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Rhys leans in and says, “Stay here. I’ll be right back.”
He closes the door and takes off at a jog before I can ask where he’s going. I watch him push through the entrance of the Tiki Hive. I tap my foot as I wait, becoming impatient, but then I see him exit the restaurant.
“What was that about?” I ask as he climbs in behind the wheel.
He hands me a baggie. “Writing samples. Mike and Torrance discard their orders and cash receipts in the trashcan behind the bar.”
Which means he didn’t need a warrant to obtain them. I quickly glance over the handwriting on the tabs. “It doesn’t look similar.”
“We’ll send it on to the team. Get analysis. Whoever wrote the note might’ve attempted to disguise their handwriting.”
I let this sink in, thinking. I still remember in vivid clarity the note that was sent to my parents’ house. The blocky letters, the words. The note pushed under my hotel room door was a close enough match.
Logically, neither Mike nor Torrance had reason to frighten me years ago during the investigation. They weren’t suspects. Still, after years of questioning the motive behind the letter, I discerned the author could be delusional, or suffer from some form of erotomania.
If either one of the brothers exhibits this behavioral trait then maybe I’m not seeing the bigger picture.
“This is good, Rhys. Thorough.” If for no other reason than to check the brothers off my list.
16
Impulse Control
Lakin: Now
Parked two blocks down from Kohen’s house, Rhys uses his database to do a quick search on our suspect. Here’s what we know about the former Tiki Hive waiter:
His full name is Kohen Louis Hayes. Twenty-five. White. Male. Single. He lived with his mother, Jennifer Hayes (never married) up until a year and a half ago, when he rented a small suburban house off the A1A. He has no credit cards. He attended a community college for computer science for a few months, then dropped out to pursue a scattering of food and beverage jobs.
Kohen does have one offense. At the age of nineteen, he was in a bar altercation that resulted in the police locking him up for a night. He was released the next day on his own recognizance. The other participant in the fight never pressed charges.
Most young men have a lack of impulse control at that age—yet, was this a one-time occurrence, or a marker for the onset of a disturbing behavioral pattern?
On paper, nothing out of the ordinary stands out. He appears to have little ambition, but he did move out of his mother’s house, which is no small feat for most young males today. But the question is, for someone who appears to be comfortable coasting through life, what prompted this sudden surge of independence? What spurred him to attend college in the first place?
Typically, the answer is pretty commonplace: a woman.
This could also be a likely reason for the altercation.
That would be the natural, healthy reason. There are, of course, the less common and more disturbing motives: drug use; illicit fetishes; other various illegal activities—all of which privacy would be a necessity.
I’ll deduce more once we interview him.
Rhys does a quick periphery check around the house, making sure there are no attack dogs or other threats, before we approach the one-story home. It’s an off-white, eggshell color, darkened by age and neglect. The porch sinks in toward the middle, boards creak beneath our feet.
Rhys knocks.
There’s a noise behind the door, like someone was already watching us from the peephole. Rhys’s hand goes to his gun harness, palm hovering over his service piece as a precaution. After a reasonable amount of time, the door opens. I recognize Kohen from the description the beach bunnies gave us.
“Kohen Hayes?” Rhys addresses him as an inquiry. He says it’s best to start an introduction with a question, to get the suspect used to answering questions right from the start.
As Kohen’s hands are in view and he doesn’t appear to be a threat, Rhys bypasses his weapon and takes out his ID.
Kohen’s dark eyebrows draw together in a confused countenance. “That’s me,” he says. “What do you want?”
I can see why he had a bit of sway over the ladies. Despite his young age, Kohen is strikingly handsome and carries himself with assured confidence. His shoulders pull back, bringing him to a level height with Rhys.
Rhys makes the introductions, then says, “Mr. Hayes, we have a few questions we need answered pertaining to Joanna Delany.” He gets right to the matter, testing Kohen’s reaction to the victim’s name.
