Page 27 of Unhallowed Murder
“He went to Cancun with a girl he met at church, and she died while they were on vacation. Was found floatin’ in the swimmin’ pool. The Mexican police ruled it a drownin’, and since she didn’t have no family, she was cremated down there, so no one would have to pay to ship her home.”
“Thankyou for that information. It isn’t in any of my paperwork because it happened outside the country. What’s your name, Ma’am?”
Ronnie got her information, hung up, and turned to Corey. “How do we eventryto find information about women he left the country with who didn’t make it home?” While he considered the question, she lifted her phone and called Perry’s extension.
“Are you deep into something?”
“What do you need?”
She told him what she’d found, and he said, “You need me to keep following the trail back, see what churches he went to, and find someone gossipy at each church to give me dirt.”
“Yes, please.”
She saw him push away from his desk as he said, “I’m on it. I’ll phone anything big I get into Corey.”
“Thanks, Sergeant.”
Ronnie sensed a change in the room, and saw Commander Frost marching through her murder room. She stood when he entered her office.
“Commander.”
“Lieutenant. When are you going to let the men handle the bad guys who weigh twice what you do?”
She rolled her eyes and grinned. “He killed her, Sir. Now I just have to prove it.”
“Gut, or do you have something tangible?”
“Motive, means,and opportunity.”
He lifted an eyebrow and she rolled her eyes. “I’m going on my gut again, Sir.Pleasetell me you aren’t going to keep me out of the box?”
“No, we need you in there, but you can’t be alone with him.”
“He’ll be handcuffed, and I took care of him the first time, I’ll take care of him again if he acts up.”
“And you’ll piss him off to get a reaction, right? He’s going to act up again because you’ll make sure he does.”
She grinned and shrugged. “Whatever works, Sir.”
He sat in a chair across from her, and she sat, too.
“Tell me.”
It was an order, and she went through what she knew and what she assumed, and pointed out she wanted to get to him sooner rather than later, and not let him stew so long he asked for his lawyer. He stood with a nod.
“You think it’s more than the two women?”
“There’s a damned good chance. I’m going to try to nail him on Wendy Abrams today, but we’re going to have to dig to see what else we can find.”
“Okay. Let’s work on getting enough for a search warrant. I assume you have someone sitting on his house to make sure no one cleans it out for him?”
She nodded, he nodded, and he was gone.
Chapter Fifteen
Ronnie walked into the interrogation room and met the gaze of her pissed-off murder suspect, dressed in orange, with a black eye blossoming on his left side. His cheek didn’t look so good either. She hoped she hadn’t broken it, but the video would exonerate her of any claims he made about police brutality.
Her own cheek was blossoming as well, but she’d put makeup on so he wouldn’t see. They needed pictures for court, but he didn’t need the satisfaction of knowing he’d hurt her. Myers stood just inside the door, and she hoped Griffin thought it was just policy.
