Drained (Edgars Family #6) - Suzanne Ferrell Page 0,108
reached for the last pierogi in his box. “Paula, when you’re done with dinner, I’ve got some pictures I’d like you to take a look at.”
“Pictures?” Paula went pale and shook her head. “I can’t look at pictures of dead people.”
“No, not dead people,” Brianna said, laying her hand over Paula’s cold one. “Drivers licenses. Of the volunteers from the church.”
Paula visibly relaxed and the color returned to her face. “Oh. Oh, you want me to see if one of them might be the killer?”
“Yes,” Jaylon said, going for his backpack.
Aaron began clearing the table of empty food boxes and gave Kirk F a nod to come help. Cason joined them. Matt went for Stanley’s leash and the pup darted to his feet to go outside. Brianna realized that without a word among them, the men were giving Paula space. Space to view the pictures at her own pace and not to pick one just because she felt pressured to do so. Taking her cue from them, Brianna gathered up the silverware and empty glasses to load into the dishwasher.
“We’ll go into the living room,” Aaron said quietly to her, then looked at Kirk F. “We can go over what you found about the possible murder locations while she looks at the pictures.”
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Seated across from their witness, Jaylon laid the stack of papers he’d printed out on the table face down in front of Paula. “Take your time and look at one carefully before moving on to the next one. Remember, he may or may not be in this bunch, so if you can’t identify him there’s no big deal. Okay?”
“Okay,” she said, laying her shaking hand on the stack.
“Before you start looking,” the dark-haired lady named Katie said, sitting quietly beside Paula, “I want you to close your eyes like you did this morning and go back to that last time you saw Art. Don’t force it but try to bring that image of the man sitting across from him into your mind.”
“But I didn’t see his face,” Paula said, sounding doubtful.
“I know, but you know this man. Something in the way he sat with Art may click when you see his image.”
“What if he doesn’t have a drivers license? I don’t.”
“We’re pretty sure he does, but he may have an out of date one, or an out of state one, or even gave a false name to the volunteer leaders. It’s okay if you don’t see him,” Jaylon repeated. “There were a few men on the list without a DMV photo, so we’ll look at those names on my list after you go through the stack. Okay?”
She nodded, then closed her eyes.
Jaylon watched her take slow breaths in and out. She was a pretty girl, too young for him. Too wary, too. She had a past, and he’d bet a week’s salary that it was ugly and full of emotional potholes. He’d been a detective three years, worked with Aaron for two and he’d gotten pretty good at reading people. In the time he’d come to the homicide unit, he’d learned that people would do horrible things to others, some lived in the muck and mire of depravity and never climbed out, others struggled to find their way and some made it. Relationships could build you up or destroy you. He’d made a promise to himself, he’d only have relationships that were positive and didn’t take a lot of emotional work. Someone that had that look of fear and suspicion in her eyes, like Paula did, was not on his interested list. She was just a witness.
“Are you ready?” Katie asked.
“Yes,” Paula said and opened her eyes. Turning over the first page, she studied it a moment. “That’s Mr. Carmicle. It wasn’t him.”
“You’re sure?” Jaylon asked.
She lifted her brown eyes to him. “Yes. He was standing two people down from me in the serving line.”
He nodded and marked him off his list.
She turned over the next picture and quickly shook her head. “That’s Mr. McNamara. He’s in his sixties and has a bad knee.”
“We’ll cross him off, too,” Jaylon said and gave her a little smile.
Paula blushed, but went on to the next image.
They continued this way for several more pages, eliminating one after the other for either obvious physical impairments that meant they couldn’t be the killer and move dead bodies, or because she verified they weren’t the man seated across from Art that night.