The Deepest Wound (Jack Murphy Thriller #3) - Rick Reed Page 0,26
I heard voices. They were so loud I could hear them over the television. I cracked the curtains and looked outside, but there was no one. I listened and could tell it was coming from Nina’s house.
“The arguing went on for a few minutes and then it just stopped. It was quiet for a long time, and I kept watching, but the man didn’t leave, so I assumed they made up, and—you know?”
“And then what happened?” Jack asked.
“It was quite a bit later. I had some hot chocolate and was sitting right here at the table when I heard an engine start up. I went to look out the front, and by the time I got to the window Nina’s car was pulling out of her driveway.”
“Was the man’s car—her visitor’s car—parked at the end of the street still?”
“No. It must have left. It’s funny that I didn’t hear it leave, but then I never heard it arrive either. I didn’t see anyone driving, if that’s what you were going to ask. And—”
“Are you sure it was Nina’s car?” Jack interrupted. “The one you saw leaving?”
She nodded. “She drives a dark green Ford Taurus. It needs a new muffler. My husband used to work on cars, so I know that much.”
“Did the car that was leaving Nina’s driveway have a loud muffler?” Liddell asked, biting into the last cookie on the tray, and then wiping crumbs from around his mouth and off the front of his shirt.
“Now that you mention it,” she said thoughtfully, “I don’t think it did.”
Jack stood and motioned to Liddell that they should leave.
“You didn’t let me finish, Detective Murphy,” Laney said.
“I’m sorry,” Jack said, and sat back down. “Please continue.”
“You asked if I saw the black car at the end of the street when I looked out the second time. I didn’t see it. It was gone,” she said. “But there was another car parked there. It was a sports car, but I can’t tell you what kind. And I’ve never seen it around here before, or since.”
Thirty minutes and many, many, cookies later, they left Laney Alvarez behind and headed back downtown. Liddell drove.
“She’s single,” Jack observed.
“Tempting, but man doesn’t live by cookies alone. Besides, Marcie would kill me if she knew I ate so many cookies.”
“Or that you have your pocket full of them?” Jack suggested.
Liddell patted his pocket, and said, “Well, Murphy’s Law says, ‘Waste not, want not.’”
Jack wasn’t that interested in the subject, though. “What did she tell us that we didn’t know?”
“Well, we confirmed that Cindy McCoy called Laney this morning when Nina didn’t show up for work,” Liddell said. “And Laney heard loud voices coming from Nina’s around ten-fifteen last night. Her hearing seemed pretty good to me.”
“Her eyesight is excellent, too. She wasn’t wearing glasses and she saw the hunger in your eyes and drool dripping from your slack jaws.”
“Wow. That’s just mean, pod’na,” Liddell said.
“She saw a black newer model Mercedes sedan at the end of her block, so we’ll have to check with the neighbors again to see if anyone owns it, or anyone saw it. Several hours after the disturbance she looked out again and the Mercedes was gone, but a silver convertible sports car was parked there, and Nina’s car was driving out of her driveway about midnight.”
“Nina owns a dark green Mercury Sable,” Jack said.
“What do you make of the black Mercedes?
“Eric owns a black Mercedes,” Jack said.
“Are you hoping to get rid of the competition?”
Jack shot him an angry look, and said, “She saw a dark sedan that may or may not have been a Mercedes Benz. The man she described sounded a lot like Eric,” Jack answered. “And he has a reputation for philandering.”
Liddell conceded that Laney’s description matched Eric, and the man’s reputation wasn’t good.
“Are we going to show her a photo lineup?” Liddell asked.
Jack shook his head. “It was dark. Even if we got an ID from her, a defense attorney would eat us up because of her age. Not to mention the shit storm we’d start downtown when politics got involved. And you know Eric would find out. We still don’t know who the leak is. Or who they’re working for.”
Jack thought through what they’d heard, and then raised another point. “She said the man was there several times a week, always about the same time of night, and Nina seemed to be waiting.”
“Sounds like a booty call,” Liddell suggested, and Jack nodded in agreement.