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“Because you gave them to her to use?” Trent tossed back.
“Noooo.” He glared at Trent. “I just had them kicking around in my garage. She must have seen them, decided they could be useful and lifted them.”
“What happened to you getting them for someone else, a person you didn’t know by name?” she pushed out.
He shrugged. “I might have lied or made an assumption.”
“You lied then, but not now?” This guy was a piece of work.
“Yeah.”
“Any wonder I’m having a hard time believing you? Let me tell you what we think.” She reached the end of her patience. “You assisted Lynnette and her partner in executing Monday’s plan by giving them those plates. That makes you an accomplice.” She lassoed a finger in the air and the officer grabbed Barry’s arm.
“I did no such thing. But wait… partner? Is it that guy?” he blurted out.
She put off the officer again. “What guy?” While she waited for Barry to answer, her heart beat wildly in her chest. Were they finally going to find out the identity of Katherine’s abductor?
FIFTY-SEVEN
“He gave me the willies, I’ll tell you that.” Barry mocked shivers.
“I asked you, what guy?” Barry was exasperating, and sucking Amanda’s goodwill dry.
“Do you have his name?” Trent asked, sounding about as fed up as her.
“I don’t, but?—”
“Barry, if you want our help, want us to buy any word of what you’re telling us, you need to work with us.” She was tired, cold, and emotionally frayed.
“I can tell you that he’s been sniffing around Lynnette for a good two months. He’s why I finally kicked her out a few weeks ago.”
“What does he look like?” Surely, he could provide that much, or this guy was a fictional creation.
Barry gave them a rather vague description. Brown hair, brown “crazy” eyes, a chin dimple, late forties, early fifties. “Oh, and he had a snake tattoo on his left wrist.”
That can’t be a coincidence!
“This the one?” Trent had the enlarged shot of the ink up on his tablet and held the screen toward Barry.
“Yeah, yeah, that’s him, man.” Barry bounced up and down.
“You need to tell us where we can find him,” Amanda said firmly.
“I… I don’t know. Don’t wanna know.”
Amanda could have screamed in frustration at being so close yet so far away. “You said this guy was a friend of Lynnette’s, also the reason you evicted her.”
“That’s right. She’d let him stay over quite often. I’m sure he was living here, though she tried to convince me otherwise.”
Barry had Amanda’s full attention now. “Do you know where she went after you kicked her out?”
“I don’t.”
“Where was she living before you took her in?” It was possible she had returned there with the shooter. He might even be holding Katherine in that location.
“I don’t have any specifics. I just got the impression it was in the country around here somewhere.”
Amanda made a mental note of that. It wasn’t entirely helpful at first pass, but with more context it might offer a lead. “Did either of them leave anything behind?” If so, they could find some clue as to his identity.
