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Again, Jessie, Ryan, and Beth waited in collective silence.
"I knew I saw something!" he shouted a moment later. "There's a record here of Rhett Kirby buying a used 1998 Toyota Tercel last week. He used cash, but the purchase had to be filed by the dealer."
"That car is almost twenty-five years old," Ryan said excitedly. "It wouldn't have GPS. Nina Kirby could have used it to go after Gabby Silva. Meanwhile, her phone and car stay put at home. Meanwhile, Rhett Kirby makes sure to be seen on their home surveillance video at the time of Gabby's murder to lock in his alibi."
They heard Jamil gasp over the line and knew he’d uncovered something else.
“What is it?” Jessie asked.
“I’m looking at Rhett’s location data from Monday night,” he said. “In your interview with them this morning, Nina said that Rhett was home watching Monday Night Football when Ava would have been killed, but we never confirmed that because we had no reason to doubt it. But that’s not where he was.”
“Where was he?” Jessie asked, though she was pretty sure she already knew.
“It shows him at National Veterans Park from 5:58 p. to 6:12 p.m., right in Ava Martell’s window of death.”
“Damn,” Ryan muttered. “I can’t believe we missed this.”
Jessie felt the same way but tried to focus on moving forward instead of fixating on past mistakes.
“We can rip ourselves to shreds later,” she said. “Right now, we need to get back in there and arrest Nina Kirby. And we need to find out where Rhett Kirby is. Can you do that, Jamil?”
“Not with what I have available,” Jamil answered. “This is all retrospective data. To get approval to access live GPS location information will take a while, probably time we don’t have.”
“Then let’s put out an APB on that Toyota Tercel,” Jessie said. “Remember, he’s already killed one person and he’s probably feeling cornered. Who knows what the man is capable of?”
CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
Jessie did what she promised.
Ryan had insisted that when they returned to the Kirby & Kirby office, she wait outside until he gave her the all-clear to enter.
So she stood by the outer doors as he walked in, grabbing the tiny bell above the door to prevent it from tinkling. He moved quickly toward the inner office, his unholstered weapon at his side. Then he disappeared from view.
Jessie waited anxiously for him to return. As she did, she noticed that the door at the end of the hall leading to the bathroom, just past the inner office, was closed. It had been open both of the previous times they came here. Worried that Nina Kirby might be hiding in there with a weapon of her own, Jessie stepped inside, silencing the tiny bell as well.
Just then, Ryan left the inner office and saw her. He looked slightly annoyed that she was inside but managed to get over it and shook his head to indicate that Nina wasn't there. Jessie pointed behind him.
He turned around and took note of the closed bathroom door. Jessie unholstered her own gun and tiptoed closer so that she was right behind him. He indicated that he planned to kick the door in, and she nodded, ready to cover him.
He leaned back, then exploded forward, slamming into the door with his foot. It shot open. At the rear of the bathroom, standing on top of the toilet seat, was Nina Kirby. She had pushed open the small window above the toilet and was trying to hoist herself up to climb out.
“Stop,” Ryan ordered. “Climb back down slowly and turn around. Keep your hands above your head the whole time.”
Nina did as instructed. When she turned around, her face was frozen in fear. She looked less like a suspect than a potential victim.
“That’s not very lawyerly behavior, Nina,” Jessie said.
“I was in here and I thought I heard an intruder,” the woman said, covering impressively. “I was worried for my safety, so I tried to get out. Is there something wrong with that?”
“It’s time to stop the lies,” Jessie said as Ryan came over to pat her down.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Nina insisted, "and frankly this is bordering on harassment. I tried to help you, and all I've gotten for it are hassles and disrespect."
“She’s clean,” Ryan said, “but all the same, I think we’ll be cuffing you.”
“This is outrageous!” Nina roared impressively. “You’re about to have a lawsuit on your hands, Detective!”
Jessie studied the woman closely. It was clear that she wasn’t going to cave easily. And it didn’t help that they didn’t have all the facts yet. In order to shake her resolve, they’d need to come at her hard and fast. And considering they didn’t know where her husband was, the ‘fast’ part seemed especially important.
