Page 15 of A Touch of Murder
"I'll do that, and I'd like to set up a time for you to meet with our sketch artist. It's just a local lady who we use when needed. She'll be happy to come here so you don't have to come into the station. We'll see if anyone recognizes the man you saw once that's done." Barret hesitated, unsure if he should ask what he wanted to. "Trina's body is being returned in the next couple of days. I hate to ask this of you, but if she has any of her clothing with her, could you—would you be willing to…" He let his words trail off. He was asking a lot of Adam. Who knew what the guy might see by touching the things she might have been wearing when she died?
"For sure. I'll do whatever I can to help. It's not my first murder investigation. I know I might see things I'll never get out of my head, but if it brings her killer to justice, I'll do anything. Even better, and this has to be up to you and Trina's family. If I could touch the body, I could probably tell you more. God, I know how gruesome that sounds, but I'd just need to touch a finger, a few strands of hair, even a toe. I don't need to see all of her."
Barret was stunned at the offer. "I'd need to clear it with the family and my captain, but if they're okay with it, so am I. Just be sure that's what you want to do. I spoke to the medical examiner in Utah, and it sounds like Trina suffered a lot."
"I've done it before. I know what I might be getting myself into. If I do it, I'll need Jacey with me for that. I won't be able to drive myself home after. Touching a body is a lot harder on me than just touching an object. Jacey will know how to help me recover after and get me back home so I can sleep for a few hours." Adam took another drink. "I'd rather the family not be there if I do that. They don't need to hear what I might see."
"I agree with you on that. I'll tell them up front it won't happen if they're in the room with you. Hell, just the stuff you told me today is more than any parent should have to hear." Barret wondered if Adam kept things back when dealing with families. Things that he saw that might upset them more than they already were.
"Thanks." Adam smiled. "I have to say, today went much better than the last time I did a reading for you."
Barret met his stare across the table. "About that, I'm sorry for calling you names and freaking out the way I did. I was in shock. I knew you'd seen something it was impossible for you to know. Grandma died when I was fifteen. You couldn't have known her smell or about her apron. I was being smug, thinking I'd trick you with unused cuffs, then you go and tell me something completely personal like that. I didn't know how to accept that. I was angry, trying to figure out how you'd learned things only Becky and I could know. I was going to ask her today if she'd talked to you about Grandma, but you were already in the bakery. I admit, I'm struggling a bit with all this, but I can't find any way to deny what you do."
"I'm okay with you not fully believing as long as you listen to what I say and give it consideration. In time, I hope you accept it for what it is. I'm only here to help. I don't go looking for work. I let it come to me. I want our town safe, and that means we find Trina's killer, orkillersI'm starting to think." Adam stood and went over to grab another candy bar.
"How do you not weigh seven-hundred pounds?" Barret grinned as Adam tore the candy wrapper open.
"I have no idea. Some days I have ten of these. I run a bit and do some simple workouts throughout the week, but honestly, I think what I do just burns the calories. I'm more worried about my teeth. I'm constantly brushing them." Adam pulled another bar out. "Want one?"
Barret held up his hand. "No, that apple fritter did me in for the morning." He stood. "I need to get back to the station. Vance will think I've taken the day off and left him to do all the work." He nodded to the bracelet on the table. "Can I ask you to put that back in the bag so I don't have to pull out my gloves?"
"Sure." Adam walked over and quickly dropped the beads into the bag and sealed it before handing it to Barret.
"Thanks." Barret offered his hand. "I'm not sure what you do or how you do it, but you've been an amazing help. We wouldn't have found her body in Utah had you not pushed us to search harder. It could have taken a lot longer. I might not seem to appreciate what you do completely, but it has gotten us answers, and for that, I'm grateful."
Adam shook his hand. "Anytime. I mean that. I'm used to unbelievers and doubters. It doesn't stop me from doing what needs to be done. Give me a call if you want me to read the body. Just give me a little notice so I can let Jacey know and close the shop for the rest of the day."
"Of course." Barret smiled. "And you email me that recording and if you figure out the gloves you saw."
"I'm on that now." Adam took a seat behind his desk and gave Barret a wave.
Barret walked out of the office and saw Jacey talking to two women over by one of the displays. He gave him a nod, then left the store, his mind racing with all the information he'd learned and hoping that they could trust it.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Barret walked into the station ready to work. With the information Adam had given him, along with the evidence found with the body in Utah, they had a lot more to work with. He hoped it was enough to give them a lead on who took Trina Wilson and why.
He wasn't surprised to find Vance working at the whiteboard, where they had laid out the timeline of events as they knew them. He wouldn't have anything to add to the timeline from Adam's report, but that was okay. What they did have was a possible description of one of the men.
"How'd it go?" Vance asked as he turned to look at Barret.
"Good. Better than I expected. Give me a second to call Maggie. I want her to get out to Adam's as soon as possible and sit down with him." Barret hurried to his desk to find her number. Why he didn't have it on his phone after all these years was beyond him.
Maggie Crenshaw was somewhere in her mid-sixties. She'd taught art at the local elementary school when Barret had gone. She was a sweet, yet bit eccentric woman, with long hair that was always pulled into two braids. She loved everyone and everyone loved her. She'd never married as far as Barret knew. She lived in a small house near the center of town and continued to volunteer at the schools when they needed art assistance. He knew she was also behind the random murals that would pop up on business windows from time to time.
He found her number in his top drawer, saved it to his phone, then made the call. Within five minutes, he had her set up to call Adam Wrecker, and hopefully, meet with him today to get a drawing done of the man he'd seen.
"So, if you called Maggie, I'm guessing things went well with Adam and he saw something?" Vance leaned against the side of one of the desks.
"If we can believe him, it went really well. He saw the face of one of the attackers."
"One? You mean there was more than one person who took her?"
Barret shrugged. "Maybe. He thinks he saw two different people. One grabbed her, another searched her car. He only saw the face of one of them. I'll let you listen to the recording as soon as he sends it to me. What he said about searching the car fits with what we found. Her purse had been dumped out, glove box open and contents scattered. Other than the description of one of the men, he didn't give us much we didn't already know. Like the first recording, he talks about her fear. He sees the struggle. He did mention he thinks they had a hand over her mouth and nose. He said it was hard to breathe. Maybe that's how they knocked her out. Caused her to pass out, unable to breathe, then took her. That's why we don't see any signs of a struggle outside the car."
"Possibly." Vance pointed the black marker at the board. "I don't know where else to go with this. We've watched every bit of surveillance video we have from around the movie theater, going both directions through town. Nothing draws my attention. Did Adam see a vehicle by chance?"
"No, nothing there. Everything he got was from inside the car. It's the oddest thing. It's as if he's looking at things through the object he's touching. I've never seen anything like it," Barret told him.
