Ethan was making notes.
Gene kept going.
“And Phylis never said anything about anyone annoying her?” he asked.
Sarah Beth considered it.
“I mean, she told her one friend Stacy that the lady she worked with, Merle, I think she said, was giving her the cold shoulder because their boss liked her more. She didn’t say that this last time, but a couple of weeks ago.”
Yeah, well, that was something they’d write down.
“If I show you some pictures, can you tell me if she ever came in here with these women?” Gene asked, pulling up the photos on his phone again.
Then, he shared it.
Both of them looked at the photos and shook their heads.
“No, sorry,” Johnny offered. “I’ve never seen them in here,” he stated.
Sarah Beth confirmed that.
“They weren’t part of Phylis’ friend group or ever came in here. I’ve never seen them in town.”
Well, so much for that.
They knew that the first and second victims knew each other, with a tie to the bar, so they’d have to see if that held true for the third.
The possibilities were almost to the end.
Gene put his phone away.
“Thank you for helping,” he offered.
The man was honest.
“We are grateful you got the reporters away from the door. They are blocking the entrance for anyone to come in. We were supposed to have a party today, and they’ve made it impossible for anyone to get in here.”
Dannie gave him a heads-up.
“Call the police if they come back, and they’ll dispatch them from your door.”
He thanked him.
Heading out, they got into the rental and took a few minutes to regroup.
“So, this person watched her, and knew her patterns. He could have grabbed her, and pulled her into the bushes right there,” Gene admitted.
The detective was curious.
“Did he knock them out? Chloroform them?” he asked, curiously.
As he did, both men turned in their seats and stared at him.
“What?” he asked, looking around.
Gene went there.
“We’d have the answer to that if your goddamn ME didn’t duck and run,” he stated. “See the dilemma?”
