I shuddered again. I couldn’t imagine it at all. Maybe I didn’t want to.
“What about the security cameras?” Michael continued. “Did they pick up anything?”
The man frowned as he glanced up at one of the devices near us. “None of them work. I don’t usually tell people that, but they’re mostly there just to scare people away.”
Well, that was a letdown.
“We don’t really have much crime here,” the groundskeeper continued. “It’s generally safe, except for the occasional troublemaker.”
Again, I tried to picture the scene. If the killer hadn’t been able to drive up to this area in the middle of the night, did that mean he’d parked, somehow got his victim around the gate, and carried her up these thirty-two steps to this very grave?
That was a lot riskier than simply driving up in the dark. Was he getting braver? Did he want to take more risks with each new kill?
“Were there tire tracks by the gate?” I asked. “Do you remember?”
“Actually, the gate wasn’t locked. From what I overheard the police saying, they think this guy drove up and left that poor woman on this grave.”
I was getting a better picture in my mind just how this killer operated.
And I didn’t like the images that came together.
Chapter Fourteen
Michael and I visited the three other secondary crime scenes before heading back toward Storm River.
Our little town was where the final victim had been left. She’d been found on a hiking path along the river.
What was special about each location? I had no idea. Aside from the first two, each scene was different with no obvious links.
Though it was getting late, Michael and I decided to go back to the apartment complex and see if we could talk to anybody else who was there. As we drove, we mostly talked about the case. Maybe it was better that way.
When we got closer to the complex, I told him, “I came back here last night and talked to some of the residents I wasn’t able to catch earlier during the day.”
Michael did a double take at me. “You came back here by yourself? After everything that’s been going on?”
“It was fine. Hunter was here.”
Michael did another double take. “You and Hunter talked to people together?”
“It just happened to all work out.” Was that a touch of jealousy in his voice? I couldn’t be sure. It didn’t matter. “Either way, everyone I talked to knew nothing. It was practically a waste of time, except for the fact that I crossed a few more people off my list. And I love crossing things off lists.”
“Well, maybe we’ll hit the jackpot tonight.” But as Michael said the words, there was a new stiffness to his jaw.
I wasn’t going to overanalyze the action. I had too many other things on my mind right now.
We got to the complex, and Michael came with me as I pounded on the door of the one person I hadn’t been able to get in touch with the day before. To my surprise, someone answered—a man in his fifties with dark skin and a salt-and-pepper goatee.
He stared at Michael and me suspiciously, not saying anything.
“Hi there,” I started. “I’m Elliot, and this is Michael. We’re private investigators. A woman disappeared from this complex two nights ago, and we were hoping to ask you a few questions.”
I had my spiel worked out. I should. I’d said it enough times already.
“What do you need to know?” The man didn’t sound especially friendly or ready to open up.
I didn’t let that stop me. “I was wondering if you happened to see anything strange going on in the parking lot two nights ago around ten thirty?”
The man grunted. “What do you mean?”
I narrowed my eyes, slightly confused about his confusion. “Did you know that somebody was abducted from this complex?”
He rubbed his goatee. “I got back into town about thirty minutes ago. I went up to Baltimore to see my son, and I just got home. What are you talking about?”
“I’m just curious, sir, but when did you leave for your trip?” Michael asked.
“Yesterday morning around five a.m. I was hoping to miss some of the traffic.” He shifted. “Now, what’s going on?”
Michael and I exchanged a glance. He gave me a subtle nod, silently telling me to take the lead on this one.
“A woman from this apartment complex went missing two nights ago,” I started. “The police suspect it may be the work of the Beltway Killer, and we’re trying to track down any information that might help us to find her. I take it you haven’t talked to the police yet?”
“Like I said, I just got back to town. I haven’t been watching the news. Besides, I just moved into this complex a couple weeks ago. Don’t know anyone here well enough yet for them to report any news to me. I’m sorry to hear that somebody else was taken.” The man’s shoulders seemed to loosen, like he no longer suspected us of being up to no good.
“We believe this woman got back to the apartment complex around ten thirty or eleven on Sunday night after being with her friends,” I said. “We’re looking for anybody who might have seen anything happening.”
“What does your friend look like?”
I pulled out my phone and found Velma’s picture—I’d taken it from her social media. As soon as I caught a glimpse of Velma’s smiling face with her curly blonde hair and big earrings, my heart pounded with another moment of grief. I prayed desperately that she was okay.
The man studied it for a minute before nodding. “I do think I’ve seen her before. She lives on this floor, if I remember correctly.”
I nodded. That was a good sign that he recognized her, at least.
“Did you happen to be outside or glance out your window anytime on Sunday night?” Michael asked.
“Funny that you ask. I was considering loading up my car that evening before my trip. But I glanced out my window and saw it was starting to rain, so I decided to wait.”
“When you glanced out the window, did you see anything else?” I held my breath, desperately praying he might have an answer.
“As a matter of fact, I did see something.”
I drew in a sharp breath. Could this be it? The lead we’d been waiting for?
“What did you see?” Michael asked.
“I saw somebody who might have been your friend, I suppose,” he said. “Like I said, it was dark outside and hard to tell. But I’m pretty sure the woman I saw had a ponytail on the top of her head and curly hair. She was standing near a dark blue sedan. Maybe it was black.”
Excitement lit in me. “What was she doing?”
“If I remember correctly, she got out of her car, and a man approached her. The two of them started talking. Didn’t look like anything tense or suspicious. I figured they were friends.”
“And what then?” I prayed that this man had kept watching and had seen something else.
“Then they walked together across the parking lot.”
“Not toward the apartments?” Michael clarified.
“No, it almost looked like they were walking to his car.”
“And she didn’t appear to be in distress?” I asked as a mental picture began playing out in my mind.