For the first time in a few days, I felt reluctant to write. But I sat down and did it anyway, which is basically half the battle. I told myself I could just write five hundred words today. One of the advantages of being a day ahead in word count is I can have an off-day. But I managed to pull off another 1,042 words. I don’t feel as good about my words today, but that’s not the point, right? That’s up to my inner editor, who is currently frolicking with fellow inner editors in a humane kennel. I’ll set him loose on this once all the words are written. Then it will be his turn to have fun. No new thoughts or plot twists today. Just more words.
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I said nothing. He appeared to be grasping a mental thread and I didn’t want to disturb his concentration.
“Yeah. Guy came over, said he was with the gas company, needed to check on reports of a leak. Didn’t think nothin’ of it at the time. Seemed legit.”
My heart rate jumped. This could have been Jack. “Can you describe him?”
“Nah, man. Just a regular white dude. Kicked me out of the house while he inspected. Ten minutes was all he took.”
“Enough time to plant whatever evidence he needed to implicate you.”
Carter sat up straight again. “Never even thought of that.”
“But, why you? Why did Ja–the actual killer pick you?”
He hung his head down and muttered. “I…kinda used to go to that motel. A lot.”
Of course. That made sense. Jack would have seen him there and figured he would make the perfect fall guy. Follows him home, then disguises himself as the gas man to dump evidence at Carter’s house. I finally felt like I was getting somewhere. I stood up again. “Thanks, Harold. I appreciate your time, and you have been a great help to me. I will make sure things get set right for you.”
Carter snorted. “Yeah, heard that before.”
I was escorted back out, grabbing my gun and my paper as I left, feeling a little more positive about the direction of things. Jack had managed to frame Carter easily by posing as the gas man. But I still had questions about the seven years. Why silent for so long? Or was that connected to having Carter arrested? I supposed that it would look odd if another murder happened while Carter was incarcerated. The smart thing to have done would have been to move on to another town and carry out more killings. But he’d apparently stayed here for the last seven years and finally felt confident enough to kill again. What had changed?
I debated between going to see the captain about the article or checking the apartment building across the street from my home. I finally decided on going back to the station. It would be closer.
The taxi driver was still waiting for me. The generous tip had ensured his loyalty. As we drove back to the station, I mulled over my conversation with Carter.
Back at the station, I made a beeline for the captain’s office, offering a quick courtesy wave to Ernie on my way. I closed the captain’s door and tossed the Tribune on his desk.
Alistair looked up from his paperwork, glanced at the paper, then looked up at me expectantly.
“Someone is talking to the press. Someone in this office.” I stabbed the front page article with my finger to emphasize my point.
“Yes. I’m aware of the situation. And it’s being handled.”
“Handled? This is going to make it hard to catch this guy. How are we supposed to do our jobs if someone is hamstringing us while we’re trying?”
“Smith. I said it’s being handled. I’m looking into it.” Alistair looked back down at his paperwork, effectively dismissing me. “Was there anything else?”
“No,” I said, snatching the newspaper from the desk. “Sir,” I added and headed back for the door.
Ernie came up to me as I stormed out of Alistair’s office. He pointed to the paper. “Guess you’ve seen the article.”
“Yeah. I have.” I looked around the office, at my fellow officers, trying to gauge who might have been the one to spill the beans on this case. I could trust none of them. And I was mostly to blame for that. I knew next to nothing about any of them. I had no way to filter my suspicions. Not even with… “You didn’t have anything to do with this, Ernie, did you?”
Ernie looked hurt and offended that I would even consider asking, but his light words tried to mask his hurt. “Sure I did. Because why would I want to make your life any easier?”
“Sorry,” I said. “I had to ask.”
“No, you didn’t.” Ernie walked back to his desk, shoulders slumped.
“Thank you for the copies, by the way,” I said, hoping to defuse the situation but he only gave me a quick nod and nothing more. I grabbed the folder off my desk that had those copies. Ernie sat at his desk and refused to look in my direction.
I walked out of the station, my mood darker than when I had entered. I wished I could have handled that much better.
Home again. Cat was perched on a windowsill, catching the last of the light. He stood and stretched as I entered the living room. I went to the window and looked at the building across the street. Almost every apartment in that building had easy access to look into my window. I pulled out the photos and grabbed one that had me sitting on the sofa with Cat. I turned into the room and compared the photo with the setup in my living room. I was able to immediately eliminate everything on the second floor and below, as this photo was definitely taken from overhead. That only left three floors. The photo was also almost straight on, which meant the apartments to the extreme sides were probably also able to be eliminated. That left five apartments on each floor. Fifteen to search. Not too daunting a task.
Cat had jumped off the sill and was now weaving between my legs, trying to get my attention. “I’ll be right back, buddy,” I said, as I tried to make my way back out of my apartment without tripping over him. I crossed the street and entered the apartment building. I looked at all the buttons on the intercom until I found one that said “Super.” I pressed the button, and a few seconds later, a tinny voice came through the speaker. “Yeah?”
“Hello, my name is Officer Leon Smith, and I need access to your building for a case I’m investigating.”
There was a long pause before the tinny voice spoke again. “Officer, huh? Hope you don’t mind if I don’t take your word for it. I’ll be right there to confirm.”