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“I have it here, but I can meet you halfway if that makes it easier for you?”
“That it does.” They arranged a meeting spot, and Amanda could hardly wait for Trent to get off the phone.
Passing through the doors for Locked Up Tight brought back the past for Amanda. She’d been here during a previous investigation. The memory stirred bittersweet feelings as it had to do with the murder of Logan’s estranged wife in June of last year.
One relief for Amanda was the person at the counter wasn’t someone she recognized or knew from before. She told the woman they were with the PWCPD and showed Felicity’s key. “This is for a box belonging to Felicity Kelley. We need to see its contents.”
“I’m going to need to see a warrant.”
They’d got that ball rolling before they left to meet up with Blair. Amanda gestured to Trent, who brought it up on his screen.
The clerk glanced at it. “All right. What number is it?”
“That we don’t know,” Trent told them.
“Let me look it up in the system.” The clerk typed and, a moment later, said, “Box 2392.”
“Just to confirm, when was the box last opened?”
The clerk consulted the screen. “Last Tuesday at three thirty in the afternoon.”
Amanda hadn’t expected that. Felicity would have come here pretty much upon her return from Washington. Also, the same day she was murdered. Did Felicity see something while at her publisher’s that had her on edge? Possibly the killer himself? It was starting to feel like the world was closing in on itself. But if Felicity came right here, did that mean this box might hold the key to the killer’s identity?
She thanked the clerk, and the three of them walked to the box. After unlocking it, the clerk set the insert on a table in a small space with a curtain for privacy.
“Give a shout if you need me,” she said, walking away.
“Will do,” Trent said as Amanda lifted the lid on the box. This time her anticipation was high, but she braced for disappointment.
It turned out there was no need for that. There was a backup drive inside.
Trent was grinning. “Love it when we’re right about something.”
“You and me both.”
“It’s just the drive in there?”
Amanda took another look and nodded. “But it may be all we need.”
They locked up the box again and left with the backup drive in hand. With every mile closer to Central, she swore her heart ticked up speed.
Please, point us right to the killer!
FORTY-THREE
Back at Central, Amanda stood behind Trent as he connected the drive to his computer.
“I think Felicity had a feeling the killer was on to her and that’s why she put this in the box,” she said.
“Let’s see what’s on it first.”
It was the rare occasion he talked her down. “Right. Yeah, of course. I just have a feeling something good is on it. The timing alone… right after returning from Washington.”
“We’re about to find out.” Trent gestured to the screen, where the file directory was now showing. There were only two folders: Current book and Research.
She told Trent to click on the latter, and there was a list of several documents and images. Trent opened one labeled Chapman Crime Scene.
It was a sketch of the crime scene, likely drawn by Felicity Kelley’s own hand. It showed Chapman as a stick figure with the tipped-over stool and a question mark over her head. There were arrows drawing a path from the back door, through the kitchen and around the peninsula.
