"Wait, for what?"Justin asked."What did Rebecca say?"
"We’ll be in touch," Moore said as she turned for the door.
"Don't bother Rebecca right now," Alison said."Please."
She left Justin standing outside and followed Moore from the alley into the kitchen and then back through to the main dining area, where Moore was ordering them two coffees to go.
Alison slumped down into the closest booth to rest a second as she tried not to be overly annoyed by the man they had just spoken to.She was confident he wasn’t the killer and didn't know that Judge Greene was dead.
When she pulled out her phone to check for any messages, she found one from Derek.He had sent her a link to a web article, along with the message:You should take a look.
Alison clicked on the link to open the article, noting two things at the very top.The second was the date the article was published: that morning.The first, which was made more important by the publication date, was the headline.
We’re going to make sure Judge Greene doesn’t get the chance to hurt anyone ever again.
CHAPTER TWELVE
From one suspect to another.They left Justin and the diner behind and headed for the article's publisher: Diana Shepherd.
"I’ve sent the phone numbers back to the team at the office so they can check Justin’s alibi.He might be a bit of an idiot, but he’s not our killer," Moore said as she drove.
"No," Alison agreed."I don't think he is.He has motivation to do something to Judge Greene, and maybe he’s stupid enough to do it, but there’s no reason for him to target any of the others.I believed his rambling back at the diner.I think we’ll have his alibi confirmed when we hear from the roommates.Still, we don't know the exact time of Judge Greene’s death."
"Rebecca Walsh told the officer in her statement that Judge Greene was rarely in that early in the morning.It’s more likely that he was killed shortly after the call with Justin," Moore said."If the killer knows who they’re targeting and knows where to target them, then they know when to target them.They would have a far better chance of being in the courthouse late last night than early this morning."
"There must be some footage of them," Alison said."An office and an apartment are one thing, but the courthouse?The courthouse would have been locked at some point, so maybe the killer has access to the courthouse?Or, they entered when the courthouse was open to the public yesterday and waited for everyone else to leave.I know Judge Greene by reputation, and there’s a good chance he works late most nights."
"This would have been a Sunday, though," Moore pointed out."If he were in the office, then maybe the killer asked to meet him there?Or lured him there?"
"The phone call from Justin.Was that to Greene’s cell?"
"Yeah," Moore confirmed.
"He could have been catching up on work, but if the killer knew he would be there, is there another explanation?"Alison asked."During the week would make it more of a guarantee, but a Sunday would be far quieter.That makes it more likely that the killer put Judge Greene there somehow.We should check the phone records again."
"Yeah, I’ll get someone on that," Moore said."We’ll look at phone records, emails, and communication with him.And I’ll have someone talk to Rebecca Walsh again to see if she knows why he was there last night.Unless we’re wrong about the timing, and someone killed him this morning.We’ll know soon when we get the preliminary results from the autopsy."
"Then we can—" Alison froze when she looked out of the passenger window and saw a familiar face."Stop the car!"She demanded."Stop the car."
Moore hit the brakes.It was still early, and there weren’t many people on the street, but she was still honked at as a car swerved to go around them.
Alison jumped out of the car and was ready to spring at the man they had just passed.When she realized it wasn’t Howard Mills, she felt like she had been struck in the gut.
Moore was out of the car and around to her in an instant.
"I’m sorry," Alison said, shaking her head."I thought I saw him.I thought it was Mills."
Moore didn't say anything.She stood beside Alison in silence, waiting for the moment to pass, not judging her.
"I’m sorry," Alison repeated.
"It’s fine," Moore said."Come on, let’s keep going."
"Yeah," Alison said.She looked down the street at the man walking towards them.He had a passing resemblance to Mills, but the closer he got to them, the less he resembled the fugitive.She got back in the car with Moore, and they drove off in silence.
"What do we know about Diana Shepherd?"Moore asked once they were underway.
"We know that she has motive," Alison said."And she published an article this morning about Judge Greene.It’s uncanny timing."
