AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Yes! Hell yes!” Howard crowed.
Pickard was coming back to his desk with a fresh cup of coffee when he heard his partner’s shout.
“What? What did we get?” he asked.
“Check this out,” Howard said. “Emily Payne spent time in a drug rehab facility at the same time that a young man named Kevin Vanzant was there, and the team has already verified it’s the same Kevin Vanzant as our murder victim.”
Pickard grinned. “That is not a coincidence.”
“No, it’s not. And that’s not all. We have video of a woman in a clothing store four days ago using a credit card belonging to one of the missing women. Then we pick her up again on video in the parking lot. We got a good shot of the car tag. It’s registered to Emily Ann Payne. And Emily Payne used her own credit card for gas right after she left the mall. We need to pick up this Payne woman for questioning.”
“Do we want to involve Chief Warren?” Pickard asked.
“Only as far as asking him to use one of their interrogation rooms for the questioning,” Howard said. “You go tell the boss where we’re headed. I’m calling for a chopper. We’ll pick her up after we get there.”
“Do we involve Agent Caldwell in the interrogation?” Pickard asked.
“No. We don’t want anyone knowing she’s still on-site gathering info,” Howard said. “But we need to make sure she is on the job. Do we have Ray Caldwell’s contact info?”
“Yes, because that’s where Rusty was staying,” Pickard said.
“Call him. Tell him we need Emily Payne brought to his office in about an hour.”
Pickard nodded, pulled up the phone number they had on record, and made the call.
***
Ray Caldwell was in the same mood that Marsh Devon had been, standing at the windows in his office and watching it rain, when his phone rang. He glanced at the time, wondering if it might be his wife letting him know she’d landed, then realized it was too early. He turned and picked up the call.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Caldwell, this is Special Agent Pickard from the Frankfort office of the FBI. We have a request.”
Ray was suddenly focused. Whatever this was, he suspected Rusty was involved. “Yes, sir. How can I be of service?” Ray asked.
“You have an employee at your hotel named Emily Payne. Is this right?”
Ray’s gut knotted. “Yes, I do. She’s a hostess.”
“Is she at work today?”
“Yes, she’ll be on duty until 6:00 p.m. today,” Ray said.
“Excellent. My partner and I are coming in on a chopper to pick her up for questioning. Rather than cause a scene in your hotel, it would be helpful if you’d have her brought to your outer office and have one of your security guards stay with her until we arrive.”
Ray was startled, but immediately agreed. “Yes, sir. I can do that. Does she know about this?”
“No, and don’t tell her.”
“It’s raining pretty steady here,” Ray added.
“It’s already clearing here. We’ll be flying behind the moving front, but thank you for your concern. See you soon.”
“Right,” Ray said, and hung up. His gut knotted as he glanced at the time, then made a note to himself. Something told him he was about to be minus a hostess again.
Back in Frankfort, an FBI chopper was warming up at their heliport, and Howard and Pickard were inbound. As soon as they arrived and boarded, the pilot lifted off.
***
