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Noah said, “You guys didn’t get anywhere today?”
Mettner sighed. “Nowhere that helps us find this guy sooner rather than later.”
Gretchen said, “By the way, we’ve gone through the list of employees of the Collinses’ show. I interviewed them yesterday. I ran background checks. Then I moved on to station employees from WYEP—since they’re all in the same building. We’ve been running background checks on them as well. So far, no one throws up any red flags, but we’ll keep working at it.”
“A couple of people with criminal records,” Mettner added. “But not for violent crimes.”
“Yesterday when I was at WYEP, I spoke with Raffy, who is the social media manager for the station,” Gretchen said.
“He and Margot Huff are dating,” Josie said.
“Yes,” Gretchen replied. “He mentioned that. We were looking for internet trolls. Anyone who might have been blocked by the station or the Collinses for posting or messaging inappropriate or hateful things about Beau and Claudia. He said he was going to see Margot today and the two of them would have a comprehensive list for us this afternoon. He’s going to email it to us. We’re waiting on that.”
Josie thought of the way Margot had looked at Beau that morning when she found out about his affair with Eve. The way Beau, even at the station the morning before, was always trying to touch her even though she clearly did not want any physical contact. The way he’d quickly become accusatory about the fact that she was dating Raffy. Was there something more between them? Maybe not now but in the past? She asked, “You weren’t going to meet with them?”
Gretchen raised a brow. “I didn’t see a need, unless you think one of us should.”
All eyes were on Josie. “I’d just like to talk to Margot when she’s not with Beau.”
Mettner said, “I talked to her Friday night without Beau Collins. You think she’s hiding something?”
“I’m not sure,” Josie said. “But her level of disappointment with Beau when she found out about the affair with Eve was…”
“Strange,” Noah filled in. “He’s just her boss. Why does she care so much how he acts morally or ethically?”
“Besides,” Josie said. “I don’t think we’re looking for an internet troll. Obviously, we have to look at that angle, but I think this killer is more likely someone in Beau and Claudia’s inner circle. Someone with enough access to the Collinses to know their schedules and figure out what was happening between Beau and Eve.”
“But you said Beau’s own assistant didn’t even know about him and Eve,” Mettner pointed out. “The killer could just as easily be a stalker of some kind. If he’s been following the Collinses, he might have seen Eve and Beau together. If he was watching them, he might have just seen his opportunity to attack Claudia and gone for it.”
“That’s pretty risky,” said Gretchen. “Traipsing into her house without knowing when or whether anyone else was going to show up while he was mid-murder.”
Josie said, “I still say inner circle. Eve knew the killer. I don’t think she would have stopped for him otherwise. There’s nothing on her phone to indicate he contacted her before she went to the park yesterday. I think he was waiting for her to pass by.”
Gretchen said, “Then we take a closer look at the inner circle—again. Starting with everyone who was supposed to be at the Collinses’ house on Friday night. We can take another look at the video crew.”
Noah said, “That Liam is a hothead, and he doesn’t seem to like Beau very much.”
“Right,” said Gretchen. “Of everyone I spoke with at the studio, he was the most broken up over Claudia’s death. I’m not sure that makes him a killer, but we can certainly speak with him again.”
Noah said, “Someone should talk to the producer again. Her name’s Kathy.”
Mettner said, “You think she’s the killer?”
Noah shrugged. “She seemed to enjoy antagonizing Liam Flint. Not that that makes her a suspect. I just think that she knows things. She was the only person on the staff who knew that Eve Bowers was seeing someone. No one else even noticed.”
“Let’s add her to the list then,” Josie said. “But I’d like to start with Margot.”
Gretchen smiled. “You got it, boss. Let me make some calls and see if I can pin her down and then you guys can go speak to her.” She picked up her phone. “Mett, tell them about Dr. Feist’s findings.”
“Right,” said Mettner. “The doc gave us her preliminary findings on Eve Bowers. No sign of sexual assault. Time of death was likely between sevena.m. and ninea.m.”
“Which aligns with what she told me yesterday at the scene,” Josie said. “He killed her immediately.”
“Looks that way,” Mettner agreed. “The doc was able to get some DNA from her clothes. It’s been sent to the state police lab. Because this is our second murder in two days by the same killer, the Chief has asked that the DNA analysis from both crime scenes be expedited.”
Noah said, “That’s great, but we could still be waiting days.”
“Days is better than weeks, Fraley,” Gretchen reminded him. “Or months.”
