“MOD to the front, MOD to the front registers,” her voice echoed through the loudspeakers.
Shaun thanked her and received a “mm-mmm” in response.
It took a few minutes for a stocky man with a well-trimmed beard to arrive. The girl at the register pointed to the agents as she made herself look busy at the already-neat end cap.
“Good morning, I’m Brad. How can I help you folks today?”
“I’m Special Agent O’Reilly, this is Special Agent Henderson. Is there a place where we can talk in private?”
Brad nodded and looked over at the girl, who pretended not to eavesdrop.
“Will you be okay on your own for a few minutes, Sharon?”
“I think so,” she replied.
Brad turned back to his guests. “Right this way.”
They followed him to the back of the store and through a door marked “employees only.”
“As I’m sure you’ve guessed,” Shaun began as they settled into his office, “We’re here about your assistant manager, Jane Ridgeway.”
Brad folded his hands on his desk. “I saw it on the news this morning. Such a tragedy.”
“When did you last see her?” Aidan asked.
Brad pushed out a heavy sigh. “Last week. Tuesday night. She was supposed to come in the following morning. She didn’t show. I knew something was wrong the minute one of my supervisors called me. It wasn’t like Jane at all.”
“Do you know if Jane has had problems with anyone in the past? A customer, an employee? Anyone that didn’t seem to like her?”
Brad shook his head.
“No. Jane is—was—very much a people person. We’ll certainly miss her around here.”
“Did you see her leave with anyone that night?” Shaun asked.
Brad shook his head. “I left around nine. She closed up shop about ten thirty or so.”
“Who closed with her?” Aidan asked. Before finding Jane’s body, the police had already questioned the employees, but he wanted to double check to make sure no one was missed.
Brad glanced at his board on the wall, which must have the names of employees working for the month. He read off the names, and Aidan wrote them in his pad. He requested their addresses and phone numbers, and Brad looked on the computer and handed over a printout of the requested information.
After concluding the interview, Aidan thanked him for his time.
“Was it The Carnations Killer?” he asked as he walked them out.
“It would seem,” Shaun replied.
“I hate it for her husband. They got married only a few months ago.”
They thanked Brad again, told him they were sorry for his loss, then left the store.
As they ambled to the car, Aidan called Lieutenant Christenson and told him the names and addresses of the employees that worked on the night of Jane’s disappearance. After taking note of the information, Christenson said the husband was distraught, and didn’t know of anyone who would want to hurt his wife.
The lieutenant said he would get with Aidan later once his men interviewed the other employees.
Aidan told him he was going to schedule a briefing for two o’clock in the afternoon. Christenson replied he’d like to attend if circumstances allowed—apparently, an accidental shooting had happened. Thankfully, there were no fatalities, but he needed to assess the situation.
The life of law enforcement officers.
Shaun and Aidan stopped by McDonald’s for lunch and brought it back to the office.
Now they sat at his desk reviewing the recent murder.
The downside was they still didn’t have new evidence on the body. The upside was they now had a witness—though she didn’t see very well—and a handmade taser the offender had placed in Aidan's car.
Two new things they never had before.
At least that was something.
The lab was examining the taser to see if anything of interest could provide some clue as to where the parts came from. They hoped to come across a trail of breadcrumbs.
As it neared two o’clock, Aidan's desk phone rang.
“O’Reilly.”
It was Christenson.
“I’m not going to be able to make it to the briefing today after all,” he said. His voice sounded tired. “But one of the employees that night—Devon Richards—he saw someone in the shadows as he left. Then the guy walked up to our vic and started talking. The suspect wore a cap and Devon didn’t see his face.”
“Did we question him before? Why didn't he mention it when we were trying to find Jane?” Aidan asked.
“He said he didn't remember it until now. He was too tired to pay much attention, but his window was down, and he heard part of the conversation. Our suspect was asking what time the store opened because he wanted to buy a chest that was on clearance.”
“So, he’s been in the store,” Aidan muttered. “This Richards guy didn’t remember seeing him before?”
Christenson cleared his throat. “All he said was that he sees too many people every time he’s working to remember faces.”
“What time did this occur?”
“He said they left the store around ten forty-five.”
“Okay, thanks, Lieutenant,” Aidan said. After he ended the call, he looked across his desk at Shaun. His eyes were narrowed, and it was obvious he was trying to figure out the other end of the conversation. As Aidan gathered everything he wanted for the briefing in ten minutes, he paraphrased what was said.
“Sounds to me like the offender is beginning to get careless,” Shaun construed. “We know he doesn’t leave witnesses.”
“Let’s hope he is,” Aidan replied. He looked at his colleague and rose. “Because we sure could use a break.”
33
After the briefing was over, Shaun and Aidan decided to go back to the beginning, where Maya Gibson was found
