Page 35 of Three Girls Gone (Detective Amanda Steele #14)

THIRTY

Amanda and Trent scoured the houses on the rear street, but no one had a doorbell cam or any other video setup.

By the time they left the Maynards’ neighborhood for Central, uniformed officers were canvassing the street and the rear subdivision.

CSI Blair confirmed scrape marks had been found on a basement window where someone might have worked the edge with a pry bar.

When she spoke to the Maynards they confirmed they never got around to replacing the screen in that window after it got a tear in it last summer.

Unfortunately, the frame and latch didn’t offer up any prints or touch DNA.

“So what? This guy wore gloves to enter the home but didn’t when he handled the note?” Trent said.

Amanda considered it for a moment. “Or wore them the entire time except for when he loaded the paper into the printer.”

“So it just so happens the page used for the note was the top or bottom sheet?”

“Stranger things…”

“True.”

Trent parked in the lot at Central, and they headed to his desk to watch the video from the park. The ultimate hope was that they’d catch the man’s face and be able to identify him. Though short of that, even his face would be a breakthrough. They might even glimpse his vehicle.

At the sight of her empty cubicle, Amanda thought of Katherine. She hadn’t returned her call yet.

Trent didn’t waste any time loading up the video. He forwarded in slow motion. The lights on the parking lot caught the eyes of an animal, which showed up as two red orbs in the dark.

“Huh.” Trent paused the feed and leaned back.

“What are you doing? Play it. We need to get to Eloise.”

“Just one thing first. Rabbit eyes show red when light hits them.”

“And there was rabbit hair on the scarf around Hailey’s neck. Doesn’t mean we’re looking for someone with a rabbit.”

“No, it would just take one or two coming over to inspect Hailey’s body.”

“So how long was she left out there?” Amanda strained to see past the circle of light, but there was no way to see the carousel.

“Unless we catch it on camera, only best guess.”

“Here’s the thing, though…” Amanda paced a few steps within his cubicle, circled back. “He takes her to a park, so she’s found, but what’s to say this guy didn’t hang around to wait until she was?”

“The woman who found Hailey didn’t see anyone.”

“He could have stayed well hidden. Human eyes don’t reflect though, do they?”

“No. We don’t have the night-vision that animals do. The light reflection is associated with that.”

“Too bad. We could keep watch for two other colored dots.” She returned to her post standing at Trent’s side, and he resumed playback .

Raccoons were scurrying across the parking lot, but no humans.

“This doesn’t make any sense. He wouldn’t have walked a long distance with her dead body. Someone could have seen him. He had to come in a vehicle.”

As if responding on cue, headlights cut across the lot. The time stamp read 3:35 AM.

Amanda waited for the nose of the vehicle to inch forward. All she’d need was a sliver of the hood, and she or her brother Kyle could identify the make and model. He was a mechanic, and lived and breathed cars. But no such luck. “This is probably our guy with Hailey Tanner.”

“If he knew about the camera, he would have done everything to avoid it.”

They continued to watch as the car’s lights cut out. No one was within sight for a few moments. Then a fresh beam of light flashed, but the source was out of the camera’s range. This light was also weaker than the ones in the lot, pinpointed, and moving.

“A headlamp,” she said. “That bastard is right there, and we can’t do anything about it.”

They continued to watch the light grow dimmer as the man put distance between himself and the security camera. It almost faded to nothing when he would have been around the area of the carousel. About ten minutes later, it moved again.

“He’s headed toward the restroom.”

“Did he wait it out in there?” She felt a spark of hope light her chest. If he stayed in there until daylight, they’d have him on camera when he headed out.

The headlamp disappeared, as he must have gone into the restroom. Amanda remembered that an outside lock on the building had been broken, but hadn’t offered up any forensic evidence.

Trent forwarded the video until just before sunrise. In the growing light, they could see the carousel. They watched as Susan Butters went over and found Hailey’s body.

The door to the restroom cracked open. A sliver of light from inside gave them a silhouette.

“It is a man,” Trent said.

“Yep, and that bastard is right there. Watching everything.” She gripped her head as they continued to watch. “Officer Wyatt told us there were two doors. One in the front, and another in back. He could have left through there.”

“Would make sense. But you’re telling me that Susan Butters never saw him?” Trent continued to play the video, but the man must have taken a different path back to his vehicle. He didn’t show up on screen.

“He knew about the camera, all right. And I’m with you. I don’t understand how Susan Butters could have missed this altogether. She told us she didn’t see anyone in the park. I realize the scarf around Hailey’s neck didn’t tie back to Susan, but we need to talk with her immediately.”

They returned to the car, and Trent got Susan’s address from the onboard computer. They were banging on her apartment door ten minutes later.

“Don’t tell me she’s not—” The door opened, interrupting Trent.

“Detectives?” Susan opened the door wider. “What are you doing here?”

The woman’s eyes were red-rimmed, and she had an angry-looking cold sore on her bottom lip. She was wearing a ratty bathrobe at one in the afternoon.

“We have some questions, if we can come in.” Amanda made the slightest move toward the apartment, and Susan stepped back to let them inside and took them to her living room.

The place smelled like burned garlic bread.

Amanda and Trent sat on the couch, while Susan dropped into a chair. A vacant dog bed, toys, and chews remained as a shrine to her late furry companion.

“Susan, we need you to think back to Monday morning,” Amanda started.

Her eyes filled with tears. “It’s all I think about. And it was Hailey Tanner. That’s what they said in the paper. Her poor parents. That poor girl.” She sobbed, and tears flooded her cheeks.

“I can imagine the last few days have been extremely rough,” Amanda empathized. “Have you reached out to Victim Services?”

Susan nodded. “Speaking with them is the only thing keeping me from losing it altogether.”

“I’m sure it will get better over time, but I need you to try and remember. Was any vehicle in the parking lot when you arrived?” Amanda asked her.

“Yes? No? I don’t know. I’m sorry, but I came by foot through another section of the park.”

“You never saw one then?” Amanda reiterated.

“No.”

“And you never heard anything?” Amanda was pressing harder now. The man was flesh and blood, not a poltergeist.

Susan opened her mouth, closed it. “Actually. I think maybe there was something…”

Amanda inched forward on the couch. Her entire body was rigid, her chest frozen. “Talk to us.” She did her best to sound encouraging while tamping down her roused suspicion.

Susan’s eyes were glazed over as she stared at the floor.

“Susan,” Amanda prompted.

“Oh my God, I can’t believe I forgot about this, but it was right when I found…”

“It’s okay, Susan. Please continue,” Amanda appealed in a soft tone.

“I was fumbling to get my phone out and call nine-one-one, but I vaguely recall the sound of a car starting up and the crunching of gravel.” Susan’s brow furrowed. Conjuring the memory appeared to take effort.

“Did you see the vehicle?” Amanda thought she’d ask again.

“Actually, yes. It was a car. Gray. I still can’t believe I forgot to mention this. It’s just… I was so… I messed everything up, didn’t I? I’m such a self-absorbed loser.”

It hurt Amanda’s heart to hear this woman talking about herself in such an unkind way.

“Please don’t beat yourself up over this.

You were going through a lot in your own life, and finding Hailey would have been traumatic enough on its own.

As for you not remembering, that’s understandable.

The mind releases things, memories, at its own rate when dealing with a highly stressful situation.

” She offered these words of encouragement while battling frustration.

Eloise’s abduction may have never happened if they had this information sooner.

“You said it was a car, though,” Trent put in. “Do you remember the make and model?”

“No, I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. Did you see who was behind the wheel? A man or a woman?” The size of the silhouetted figure suggested a man, but that didn’t mean a woman wasn’t in the driver’s seat. That was Amanda covering all the bases, but she didn’t want to influence Susan’s response.

“I just saw a bit of the trunk.”

“Okay, thank you. If more comes back to you, call me. Please.” Amanda got up, and she and Trent left Susan Butters with just one more tiny piece of the puzzle.