of the snow in the back, it had been there for at least a day. It also appeared that someone had helped to clear the snow from their street.

“Looks like Westin had been jailed for theft and trespass, but nothing violent. He’s single, but there could be a girlfriend,” said McGaven.

The detectives waited for twenty minutes. There wasn’t any movement until all of a sudden a blue sedan pulled up. A woman with short brown hair got out of the car and cautiously looked in both directions before continuing. She hurried to Westin’s front door.