Emmy let him have the white lie. She knew Jude had put him on the camera. “And?”
“I went to every pawnshop in Ocmulgee. Found it at the one off Penley Boulevard. The guy was on the up-and-up. Had all the paperwork on the transaction. Said he paid five grand total for both the camera and the lens. They retail for around thirteen grand.”
Emmy knew you had to show a valid ID to pawn anything in the state of Georgia. “Don’t stretch this out, Coleman.”
He reached into his back pocket. Made a show of taking out a folded sheet of paper. “Michael Allan Cooper.”
Emmy studied the photocopy of a Georgia state driver’s license. It looked as real as the licenses for Sally Anne Cooper and Ashley Renee Cooper that the medical examiner had found in Allison’s back pocket. Except this one had a photo of Bill Garrison.
She turned the camera around in the bag, looking for the memory card slot.
Cole said, “The SD card is missing. Watch this.”
He held up his phone so Emmy could watch a video. She recognized the format of a surveillance camera inside a pawnshop.
Bill Garrison stood at a glass counter holding Allison’s camera in one hand. White shirt with the Garrison logo on the breast pocket, cargo shorts, sneakers, Tigers baseball hat, the same outfit he’d been wearing at the game. He looked agitated, ready to get this over with. He kept peering around the counter as if he was waiting for someone to help him.
Emmy looked at the timestamp. Saturday. 1:42 p.m.
The pawnshop was about a fifteen-minute drive from the ballpark. That’s why the game had started late. Bill was pawning Allison’s camera.
“Keep watching,” Cole said.
Emmy saw a large man with a thick gold necklace come into frame. He took the camera, examined it with a quick, professional eye, checking to make sure it was working. There was a very short negotiation before he went to the cash register to get the money. While his back was turned, Bill opened the memory card slot. He took out the SD card and snapped it in two. A few seconds later, Bill was walking out of the store with five thousand dollars in cash. The man behind the counter picked up the broken SD card and tossed it into the trash.
Cole said, “He told Bill he didn’t want the card. Store policy.”
Emmy imagined the pawnshop didn’t want to risk inadvert-ently trafficking in illicit videos and child sexual assault material. “Did you get the trash?”
“I missed it by two hours. The store doesn’t have a dumpster. The guy drives all his trash to the landfill every Sunday morning on his way into work. I got a copy of his receipt from the dump, but it’s gonna take a lot of time and patience to find one bag out of thousands.”
Emmy didn’t have the resources, though it was tempting to put Brett on the job. The last time she had treaded water this hard she was navigating a surge on the Flint River. “This is good work, Cole.”
His smile showed most of his teeth. “Can I go with you to arrest Bill?”
“We’re not there yet.” Emmy hated his look of disappointment. “Bill can say Allison gave him the camera to sell. It’s the timing that’s going to help. I need you to drive from the pawnshop toAllison’s house. Stay under the speed limit. Look for any cameras along the route.”
“We’ve already pulled everything from around the strip mall and Clifton Gardens.”
“We were looking between the ballpark and motel. The pawn-shop’s in the other direction.”
“The shooting started at one. Bill was probably in and out of the house in five minutes. He had plenty of time to drive to the pawnshop, then go to the ballpark.”
“I know, baby, but that’s what wethink. It’s not what weknow. And it’s certainly not what we canprove.” She handed the camera back to him. “Log this into evidence before you go out. Maybe there’s some kind of internal memory that Sherry’s people can access.”
“Mom.” His frustration was bubbling up. “If you’re scared of Bill, I get it, but—”
She cut him off with a surprised laugh. “Why would I be scared of Bill Garrison?”
“Because.” His frustration was gone. He turned the camera over in his hands. “What they’re saying online about Bill, that he beat Allison. All kinds of people are telling stories about seeing her with broken bones and bruises. Talking about how Mandy saw it, too.”
Emmy’s mouth went dry.
“I mean, it’s stirring up things for me. It’d make sense that it’s stirring things up for you, too.” He shrugged. “You know, how Dad used to go off on you.”
If he’d stabbed her in the chest it would’ve hurt less. “I’m not afraid of Bill Garrison.”
“I know,” he said, but he clearly didn’t believe her.
