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Paul gave him the info.
“Got it. I’ll have this followed up immediately,” Rance said, and hung up, but his heart was thumping as he opened a desk drawer, took out the case file, and began going back through the notes until he found the info about the rental car and quickly scanned it. After a few moments, he smiled. He’d been right! The car the shooter had been driving was a rental, with an office located in a suburb of Alexandria, Virginia. The caller was from Alexandria. Could this be the break they’d been waiting for?
Rance immediately made a call to the Alexandria Police Department, identified himself, and asked to betransferred to the crime division. He was briefly put on hold, and then a man answered.
“Detective Sosa.”
“Detective Sosa, my name is Rance Woodley. I’m the Warren County sheriff in Bowling Green, Kentucky. We’ve been working a shooting in Jubilee, Kentucky and—”
“About that kid…what was his name…Charlie Raines?”
“Yes,” Rance said.
“I know all about it. I’ve seen the story run a couple of times. What can I do for you?” Sosa asked.
“We have DNA, fingerprints, and security footage of the shooter, but he came into Jubilee under an assumed name. Even the car he was driving was rented under that name. But we just got a call on our hotline from a woman in Alexandria who claims she knows who he is. And the car that was rented under the assumed name came from a rental agency in a suburb of Alexandria. She’s agreed to speak to local authorities and I’m calling to see if you…”
“Consider it done,” Sosa said. “I have a thirteen-year-old son. I can’t imagine what the boy and his parents have gone through. Is the kid okay?”
“He’s healing, and that’s a miracle in itself. The shooter left him to die on a mountain,” Woodley said.
“Give me the info,” Sosa said, and began writing down everything Woodley gave him.
“If it turns out to be our man, put him in a holdingcell long enough for me to get the DNA and fingerprints to you,” Woodley said.
“Will do,” Sosa said. “We’ll be in touch.”
Woodley felt a surge of excitement the moment the call ended. This felt right.
The next morning when Connie Sanders got to work, she made a point of going to see if the man was at work. She knew he’d been on vacation, and knew when he came back that his long ponytail was gone, which made sense with what she’d just learned. Once your face is plastered all over the national news, it stood to reason you’d do whatever it took to change your appearance.
She went into the office across the hall and went to work, but every time her phone vibrated on an incoming call, she checked caller ID. Unless it was the babysitter or the local police, she wasn’t answering the phone.
It was just after 1:00 p.m., and Connie was back from lunch when her phone rang. When she saw caller ID, her heart skipped a beat.
“Hello, this is Connie,” she said.
“Connie, this is Detective Sosa from the Alexandria PD. We understand you have information to share about the suspect in the Charlie Raines shooting.”
“Yes, yes, I do,” she said.
“Would you be available to speak to us today?”
“Yes.”
“Could you come down to the station?” Sosa asked.
“I really think you should come here. The man in question works in the same place I do. At the Library of Congress. You can see him for yourself.”
Sosa was stunned.
“Really?”
“Yes, he works right across the hall from me. I made sure he was at work. He was on his vacation just a week or so back, and when he returned, he’d cut off his long ponytail. In the eight years I’ve worked here, he’s never cut his hair. Until now. A poor attempt to change his appearance, I’d say.”
Sosa’s interest was piqued. He hadn’t expected much when he’d agreed to follow up on a lead, but this was suddenly becoming an interesting interview.
“Yes, we’ll come to you.”
