Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 74749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 374(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 74749 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 374(@200wpm)___ 299(@250wpm)___ 249(@300wpm)
Chapter 13
Lennox
I know that Sawyer Maddox wasn’t involved in Elizabeth Burr’s murder. I told him as much earlier today, but that hasn’t stopped me from tailing him. I made it obvious the first time. I wanted him to know I was watching him. With what I thought he did, I’d rather prevent it from happening again than risk someone getting hurt by trying to catch him in the act. I wouldn’t put someone else’s life on the line just to get an arrest.
Tonight I’m in the shadows, putting to use some of the skills Colton helped me hone.
I was invited to the bar, and I had every intention of going, but when I pulled into the parking lot, I saw him walking inside. Being anywhere near the man, especially in front of other people, isn’t a good idea. I have no doubt he’d try to talk to me, and it was bad enough earlier that my colleagues saw him shadowing me. I’ve had enough embarrassment for one career already.
I sat and waited, prepared to sit all night from the vantage point I discovered across the street among the cars outside of the old mechanic’s shop. I didn’t know if I was going to be a witness to him taking a woman home or what. My mind raced with a million scenarios when the neon open sign went black. When Joey Dixon, one of the guys who works in the kitchen, left with Rochelle and Sawyer still inside, I grew suspicious of what they could be doing in there alone.
However, like last night, they exited the bar together, with him keeping a respectable distance. He waited for her to get into her car before climbing behind the wheel of an SUV. After a quick stop at the bank, he followed her home. The flashing porch light had him driving away.
It’s damn near three in the morning and as much as I need more sleep than the couple of hours I got earlier this evening, I know I’d just lie in bed and stare up at the ceiling. Closing my eyes allows my mind to create a horrific montage of what I imagine happened to Elizabeth in her final moments. It’s no better having replaced those scenes my head formulated about Elle.
Albeit using extremely tired eyes, I start back at the beginning of the evidence, plugging the newer information into the spots they fit, all the while leaving Sawyer Maddox out of the equation. I know how dangerous it is to make the evidence fit an opinion, and although I told myself I’d never do it, that’s exactly what I did.
No DNA was found on her body despite evidence of sexual assault. She had no tissue under her fingernails nor defense wounds. Her toxicology screen was clean, proving she wasn’t drugged that night nor was she a drug user. She had no ligature marks on her arms or legs. Cause of death was strangulation, but the bruising pattern indicates her attacker pinned her face down to do it.
I swallow, my eyes threatening to cloud with more than just fatigue.
I consider the fact that he may have assured her that her compliance would allow her to keep her life, so she fought against that part of her that wanted to try and stop it. She could know her attacker. She could be in Farmington as a means to get away from someone in her past, someone who had a history of hurting her.
There was no sign of struggle in the dirt where she was abandoned, meaning her life ended elsewhere. There was no blood or DNA found in her car that was abandoned in town, and we’ve yet to locate any video of her attacker driving it back to where it was found. Traffic cameras are just now being implemented around town, and the city opted to put them in the spots where most accidents happen rather than the seedier parts of town where there’s a risk of them being vandalized. Either her killer got lucky, or he knows enough about the town to know to avoid the cameras. Both options have to be considered.
I pinch the bridge of my nose, a weak attempt to keep my mind from shifting. Would Jasper Niers have been caught with Caroline’s murder before he got to Elle if we had the same technology today? Would Detective Frank Roth still miss that evidence even if he had it?
I pour over every piece of evidence several more times, but nothing jumps out at me. I know, that even though this is my case, that Colton has done the same thing. He wouldn’t spot something that could help us solve this thing without mentioning it just to make it a learning exercise for me.
I let my eyes wander to my open office door when I hear the first signs of the office coming to life. The scent of coffee brewing fills the air along with the low murmurs of staff getting their day started.