They’d only been waiting at the gate for twenty seconds but each one was precious, an opportunity for Jasper Otis to hide Paul Gilliard or sneak him off the estate. Jessie was about to respond but Karen beat her to it.
“We have a valid warrant, which we’ll show you at the front door of the house. You can open the gate right now or we’ll have the truck behind us knock it down. It’s your call. You have five seconds to hit that button.”
It only took two for the buzz to sound and the gate to creak open. Karen blasted through so quickly her car scraped the edges of the gate as it passed. They tore down the long driveway and dashed out, where they were met at the South House main entrance by Nancy Salter, who stood in doorway like a bouncer at a bar.
“You’re trespassing,” she yelled as they ran toward her. “If you don’t want to be personally sued, I suggest you turn around right now.”
“Too late for that,” Jessie muttered to herself.
“We have a warrant,” Karen announced. “You can move out of the way or be arrested right now.”
Salter looked briefly startled before recovering.
“Show it to me, please,” she said.
“You can come with us while we search. Or you can hang here with one of the officers, who can show you a copy. But we’re coming in now.”
Jessie stepped up so that she was face to face with Salter. The other woman was still taller than her, but she didn’t seem all that intimidating anymore.
“Move now,” Jessie said. “Or I will move you.”
After a moment’s hesitation, Salter stepped aside. Jessie darted past her and turned straight toward West House. She glanced back and saw that Karen was right behind her. To her surprise, Detective Purcell was there too, though he looked reluctant to participate. It took less than a minute to reach the plastic sheeting outside the residential wing.
“I’ll open it,” Jessie said to Karen. “Cover me.”
“That area isn’t safe to enter,” Salter said, catching up to them.
Jessie looked back at her incredulously.
“Don’t waste our time with that,” she said. “You’re on the hook for this too, Nancy. Show us which room he’s in or you’ll be charged as an accessory.”
Salter shook her head.
“You already know that Jasper’s residence is upstairs,” she maintained.
“Not Jasper,” Karen said. “Paul Gilliard—where would Jasper have put him?”
The genuinely surprised expression on Salter’s face made Jessie reevaluate just how much she knew about what was going on. Involuntarily, Salter glanced at the end of the hall. Jessie ran in that direction. When she got to the last door on the left, she pressed her ear to it in the hopes of hearing voices. But there were none. Karen arrived seconds later.
“Check if it’s locked,” the detective said.
It was. She looked at Salter, who was just arriving, huffing heavily.
“Unlock it,” she ordered.
The woman did so reluctantly. Jessie pushed the door open and Karen stepped inside with her gun drawn. Jessie followed her, as did Purcell and two uniformed officers. They searched all the rooms of the residence but found no one. Karen looked over at Jessie with doubt in her eyes. Jessie could tell she was worried they’d screwed up.
“Check the other guest rooms in the wing,” Karen instructed the uniformed officers.
They hurried out.
“When did Otis tell you to have this area sealed off?” Jessie demanded of Salter.
“Sunday morning,” Salter replied.
Jessie stared at her hard.
“I’m going to give you a chance here, Nancy. I’m guessing you didn’t know Gilliard was the one in here. But you knew something was up. Did Jasper suggest the mold story?”
Salter looked at Detective Purcell for help but he was stone-faced. It appeared that he’d finally come around and was putting the job ahead of the power. Without anyone to support her, Salter seemed torn. But apparently the two women standing in front of her with weapons drawn were more impactful than her loyalty to Jasper Otis.
“He said he needed to make sure no one entered the residential area for a few days. I came up with the mold remediation suggestion. We had it done last year and still had the plastic sheeting in storage. I didn’t ask what it was about.”
“You realize your boss has been hiding a murderer?” Karen said. “And that he may be helping him to escape right now? You need to tell us everything you know.”
“I don’t know anything else,” Salter insisted. “Jasper has been very closed-mouthed the last