She skimmed through the details, the petty larceny and miscellaneous property crimes.The guy wasn’t exactly a criminal mastermind but he had a certain flair.He seemed to like letting himself into unattended homes by picking their locks, and then he’d swipe whatever valuables he could stuff into his pockets.He had two domestics to his name too.
But it wasn’t his record that got her hackles up.It was his employment history.Or rather, his most recent place of employment.
Dufrene & Sons, the report read.It was an antique store, and Ella remembered seeing it on the way to Amber Holloway's shotgun house.It must have been less than a mile from it.
‘Mia, get over here.’
Her partner was already at the door with the decision to ruin her diet already made.She spun back.
‘I don’t care what you’re going to say, I’m eating bread.’
‘Not that.Look at this.’Ripley strode over and Ella jabbed a finger at the suspect’s sullen, unshaven face.‘Darryl Croon, 38.He fits the profile.’
‘Holy… yes he does.’
‘Holy is right.The guy knows his way around a lockpick according to his file, but look where he works.Dufrene & Sonsin Gentilly.’
‘Hmm.Gentilly.We were there yesterday.’
‘Yes we were.’
‘Well, he fits, and he looks like someone who could strangle three people, but fitting isn’t proof.’
‘No, but it’s a conversation starter.’Ella picked up the desk phone and dialled Dufrene & Sons.It rang four times before a woman answered.
‘Dufrene and Sons, how can I help?’
‘This is Agent Dark with the FBI.I’m trying to reach one of your staff – Darryl Croon.’
‘Darryl?He’s not here today.He only comes in when we’ve got appraisal work for him.Maybe once or twice a week, sometimes less.’
‘When was the last time he was in?’
‘Let me think.Saturday, maybe?We had a house clearance come in from Lakeview and he priced up the lot for us.He’s good at what he does, I’ll give him that.’
Saturday.Two days before Amber Holloway died.
‘Do you have a contact number for him?’
‘I’ve got his cell on file.Hang on.’The woman read it out.Ella wrote it down.
‘Thank you.What about his address?There isn’t a current address listed on his file.’
‘No address, but I know Darryl works on a construction site in the day.I don’t know the name of the place, but it’s that big yard, the one on St.Claude Avenue in the Bywater.’
Ella’s hand went tight on the phone.St.Claude Avenue in the Bywater.The same street as the Colisée Theatre.
‘Thank you,’ Ella said, and hung up before the woman could ask why.
‘St.Claude,’ Ella said.‘He works construction at a place on St.Claude, which is right by the theatre.’
Ripley began searching on her phone.‘Got it.Brossette Contracting.It’s a hundred feet from the theater.’
‘Let’s go.One way or another, I want to be looking at Darryl Croon’s face within the hour.’
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Ella took a quick inventory as she and Ripley stalked towards the half-finished skeleton that was the Brossette Contracting construction yard.Trucks and excavators scattered around like Tonka toys discarded by a giant toddler.There were mounds of dirt and rubble and shriek of a circular saw biting into metal.
