Page 20 of Run for Her Life
Z: Come on, Benny. If I wanted, your operation would have shut down already.
She knew she shouldn’t. But if she didn’t release this anger inside her where it was allowed, she was worried it would spill over somewhere else.
“Hey!” Lisa joined her. “We might have caught a break. You okay?”
Zoe felt her cheeks heat. “Yeah… yes. It’s just chilly down here in the subway. What were you saying?”
She hitched her thumb over her shoulder to the electronics store. “This is the store where Annabelle’s credit card was used. The owner showed me the CCTV footage.”
“You checked the timestamp? Who is it?”
She pointed past her. “That guy over there.” Zoe turned around to find a short man curled up on the floor at the end of the platform against the brick wall. The coat he wore was too thin and his hair was matted and streaked with dirt. “The owner recognized him, luckily. The guy hangs around the station almost every day. Sleeps most nights here too.”
Zoe’s eyebrows raised. “What the hell is he doing with Annabelle’s purse?”
They approached him slowly, and Lisa nudged him on the leg. “Listen up.” The man stirred in his sleep and Lisa nudged him again. “Wake up. Come on now.”
His heavy-lidded eyes cracked open and a sneer curled up his lips. “What the hell do you want?”
The scent of urine hit Zoe. Her eyes searched the ripped sleeping bag in which he lay, stuffed with food wrappers, coins, and empty bottles. And then under a stained sweatshirt, she spotted a maroon wallet. “There it is.” She swooped down to pick it up but he smacked her hand away.
“It’s mine!” he growled.
“Oh yeah? You like Kate Spade?” Zoe said. “So do I. Where did you buy it?” He made a face but didn’t protest when Zoe picked it up with her handkerchief and went through it. She flicked it open. Annabelle’s license and credit cards. “Where did you find it?”
“Outside the station at the east entrance.”
“And it was just lying on the floor?” Lisa arched an eyebrow. “That’s convenient.”
“That’s what happened!” Defiance shone on his face. “This lady was walking by and it fell out of her pocket. Finders keepers.”
Zoe gave him a quick glance. His eyes were sunken and his face blotchy. His frame was wispy thin; arms riddled with scabs and movements jittery. Could he have killed Annabelle and sent Zoe that letter? He was too shaky and disorganized, but there was a rabidness in his eyes that could easily transcend into violence.
While Lisa took down the homeless man’s information, Zoe rang Aiden.
“Storm.” He answered.
“Where are you?”
“At the station. I pulled your old case files. Just going through them. What’s up?”
“I got a homeless man over here, obviously a drug addict, caught with Annabelle’s wallet. He claims he picked it up after it fell out of her pocket. I don’t know… could it be him?”
He sighed. “The profile doesn’t fit. Chronic substance use, particularly in homeless populations with severe addiction histories, leads to neurocognitive impairment—executive dysfunction and memory deficits. They are significantly more likely to commit reactive violence rather than premeditated, symbolic offenses. Crafting a coherent, coded message while maintaining trophic behavior? That’s not a chaotic mind at work. That’s structure. We are looking at a high-functioning individual not someone desperate.”
“That’s what I thought—” She stopped when she noticed a receipt, peeking out of the pockets in the wallet. “I’ll call you back.” The receipt was for a latte. “Lisa? What time did Annabelle leave the office?”
“Around five o’clock, according to her coworkers. Why?”
Zoe grazed her finger over the timestamp. “This was issued at thirty-three minutes past five that day.”
“Interesting. There’s no reason for her to be in this area. It’s not on her way home.” Lisa frowned. “Why would she have gone there?”
“Maybe she was meeting someone.” Zoe’s mind raced. “It could be the last person to see her alive.”
“Or the person who took her.”
Zoe’s phone vibrated with a message. When she saw it, delight surged through her.
