Page 44 of Dead Man's Wish
“Sir . . .” He was hesitant and struggling. “It pinged from the same towers as her phone.”
“You’re telling me Peters was here?” I stood abruptly. The gravity of that implication hit me like a ton of bricks. Another fucking psycho was under our noses.
“Within the same ten-mile radius, yes.”
“Ten miles wouldn’t put you in a more populated area either. Does he have connections out here? Family?” Statistically, a second serial killer infiltrating our ranks and social circles was unlikely. Peters had no obvious connection to the case, the Hale family, or even Bexley.
“None that I could find. His firm is farther away than our office is.”
“Why would Peters call Bexley and be in the area around midnight?” It wasn’t a logical question I expected him to have an answer for.
“Would it be too early in the game to proclaim he’s our guy?” Eddie’s keyboard created a steady drumming in the background.
“It’d be far-fetched with no motive. He’d be responsible for several murders and a kidnapping, and that’s one hell of an alibi to weave together. He hardly even knew Bex when she met everyone at the office. He knows her father, though.”
“Can I speak freely, sir?” Eddie wasn’t known for holding back usually.
“Of course.”
“I don’t know anyone who thinks fondly or highly of Mr. Peters.” I fought an unprofessional laugh climbing its way to the surface.
“It’s an accurate observation, but a lack of social manners doesn’t make a killer yet.” I looked at the small stack while Eddie sighed into the receiver. She had a notepad on top with scribbles all over it. “This is a stretch, but can you pull cases that Peters was working?”
“Yeah. If they’re available, I’ll email them to you. Any time frame?” Eddie’s fingers were already moving rapid-fire across his keyboard.
“Take me back at least seven years.”
“Can do,” he signed off.
“Thanks.” Ending the call, I gathered the small pile of evidence from the floor and made my way to the kitchen.
“Andy,” I yelled, not knowing where she was exactly but that my loud call would reach her.
“What’s going on?” she replied moments later, footsteps moving through the living room. I turned, catching her entrance into the kitchen.
“Look through this with me. I want to know if you see the connection she made.” She picked up the notepad, but Bexley had a tendency to write minimally, leaving unseen connections for herself.
“Yeah, she was hunting something down clearly.” She reached for the top paper. “But I don’t see where she hints at a location.”
“I thought so, too. Eddie called me about her phone records. Peters was the last phone call she answered, and it was right before Jaiden said he came home.”
“The lawyer who’s been snooping around the precinct?” I almost laughed again, the obvious sentiment being no one liked him.
“You’d call it snooping?”
“He’s very odd, so yes,” she admitted without shame or hesitation.
“Second time I’ve heard that description. What makes it even weirder is that his call came from the same cell towers as Bexley’s, which estimates a ten-mile radius.”
“Why was he out here? They don’t exactly live in a city with things to do around them. I doubt his firm has clients this far out and in need of a midnight visit.” I nod in agreement with her assessment. “You think he took her?”
“I think it’s a possibility. There are many, though, and we don’t have motive at this time. Walk with me, I need to clear her office and have them go through the evidence again and match it with her list.” I led the way down the hall. The office door was still open, so I stepped inside.
I intended to go to her desk but stepped on a photo lying face down in the doorway.
Must have dropped shit again.
I bent down as Andy started commenting on the record keeping and note-taking process for what Bex had already accomplished. She stopped behind me, and I was certain she called my name, but I was transfixed on the handwritten note on the back of the photo.
