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Ellie and Derrick exchanged a look. He had a point. But his I-don’t-care attitude bothered Ellie.
“Did you notice someone watching Amy? Anyone skulking around the complex?” Ellie crossed her arms.
“Hey, it’s a college town. Guys and girls party and hang out. I keep to myself and don’t bother them.”
Derrick crossed to the kitchen window. Ellie realized he was probably checking Omar’s view of the parking lot.
“All right. Then let’s talk about Darla Loben,” Ellie pressed. “We just came from her house and she still has nightmares about those spiders.”
“That girl was a drama queen,” he muttered. “Another student, Vincent Billings, kept spiders in his apartment for a biology experiment.”
“Is that legal?” Ellie asked.
“Not like he asked permission,” Coolidge said. “But word got around and some of the girls were freaked out, so I gave him a warning to get rid of them. He got pissed and moved out.” He pulled a cigarette from his pocket and tapped it on his hand. “Besides, he only had three. There were a dozen in Darla’s.”
Maybe he bought more? Or he lied and put them in Darla’s apartment as revenge? If they’d just gotten loose, surely they’d have scattered in different directions.
“Where did he go?”
“Hell if I know,” Omar said. “I don’t keep up with students after they move out.”
“Don’t your tenants leave a forwarding address?” Ellie asked.
“With the post office, not me,” he replied.
“What about deposit refunds?” Derrick asked.
Coolidge made a low sound in his throat. “Not many get anything back. Students are rough on the apartments.”
Derrick turned from the window. “Did you have security cameras in the parking lot?” Derrick asked.
Coolidge cut his eyes toward the bookcase in the corner, then down the hall and back to them. “Not back then. We put some in about two years ago.”
Derrick returned to stand beside her, and Ellie pulled a card from her pocket. “If you think of anything else that would be helpful, please give us a call.”
Coolidge walked them to the door, locking it behind them. Ellie paused to scan the parking lot for the cameras and spotted two attached to the streetlights. Although they faced the parking lot, not the units themselves.
Ellie had a bad vibe about Coolidge. He was hiding something. And she would find out what.
FORTY-TWO
ROCKY LANE
He fought his need to fidget as he watched Beverly Hooper jump from her Honda and race into her house. She looked anxious and kept looking over her shoulder as if she knew she was being followed.
He hadn’t exactly been discreet. Hewantedher to know she was being watched. Wanted her to sweat. To anticipate what was to come.
Her door closed swiftly and he saw lights flipping on as if she thought that could save her.
But nothing would stop him from executing his plans. He’d dreamed of her blood on his hands for years. Dreamed of watching the light fade from her eyes as she struggled for another breath and realized fighting him was futile.
Maybe he’d follow the footsteps of Gary Ridgway, the Green Mile Killer, and kill her then dump her in the river. No… he didn’t want to be a copycat.
Sure, in their kills, the brothers had imitated Radcliff’s MO. But they had their reasons for that.
Creativity was the component that made the famous killers’ MOs stand out. He was starting a new decade of killing. It was time to make his own name and stand out from the pack.
Widow Lake would be the perfect place to leave the body. She’d be buried underneath the water, covered in sludge and sticks and scum.
