The ride to Curtis’s street took only fifteen minutes. Jake turned on the road and slowed at the curb. “Where now?”
“Right here.” Ryley unbuckled her seatbelt.
“He doesn’t live at this address. Are you sure your ghosts aren’t confused?”
“I’m the only one not confused,” Ryley said, climbing out of the SUV.
He sighed and got out, crossing the street corner to where Ryley had a look of concentration, slowly turning in a circle.
Her gaze was on the house nearest the curb when she smiled.
“He left his house and was picked up on the curb.”
“What is that going to prove?” Jake asked.
“He was ordered by gunpoint into the trunk of a car against his will,” she explained and pointed to the closest house. “I hope you brought your badge.”
She opened the gate and headed up the sidewalk with him following behind her. She knocked on the door and clasped her hands in front of her. An old lady answered the door. Her tight gray curls had just been styled. The walker she used had tennis balls covering the bottom of the legs to stave off scrapes on her floor.
“Yes?” she asked.
“Ma’am. Detective Jake Crews is with the police department.” Ryley turned and gave him that look.
“Right.” He pulled out his wallet and flipped it open so the woman could see his badge.
“How can I help you?” she asked.
“Do your security cameras work?” Ryley asked.
Jake’s gaze flew to the camera, pointing out into the yard, and the other one aimed at her porch.
“Of course. My son is serious about my safety. Especially after that break-in two years ago.”
“I was hoping you’d say that. Not that you’d had a break-in, but that they were working.” Ryley glanced over her shoulder with a grin. “We believe a crime was committed on that street corner on…”
“April nineteenth,” Jake said, stepping forward. “Do you mind if we review your security feed?”
“Of course not.” She pulled the door open.
She turned and stepped, pausing with each to maneuver her walker in front of her as she headed for the computer desk set up in the living room.
Her television sound was blaring as if she might have been hard of hearing. Cats were perched on her couch. She sat in the chair at the computer desk and slowly typed in the web address to her security company.
Ryley pasted on a strained smile and glanced at her watch as if she was in a hurry.
The woman pulled up the video and moved out of the seat. She pointed to the play button on the screen. “You just hit that button there, sonny.”
“Thank you,” Jake answered raising his voice so the woman could hear him, fast-forwarding until he saw Curtis come into the frame. He approached a waiting parked sedan. The tinted window made it impossible to see the driver.
“Care to bet what happens next?” Ryley whispered in his ear.
He ignored her and watched as Curtis talked to someone through the window.
“Pay attention, Detective. This is your face shot.”
The driver’s side door opened, and a tall figure emerged from the shadows. Benny Waldridge had a gun pointed at Curtis.
Jake’s mood veered sharply to anger. Benny was Curtis’s co-worker. He’d acted worried when he’d been interviewed. He’d seemed genuine. He’d played them all.
Benny kept the gun pointed at Curtis as the accountant climbed into the trunk. Benny hovered over Curtis and whispered something the video didn’t pick up before he hammered his fist into Curtis’s face and slammed the trunk shut.
“He threatened Curtis’s wife,” Ryley said, filling in the blanks.
Jake played the video again, this time recording it with his phone. He forwarded it to his partner for safekeeping until he could get a warrant.
“Thank you, ma’am. I’ll be in contact with your security people to get an official copy.”
“Glad I can help,” the older woman said.
“We’ll see ourselves out.” Jake rested his hand on Ryley’s back and led her to the door, closing it behind him.
They crossed the street and climbed into his SUV. He sat there while she hooked her belt. How in the hell had she known?
“Do you know where they went next?” he asked, though it pained him.
She glanced at him and grinned. “Yes, and you do too, but let me fill in the rest of how it played out.”
He sighed. “I’m all ears.”
“The curb where you found him lying dead is where he escaped the trunk and ran for it. The guy with the scar shot him in the back and sped off.” She shrugged. “You might want to look for cameras around that area, too.”
He started the car and pulled out.
“Oh!” she said excitedly. “And when the scarred man hit Curtis, it left blood in the trunk from his broken nose.”
No one knew about the broken nose. Forensic hadn’t shared with anyone other than Jake that the broken nose wasn’t from the fall and that they might have gotten some DNA from the hit.
“Anything else you want to share?” Jake asked, trying to process how she knew as much as she did.
“Yeah, Curtis wants you to tell his wife that his will is hidden in the encyclopedias. If you could pass that on for him, that would be helpful.”
Jake’s eye twitched as he drove four houses down and parked his car. “Well, while we’re here, why don’t we take a look.”
Ryley’s eyes widened, and she rested her hand on his arm. “You can’t tell her I’m a medium.”
“And why is that? You’d think the widow would be grateful to hear from her departed husband.”
“And he’d be glad to talk to her if I hadn’t forced him into the light to get the information.”
His mouth parted as he stared at her, not even sure he wanted to hear more.
“What? It isn’t a crime. At least not that I’ve been told.” She shrugged. “But I find when it happens, they’re more reluctant to communicate with me if they reappear at all.”
“You take weird to all new heights,” Jake mumbled before he could call
