Page 23 of Last Girls Alive
“We’ve had some problems with stealing. Probably kids. Tools have gone missing. Things have been moved around.”
“What kind of tools?”
“One of our tool boxes was pried open and some of the hand tools were taken. Small stuff like screwdrivers, hammers, stuff like that. None of the expensive power tools were touched.”
Katie thought about it. Maybe he was right, it was kids. “What’s your name?”
“Carl.”
“Carl what?”
“Carl Brown.”
“You work for Edison?” she said.
“Yeah.”
“So what’s the timeline here?”
“For what?”
“To finish these houses.”
“By next month.”
“To put them on the market?”
“No.”
“No?” she said.
“They’ve already been sold.”
“We did a check on a house on Green Street. It doesn’t show that it has been sold.”
Brown shrugged. “That’s what they told us.”
“Have you ever heard of Magnum Development? MDI?”
Shaking his head, he said, “No.”
Katie decided to use a bit of charm and said, “I’m sorry, Mr. Brown, for coming down hard on you. But, I have one more question,” as she holstered her weapon.
“Don’t worry about it.” He shrugged. “I guess.”
“Do you know who either Candace Harlan or Amy Striker are?”
“No, should I?”
“Have you ever heard the name Harlan?”
“Like I said, nope.”
Katie watched his reaction and it appeared to be genuine. No hesitation. No averting of the eyes.
“If there’s anything out of the ordinary, can you call me?” She gave him her business card.
“Sure,” he replied, reading the card.
