Page 66 of Bring Them Home

“For two nights, and I came back this morning.”

“We spoke to your mother,” she told him.

Bill’s facial expression hardened. “Why?”

“You remember Paul? I can get his picture out again if that would help.”

Bill held up a hand. “No, thank you.”

“Well, Paul’s body was found close to her house. You must admit your mother’s property would be the perfect place to hold people. No one around to hear their screams. No nosy neighbors watching your every move. It would be easy enough to keep your mother away from them. Are they out there right now as we speak?” Her heart pounded as she laid all of this out.

“At my mother’s? You’re crazy.”

“Huh, well answer this for us. Why use a pay phone to call Valerie? You have a cell phone and a landline for the business. You even left your first name, but it’s like you didn’t want the messages to be tracked back to you. If you weren’t planning on doing something, why take that precaution?”

Bill scratched the top of his head and said nothing.

“Mr. Johnson?” she pressed.

“I’d like a lawyer.”

She dipped her head and left the room with Trent. Malone met them in the hallway.

“That guy is hiding something,” he said.

“Yeah, two captives while we’re out here jumping through hoops.” The gripe flowed off her lips. She respected the law, appreciated the need for procedure, but sometimes it was beyond frustrating to play within the confines. “Just tell me you heard enough to justify getting a warrant for his mother’s place. You saw how heated he got when I mentioned we saw his mother.”

“It could just be that he doesn’t want his mother brought into all this.”

“Or he’s hiding the Archers out there,” Trent voiced.

Or their bodies… Trepidation snaked through her gut.

“He responded strongly when you asked about his wife, Peggy, too,” Malone pointed out.

“I imagine there’s a lot of resentment there,” Trent said. “He has to hand over money he doesn’t have to her every month.”

Amanda nodded. “He’d have reasons not to like Peggy, but they’d share motive for wanting to strong-arm Valerie Archer.”

Malone rubbed his trimmed beard. “Something stinks, that’s all I know. He has no alibi, he runs from you, and requests a lawyer instead of simply explaining why he used a pay phone.”

“Right, so what is he hiding?” she began. “He’s clearly carrying guilt, but we can’t just stand around talking this out, Sarge. We have a mother and daughter out there who must be terrified. Surely, we have more than enough to search his van, his home, his phone, and other electronic devices. His business too. His van is the same make, model, and color of the one that took the Archers, and he has a probable motive.”

Malone nodded. “I agree. Proceed with calling a judge for those warrants. If any of those prove he had the Archers at one time or the intention, then we’ll have grounds to extend a search out to the mother’s property should it become necessary.”

Amanda left with Trent, hurrying toward her desk. She stuffed the folder under her arm and was on the phone by the time she got to her cubicle. “Judge Anderson…”

THIRTY-TWO

The warrants were all approved, but there was a delay looking at Bill Johnson’s phone. He swore he left it at his house, and Jensen confirmed he’d never taken one from Bill’s person. Officers were sent to Bill Johnson’s house, where they’d collect his phone and bring it in. Amanda and Trent had the access code for when they got the device in hand. CSIs Blair and Donnelly were also called in and headed to Bill’s house to process it and his van.

With Bill’s house covered, Amanda and Trent drove over to Down the Drain, prepared to use the key and security code they got from Bill.

Like before, the place showed no signs of life. Just the company vans in the parking lot. If the last twenty-four hours were a representation of his business, the doors closing was merely a formality, which only worked against Bill Johnson. With no foot traffic and no other businesses or residences close by, it made the perfect location to hold people without the worry about prying eyes. It was possible that Valerie and Brooke were deep inside the building, where they couldn’t have heard Amanda’s and Trent’s shouts from the day before.

Amanda and Trent entered, turned on the lights, and found the space was sparsely furnished. Nothing but a few desks and filing cabinets. There wasn’t a front counter, though it was unlikely they received many—or any—walk-ins.

The warehouse area in the back smelled of plumbing chemicals and ABS pipes. Racks were full of fittings and faucets. It made sense to carry some, as Amanda suspected home builders and commercial contractors used the same product for some of their projects. But carrying an inventory to this extent struck her as excessive. It was one more decision that would have likely contributed to the business’s financial downfall.