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Hanna and I said goodbye and disconnected our call. I sat for a few moments, thinking about the conversation we’d just had. It didn’t feel good to know that she had something that was bothering her that she didn’t want to share. My hope was that whatever it was, she’d find a way to make peace with it tonight, and if it was still on her mind tomorrow, I’d be able to find a way to get her to open up to me about it.
For now, I decided I needed to put my focus back on my work. Gut instinct was telling me I was on the verge of a breakthrough; I just needed to give it a few more hours.
Sadly, the breakthrough came the next morning.
Everything started normally. I’d woken up, gotten my workout in, taken a shower, and had a shake. I’d even shot a text to Hanna, letting her know that I was thinking about her and that I was looking forward to seeing her later in the evening for dinner.
After sending off that text, I’d slipped my phone into my pocket and moved toward the living room, so I could turn off the television. But just as I bent down to grab the remote, I stopped and diverted my attention to the screen.
“We interrupt your program with breaking news,” the reporter started. “Police are on the scene at the Steel Ridge Shopping Plaza, where it appears a man has died. There’s no official word yet on if this man’s death is related to the two murders that happened over the last several weeks and rocked this small town, but one of our reporters did manage to speak with one of the business owners at the plaza today, and he had his suspicions. Here’s what he had to say.”
The camera cut to a man standing in the parking lot outside the plaza. It was clear the interview had happened just as the sun was coming up.
“It was awful,” the man said. “I’m sure this is another one of those murders, because he had a rope around his neck, and there was no way for him to wind up the way he did without someone doing it to him. This is now the third of these murders in this town. I don’t like the way it feels.”
Barely a moment later, the camera cut away from him and was back on the reporter in the news studio.
“There you have it,” she said. “We’re still waiting to hear from police for an official statement, but for now, it seems like we might know what they’re going to say. And there’s no question that things are starting to feel a little less safe in Steel Ridge.”
I didn’t wait around to hear another word. I flipped off the television and strode out of the house.
Roughly an hour and a half later, I was making my way back to my car, so I could head into the office, when someone called out, “Hey, Leo.”
I turned around and saw Detective Brock Morris heading in my direction. I stopped moving, turned around, and walked back in his direction.
“You heading to the office?” he asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. I’m going to see what I can find on this guy, and if there’s any way to link him to the other two.”
“I’m doing the same, and I’ve got a couple guys on it with me. But we’ve got problems,” he said.
I thought it was obvious that this was one major problem, so I had a feeling that what Detective Morris was hinting at wasn’t the obvious.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
He twisted his neck and looked behind where we were standing before he revealed, “We’ve got a lot of pressure coming down through the ranks, and it’s not good.”
“They want answers,” I stated the obvious.
He jerked his chin down to confirm I’d guessed correctly. “Yeah. There’s a lot of outrage in the public, and the whole department is feeling the squeeze. I get it, but we keep coming up short. They want an arrest, but I can’t just pick a person out of the crowd.”
I shook my head slowly. “This is bad as it is, but it’s even worse if this is all random. We’ve got to try to find a way to link these murders, and not just to the person doing them. We need to figure out what or who ties them all together.”
Detective Morris nodded. “Agreed. Here’s hoping this guy is going to be the one who makes that happen, because I’m not sure the citizens of this community are going to feel safer much longer if we can’t figure it out.”
“I’m going to do what I can to help you out on this. As soon as I have anything solid, I’ll let you know,” I told him.
“Sounds good. Thanks, Leo.”
With that, I turned and started moving toward my vehicle again, and I did it while feeling an overwhelming sense of foreboding. A situation like this was never good, but rushing to make an arrest for the sake of having a scapegoat wasn’t going to help. The last thing I wanted was to see someone else wind up dead, but the sad reality was that sometimes these things took time to solve. I hated it just as much as the next person.
But because I wanted a resolution just as much as anyone else in the town did and I had dinner plans with Hanna tonight, I told myself I needed to put an abundance of effort into my research today. Whatever it took, I was going to figure out how to link Jimmy Moss, Xavier Pope, and now, Archibald Hogan.
SIXTEEN
Leo
Disbelief.
