Chapter 10
Fuming, Alex threw on her sweater to prepare for the cooler night temperature, grabbed her purse and keys, and headed out. She knew the corner Macklin spoke of. Even for a fast sprinter, it would take him a bit.
She thought she saw him ahead. His was not a physique to miss. He waved at her. She parked and walked toward him. She didn’t want to look at the house in any obvious way, but, at the same time, she needed to know. Her quick glance in that direction showed no face at all. But then what did she expect? It was not like he would sit there and stare out the window forever.
When he was close enough, Macklin opened his arms, picked her up, swung her around, gave her a great big hug, and dropped her gently back on her feet.
She gasped as she tried to stabilize herself. “Don’t do that,” she scolded.
He chuckled. “I figured we needed a nice greeting to show we were long-lost friends.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “And the truth of the matter is, you really just wanted to pick me up.”
“Anything to get my hands on you,” he said with a big smirk.
She sighed. “Did you see anything?”
He shook his head. “No, I didn’t. That means absolutely nothing though.”
She stood there, undecided. “I’d like to go in,” she said suddenly.
“Good idea. But not from here. Let’s go to the far side, coming over the back fence.”
She shook her head. “No. The back fence is visible from that entire wall of windows. We have to go in from the side.” And she thought about it for a little longer, adding, “From the left side.”
“Why the left?”
He wasn’t questioning her judgment, she realized. He was interested in knowing her reasoning. “Because only one window is on that side, on the second floor. I think it’s a bathroom window, and it’s frosted.”
He nodded. “Then let’s continue down the direction I’m traveling. We’ll go past your car, come around the far block, come up that side, and whip in.”
She grinned. “That’s a plan.”
“Unless you’ll get into trouble having a civilian with you?”
“We’re just going for a walk. If we see something, of course I’ll check it out. Nobody would have anything to say about it.”
He nodded. He jutted out his elbow slightly and said, “Then tuck your hand into my arm, and let’s just go for a nice walk as if we were meant to be together.”
“You really like to push that, don’t you?”
“I’m just acting out what I’d really like to be doing. I was sitting at home, wondering if it was too early to call you.”
That startled a laugh out of her. “Are there rules to this stuff?”
He gave her a lopsided grin. “Marsha made me very leery. I was just figuring out if a phone call tonight put me in stalker category.”
“No, you’re not in stalker category.” Then in a mock-threatening tone she added, “At least not yet.”
They continued to talk, getting to know each other as they walked around the block and back up the other side. As they approached, she could feel her body tensing with awareness.
“Stay calm,” he said in a low voice. “Act natural. We’re two people, out spending time enjoying each other’s company.”
“I thought that’s what I was doing.”
“Well, you were. Then you tensed as we got closer. If he’s watching, he’s watching. There’s no help for it. Like you said, there’s got to be a reason for him to be looking.”
“He’s probably looking,” she said. “And he might see us from the front and then wonder where we went.”
“No, he won’t. The neighbors on the left just got into their vehicle and drove away. Two kids, two adults. So I suggest we go up their sidewalk and then step around the back. Think of us as having been out for the evening.”
“Which, in a way, we have,” she said drily. But she kept her arm crooked against his as they detoured to the house.
Flattened against the wall, she said, “It’s hardly dark enough for this.”
“It’s just about perfect actually. In this half-light, everybody mistakes objects. Most of the time, their gaze just glances right over them.”
She followed his lead around the house and crept up the porch steps to the kitchen door; he slipped back so they were hidden against the wall. From there, he could peer into the kitchen.
“There’s a light on.” He turned to look at her. “Did you guys leave it on?”
She frowned. “There shouldn’t be a light on.”
He held up a finger, warning her to be quiet as he tilted his head.
She watched him go into full predator mode as he peered forward, considering the kitchen. Even from where she was, she could hear his jaw click in anger.
He slipped back down, shot her a hard look, and said, “You need to call in your men. There’s a dish towel on the table and a dishrag, wet on the tap. He may not be in residence now, but there’s a very good chance he’s living here again.”
In a low whisper, she said, “Then I’m going to back out of here so I can get the team together.”
He looked at her hard for a moment and then gave her a quick nod.
Good. He would let her take over. As he crept back to the other house, she realized he was in control always, and that was damn good to see. It also made a mockery of thinking he might have killed Marsha. It didn’t suit who she was coming to realize Macklin was.
Several houses down, leaning against a tree, she called up her men and said, “I’ve just checked in on the house. There are signs of someone having been in the house. There’s something wrong with your feed.”
Lance gave a startled exclamation. “Really?”
“Yes, really. We need the team, and we need them down here fast.” Then she hung up. Macklin joined her. “It’ll be a few minutes.”
He gave her a grin. “Deputize me. I’d be happy to do this job for the cause.”
She shook her head. “Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t. You’re still part of an active investigation. What I can’t do is compromise the case.”
His jaw tensed in frustration, but he nodded. “I’m not leaving,” he said. “I’m staying right here and keeping watch.”
She tossed that concept over and then shrugged. “Fine. But you stay out of the way. And don’t make it look like you’re my date for the night,” she warned. “That’ll just muddy the waters even worse.”
“I understand that. But another set of eyes won’t hurt.” He pulled out his phone and said, “Maybe I could even bring Corey down. We can watch the area and observe any one leaving or entering the area.”
With a hard look to make sure he stayed where he was, she then watched the vehicles coming around the corner.
“That green car is one of my men. You can bring Corey in but make sure you stay the hell out of my way.” Then she turned and walked toward the car. She waved when Lance got out.
As she approached, he said, “It’ll take another fifteen minutes to set up. We need men in uniforms coming in on all sides.”
She nodded. “We just have to make sure he doesn’t see us.”
“No way to know if he’s in the house?”
“No. I’m sure I saw him earlier, but he could be out prowling for his next victim right now.”
Lance looked down the block at the house. “It’s so frustrating. I want to walk in to see if he’s there.”
“How do you think I felt earlier?”
“True enough. I didn’t believe you, and I should have. I never thought about the feed looping so that we wouldn’t see anything.”
“It’s a good idea though. Apparently not hard to do.”
He turned to look at her. “Was that your idea?”
“No. Macklin called me and said he thought that was way-too-possible. He’s been in an IT seminar for the last couple days.”
Lance’s gaze narrowed, but he didn’t say anything for a long moment. “I presume you considered that implication?”
“I have. Believe me. I’m not getting involved with him. At least not until he’s cleared as a suspect.”
“Which you already have, haven’t you?”
She nodded. “I have. But, until we find Marsha’s killer, he’s not off the hook completely.”
“No. But as long as he’s a reasonable doubt …”
She sighed. “Relationships are never easy. And, as far as my experience goes, they’re almost always at inconvenient times.”
“True enough,” he said. He stared at a point past her head. “Don’t turn around.”
“What do you see?”
“A man approaching from the far side.”
“As in, crossing the road?” She studied the area in front of her. But of course she couldn’t take a chance of turning around to look.
“Yes. He came up the opposite side of the road. Looked like he was about to cross, but he dashed back to his side again.”
She watched as Lance tracked his movements.
“He’s going past the house now. But he’s watching it.”
Instinct kicked in. “We should nab him.”
Lance shook his head. “Nab him for what? Walking past the house?”
“Can we get a picture of him?”
“From here, no. He’s too far away.” He pulled out his phone and called one of the other men. “Is anybody in position? We have a suspect walking right past on the opposite side of the road. We’re hoping to get a photo of his face.”
She turned to look around. Macklin and Corey walked down from the far end of the block. She didn’t know how they had circled around and got here in time. She grabbed her phone and dialed Macklin. “A man is approaching you,” she said in a rush. “We need a picture of his face.”
She watched as Macklin dropped the phone in front of him, chest height, and started clicking buttons.
“Macklin and Corey are coming from the far end. I’ve asked him to try to take a photograph.”
Lance turned to look at her. “Can he do it without being caught?”
“If anybody can, he can.”
She could see Macklin’s jaw working, as if talking to Corey. It was easy to make it look like they were setting up plans. Texting was a hell of a cover these days too. Knowing the two of them, they were both doing something. They stopped to talk, half facing each other, and both with their phones in their hands. The man approached them, skipped around, probably apologizing as Macklin and Corey stepped back to give him space. Then Macklin laughed and said something. She watched as Corey snapped some more images.
“They got it.” She couldn’t stop the cool sense of satisfaction inside her.
“What do you want to do about the house?” Lance asked.
“I want two men to go in from the back and do a full sweep.”
Lance relayed the order as they kept an eye on the man who disappeared around the block.
Macklin texted her.
We’ve got several photos and a video.
You’re in position. Do you want to follow up?
You think he’s the one?
Can’t take the chance he’s not.
Mason is driving toward us. We’ve tagged him. He’ll pick up the tail as we keep walking.
She read that last bit, then said to Lance, “Mason’s picking up the tail.”
“Is that a smart idea to bring someone else into this?”
“It’ll be hard for anybody to prove Mason had something to do with these break-ins. The fact that we have multiple well-respected military men, sitting here, ready to help, is not an offer I’ll turn down.”
Lance thought about it for a long moment and then nodded. “That works for me.” Lance’s phone rang. He answered it on the first ring. “What did you find?”
He turned to look at Alex. “Definitely signs of somebody living in the house. It is currently empty.”
She nodded. “Have them fix a camera, the one in the least obvious place he’d check.”
Lance shook his head. “He’s checking them all.”
“Do we have another camera to put in that he won’t know about?”
Lance listened on the phone as the officer on the other side said, “Two of the cameras have been disabled, one was on a standard loop.”
“Two have been disabled?” She turned to look at him. “Were they all showing on the monitors?”
“We could never get one of them to work.”
“Then have it fixed. If you can, make it so he won’t know it’s working.”
The conversation continued. Finally Lance put away his phone. “They think they’ve got it.”
“We need surveillance on that property. If he thinks he got away with it, he’ll be back. Otherwise, he’ll be looking for a place to stay.”
“The men are out of the house now. It’s clear on the other side.”
She nodded. “Good.”
“But that doesn’t mean he isn’t backing around and crossing over to that block. So have them pull away. We’ll set up surveillance.”
She motioned to the car. “Let’s change position.”
At the vehicle Lance turned on the engine, slowly pulled the vehicle back out onto the main road. “Where do you want to go?”
“There’s a coffee shop two blocks down. Let’s park there and walk back.”
*
Macklin wished he could see where Alex was hiding, but he and Corey were slowly strolling. Mason had already confirmed the suspect would be coming around the corner any moment.
As they watched, the suspect made a right and went back down the same block he’d just come up. Corey smiled and said, “This is good.”
Macklin agreed. Because any time a suspect just went around the block, one had to wonder why. The fact that he, Corey, and Alex earlier had been doing the exact same thing added to that. They were up to something. They’d been looking for this guy.
Macklin watched as Mason made a left and headed down the street a couple blocks behind the suspect. He was the tail again. “We should walk toward the coffee shop, maybe grab coffees, and head back toward the house. See how Mason’s doing.”
“He can only go so far. He’ll overtake the suspect in seconds.”
“I know. We can pick up the surveillance ourselves down a couple blocks.”
They turned on the next block and headed down. There was no way to see from where they were if the suspect was still moving toward the house or toward the coffee shop. Mason would drive down a couple blocks, turn around, and come back, as if he was looking for an address. With any luck they could pick up the tail again before Mason had to do too many U-turns.
“No word from Mason yet.”
“Which is good. That means he’s on it and still has the suspect in his sights.”
In fact, Macklin was pretty sure he had seen Tesla, Mason’s partner, in the vehicle beside him. A couple was less conspicuous than a single man when undercover. Up ahead he could see the lights of the coffee shop. “I wonder where Alex went.”
“She should be around the house still.”
Macklin wasn’t so sure about that. It depended on what her men had found inside.
There was still no message from Mason as they arrived at the coffee shop. Macklin stayed outside while Corey went inside and ordered two coffees to go.
Timewise that should be just about right to catch the suspect coming around the corner to the coffee shop, and, sure enough, just as they crossed the street, he came down, looked at the coffee shop, like he had decided to go in, and then took a right.
As they stood in the parking lot, Macklin’s phone rang. It was Mason. “I see him. He’s just heading away from the coffee shop.”
“Good.” Mason said.
“Corey’s inside getting a drink.” Macklin chuckled. “I’m standing in the parking lot, waiting on my coffee right now.”
Mason’s voice was full of humor as he said, “I can see you. That’s why I called. You get to pick up the tail from here. And, by the way, is this a good suspect?”
“Looking better every minute.”
“For Marsha’s case?”
“If they’re connected, yes. But, even if they aren’t, it looks like the suspect from the break-ins.”
“Good. Let’s get that bastard. Tesla knows both Kathleen and Betty. Not well but enough to smile and say hi in passing.”
“Not to mention the fact that, when you’re not there, Tesla is home alone.”
There was silence for a long moment, then Mason’s voice turned even harder. “Make sure you get that bastard tonight.”
At the odd note in Mason’s voice, Macklin wondered if they were all heading out on a mission or if Mason was. Because that would leave Tesla alone for weeks. Tesla had already been attacked several times in the past. Mason had a very low tolerance for anybody hurting what was his. Macklin and the rest of their unit felt the same.
Only cowards went after women.
Mac recognized a green car off to the side that he had seen earlier. Deliberately not looking directly at the vehicle, he could see Alex and her cohort inside. They were both busy on laptops and cell phones and that meant they were focused on something. That was good too.
When Corey came out, the two walked back up the block Mason had driven down. Now the question was whether to continue watching to see if he went back toward the house or not.
As they strolled down the block, they watched in delight as the suspect made a turn to head back up the block toward the empty house. They stayed behind him all the way, letting him get farther and farther ahead.
When Macklin’s phone rang again, he smiled to see Alex’s ID.
“Any idea where the suspect is?”
“Mason just handed him off a few minutes ago. The suspect is currently one block away from the house, heading in that direction.”
She gasped. “Now that would be lovely.”
“Have you got a team in place to nab him if he goes in?”
“Everybody is on standby. We fixed one of the cameras.”
“When did they go out?” he asked curiously.
“It could have been a couple hours ago.”
“Did your guy take a break or leave the room at the time?”
She sighed. “Quite possibly. Nobody was there to relieve him so he could get a meal.”
“Surely in a case like this they aren’t allowed to walk away?”
“Not sure he was in the loop on that memo,” she said in a dry tone. “Don’t worry. That’s my problem, not yours.”
He grinned. “True enough. I just want to make sure my girl is being looked after.” And he hung up.
Corey looked at him. “Your girl?”
Macklin chuckled. “Maybe. As soon as I’m off the hook, that is.”
“You do like to live dangerously, don’t you?”
Macklin nodded. “I sure do. That girl can tie me up and handcuff me to a bed any day.”
Corey shook his head. “On the other hand, at least she doesn’t appear to be another resident of crazy land.”
“She’s as sane as you or me,” Macklin said in all seriousness. “It’s been a long time.”
“I know, man. Marsha was a hell of a lesson.”
“She was a scary lesson. I just hope she’s at peace now. I never wished her ill. I just wanted her to leave me alone.”
“And that’s why you’re such a good man. Somebody killed her, and it was probably because she pissed him off.”
“And yet, what reasons are there for murder? Power, money, revenge?”
“Yep, that’s pretty much the trio. Power? I don’t see how killing Marsha would give anyone power. I mean, yeah, death as the ultimate power over someone, but that’s power on a small scale. One on one. And Marsha didn’t have any money. She might have been blackmailing somebody, but I don’t think your detective found any unexpected money in her bank accounts. So the last one, revenge?”
“Revenge definitely. And often love and revenge go hand in hand.”
“That’s possible. While she was fixated on you, somebody else could have wanted that attention for herself or himself.”
“I didn’t know her at all, so I have no way to gauge that. But currently anything goes.”
“I keep coming back to that head wound. It was a downward force, so she was sitting. That means, Marsha had to have trusted this person. Somebody was inside her house, and Marsha just sat there. Either they were having a meal on the couch, watching TV, or doing something like that.”
“And that usually means a friend.”
“Yeah, it’s not like you would let a stranger into the house and go back and sit down at the TV, would you?”
“But we never found any friends.”
“No. Which also puts it down to either revenge or possibly a scorned lover. Somebody who really wanted Marsha, but maybe Marsha didn’t want them in return.”
“But was still friendly enough with to let in the house.” Macklin stopped and turned to look at Corey. “Did anybody check Marsha’s neighbors—her current neighbors—to see if they were in a relationship with Marsha?”
Corey shrugged. “Who the hell knows? Don’t ask me. I had nothing to do with it.”
Instantly Macklin pulled out his phone again. He didn’t bother texting and went straight to calling Alex. “Did you check out Marsha’s current neighbors?”
“Yes, why?”
“Because Marsha had to let somebody in for them to have attacked her. And it had to be somebody she trusted enough for her to sit down while they were in her house. Because the coroner said the blow on the top of the head was a downward force while she was potentially sitting, correct?”
“Yes, that’s what he said,” Alex said slowly. “But why a neighbor?”
“Because you and I didn’t find any friends.”
Alex’s breath slowly let out on a long sigh. “I’ll look up the records tonight and do a follow-up in the morning.” She hung up.
He looked over at Corey and shrugged. “She has this habit of hanging up on me.”
Corey grinned. “Dude, you keep jumping into her case. You’re lucky that’s all she does. If it was my case, I would have smacked you into tomorrow.”
“Nah, she wouldn’t hit me.” Macklin smirked. “She likes me too much for that.”