Page 68 of Forever Dead

“Driving?”

“The driving’s manageable. Getting in and out of the car and then walking around on it, not so much.” Selena adjusted the brace.

Arnold gave her a sympathetic look.

“What’s happening now?”

Selena studied the murder board. “Anything from Blethan on the material under Eleanor's nails?”

“Nothing definitive,” Arnold said. “He still thinks it's treated organic material, possibly hide. He's running more tests before he sends anything to Foss.”

“So we're waiting.”

“For now.”

Selena stared at the murder board. “Anything on the Linwood payphone?”

“Nothing useful yet,” Arnold said. “I pulled what cameras I could around the bus depot. None of them caught the phone itself, and the road footage hasn’t given us a face or a plate. I’m still working outward.”

“Keep at it.”

“Yeah.”

Selena nodded toward the board. “What else?”

"We're still working Deacon Blair. County records confirmed the rat complaint. He kept pushing after Miss Marsh cleared the overgrowth."

"Anything threatening?"

"Nothing official. One county employee remembers him getting pretty heated on the phone and saying Eleanor would regret ignoring him, but she can't remember his exact words."

"Useful if we can firm it up."

"Yeah. We're trying."

Selena looked at the board. "Connor?"

"Been chasing the school angle. He pulled records from Elmsview and spent most of today following up old names."

Selena leaned forward. "Did you get the email I sent?"

"Yes."

"Curtis Halle?"

Arnold nodded. "That's the name that sounded familiar when I saw your message. Connor had already found him in Miss Marsh's old incident reports."

Selena reached toward the file nearest Arnold. "You need to look hard at him. Tanya found two restraining orders, assault history, threats, institutionalization. He got out six weeks ago."

Arnold picked up his pen and wrote beside Curtis's name on the pad already in front of him.

"Connor's been out most of the afternoon," he said.

"Following Curtis?"

"Probably."

A voice came from the doorway.