Page 55 of Red Snow
“SO WHAT EXACTLYis going on over there?”
“Well, we can’t discuss the details of an ongoing investigation,” Marcus tells Hannah Miller, one of Jeffrey Lee Chapman’s two neighbors who live within eye-shot of his trailer. She’s a stay-at-home mom who qualifies as a BBW, and my first impression of her is that she likes to gossip, which just might work in our favor if she has some info on Jeffrey.
“There has to be something you can tell me, right? He lives right down the road from me,” the heavy-set woman replies as she flips her golden blonde hair over her shoulder.
Marcus adjusts himself in his seat as he tries not to lose his composure. I see him rubbing his bald head, which is the indicator that he’s getting frustrated.
“Mrs. Miller,” he pushes forward, ignoring her prodding. “What we’re investigating is extremely important, so any information you could provide would be greatly appreciated and useful. So, if you know anything, or have seen or heard anything that you’d consider suspicious, we need to know about it now.”
After searching Jeffrey’s trailer, I refused to leave. Something in my gut just won’t let me move past him and that sneaky smile he gave me before he walked back inside. It was the smile of a killer who’s good at covering his tracks. He knows we’re on to him, and if we don’t bring this thing home soon, he won’t be around much longer. So, I convinced Marcus that we had to conduct interviews on the neighbors before we drove back to Anchorage. Although it has been a long day waiting for the search warrant to drop and finding exactly nothing with it, and I’m dying to get home and call up Brandi so I can make up for my night of emotional confusion, the fact of the matter is that nothing comes before my job. Hell, it’s the reason I’m so open to hooking up with Brandi now. Stacey wasn’t okay with coming second to my job, which brings me to where I am now as an emotional cripple. Catching bad guys is what I do, so everything else will wait. I’m not okay with finding more severed heads on top of snowmen.
“Well, if I’m being honest,” Hannah says after a short break to think about her answer. “I don’t really know much about much. I may have heard a thing or two, but I don’t have any confirmation on it, if you know what I mean.”
“So it’s gossip,” I chime in, followed by a pleading look from Marcus, begging me not to mess up another interview.
“Well, I’m not much for gossip,” Hannah continues, which I can tell is bullshit. She gossips her ass off. “But I did hear from my good friend that there was something strange going on in that trailer down there a few years back.”
Marcus and I exchange glances. A few years back? I get the feeling what Hannah is about to tell us is going to be irrelevant.
“Something strange?” Marcus asks.
“Yes sir. My friend told me he went to deliver mail to that trailer one time because the mailman dropped it off at the wrong place, and when he got to the door, he heard all kinds of moans coming from inside.”
“Moans?” I hear myself snip.
“You know, like, sexual moans,” Hannah says. I have to fight back the urge to laugh at the way she said it, with an emphasis on the word sexual.
“Your friend heard noises that sounded like someone was having sex in the trailer?” Marcus goes on, but I can hear the annoyance in his voice. He and I are both ready to shut this interview down. “Why did your friend think that was a concern? The resident of the trailer is a grown man.”
“Yeah, but he said only two people ever went in that trailer, so it didn’t make any sense that he’d be hearing sexual moans coming from in there. The only two occupants were mother and son, so when he heard sex noises, it freaked him out a bit.”
I feel like my heart is going to leap from my chest and land on the floor in front of me. Did this woman just imply that Jeffrey was heard having sex with his mother?
Marcus adjusts himself in his seat again as he looks up at me. It’s like we can read each other’s minds right now. If this gossip turns out to be true, it could be huge.
“Umm, Mrs. Miller,” Marcus says after clearing his throat. “What’s the name of your friend who told you this, and where can we find him?”
“Oh, his name’s Aiden, and he lives at the end of the road. His trailer is the first one when you come in.”
“Thank you for your time, Mrs. Miller,” Marcus says as he gets up and immediately walks out.
On the drive to the front of the road, I turn to Marcus to let out what I was holding in at Mrs. Miller’s house.
“Sex sounds coming from a house occupied by Jeffrey and his mother? What in the actual fuck?” I snip.
“I don’t know,” Marcus replies, doing his best not to jump to conclusions. “Just because she says this guy heard sex noises, it doesn’t mean it was Jeffrey and his mother having sex. He could’ve brought someone home, and the sex could’ve been consensual. It’s not like we can charge him based on this.”
“I’m not saying we can, but neighbors like this are always snooping on each other, and they know who comes and goes. So if they’re saying no one goes into Jeffrey’s trailer except him and his mother, it’s probably true.”
“There may have been one time when the neighbors didn’t see who went in, though,” Marcus says. “I doubt very much that they are always looking out the window to see who goes in and out. If they are, that’s weird in itself, and maybe we need to be investigating them.”
I let out a chuckle. “True. Alright, let’s just see what this Aiden guy has to say. His lights are on, so hopefully he’s home.”
We stop the cruiser in front of the only double-wide trailer in the park, and I can already see movement from the outside. From the window looking into the kitchen, I see a woman with short brown hair, who looks like she’s in the middle of cooking a late dinner. Behind her is a bearded man in a white tank top with enough hair on his back to make toupees for ten men. When we get out and close the doors, the man looks out the window with suspicion as we approach the house and opens the door before we can make it to it.
“Something I can help you boys with?” the man says in a rough, scratchy voice. When I look at this guy, the first thing I think of is Paul Bunyan.
“Good evening, sir,” Marcus starts off as usual. “Sorry to bother you at this hour. We’re from the Anchorage Police Department, Homicide Unit. My name’s Detective Phillips and this is my partner, Detective Granger. We’re looking for Aiden.”
