Page 91 of Shadow Sabotage
“Exactly,” I said, grinning.
“So how do we prove that?”
“Normally, I’d do a geofence for that night, use it to identify all the electronics that had been used at her residence. But it’s been seven months. That data could be gone. And a geofence gets tricky in an apartment building full of college students. A lot of judges are going to see that as an invasion of privacy,since it would tag all of their devices, too,” I mused, thinking it over. “Besides, that only works if her phone was connected to the internet and used apps that collect voluntary data like Google. If we’re talking about a flip phone with wireless only or a true burner, we’re out of luck.”
“What about cell tower data?”
I shook my head. “Seven months later, full tower dumps will be long gone. We would only be able to get data if we knew the phone number.”
“So there’s no way to prove it.” Her shoulders sagged again.
“There’s always a way.”
She shot me a skeptical look.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky.” I shrugged. “Once we get the social media returns, we might find another device connected that way.”
“So much waiting around,” she complained.
“Welcome to my world.” I loved every minute of it, but being a detective was slow work for the most part.
“It’s fun,” she admitted. “Most of the time. But I do get antsy. I’m used to more action, less thinking and data.”
“You get used to it.” I pulled another photo from my files and stuck it up on the board.
“Trey?” Claire’s jaw dropped. “You thinkTreymight have killed Katelyn?”
“I think we should consider him as a possibility, especially after the conversation I overheard. Let’s think him through as a suspect.”
“Okay,” Claire said with a heavy exhale. “We know he wanted this case. I assumed it was to give him a leg up with the DCI, but if he killed Katelyn, that’s a whole new level of motivation to be in on things.”
I nodded. “He came to help process the crime scene and made sure his DNA was there.“
“That’s true.” Claire’s eyes narrowed. “If Katelyn was looking for attention when she was here and Sheriff McGrath blew her off, maybe she tried getting it from Trey. He’d love playing that protective hero role in someone’s life just to feed his own ego. Plus, he’s closer to her age than Sheriff McGrath.”
“Exactly. Or he could be helping someone else.”
“Sheriff McGrath?”
I shook my head. “He couldn’t have been on the phone with him. You were in the office with the sheriff during that phone call. But there’s another possibility for Katelyn’s affair partner—someone else Sergeant Collins would be eager to help.” I stuck another photo up on the board. “We know they met, and we know he has a pattern of infidelity.”
Claire smirked when she saw Mayor Evans in my row of suspects. “As much as I want to slap a pair of handcuffs on him, I have a hard time seeing Katelyn pass up Tony for him. Tony is at least attractive. Mayor Evans is not.”
“Agreed. And while I know you’re not a fan of Leslie Evans, I have a feeling she’s smart enough to make sure the money stays with her if they divorce. If Katelyn really was a gold digger, she’d be stupid to go for the mayor.”
“Totally. But Sheriff McGrath doesn’t have money, either,” she pointed out.
“That’s true,” I admitted. “That would go against Katelyn’s supposed MO.”
“Unless she really was just looking for a man who would make her feel protected.” Claire let out that deep sigh again. “Sheriff McGrath would be good at that. Better than Trey. But I still can’t imagine Sheriff McGrath committing murder.”
“Maybe he didn’t,” I said slowly, as a new thought began to form in my mind. I paced the room, thinking it through before I turned back to Claire. “What if Sheriff McGrath didn’t kill her? What if his only mistake was having an affair?”
She looked at me blankly. “Then it would be a moral failing. It might cost him his career, but it isn’t criminal.”
“Itiscriminal,” I corrected. “If they had an affair and he lied about that during a homicide investigation, that isabsolutelycriminal. Even if he didn’t kill her, knowledge about why she came back here and who else she may have had contact with could be the key to solving her murder.”
“True. Which makes me think either he killed her or he’s telling the truth. Why hide an affair to save his job if doing so is a crime that he’d lose his job for anyway?”
