Jason stared at her. “So Boxner went back to the Madigans’ a second time?”
“No. Officer Boxner was off-duty by then. Anyway, it would have taken a team of officers to break up that party. We knew they’d be winding down eventually.”
“Right.” Jason frowned, nodded, started to turn away—when her words fully sunk in.
“What time was that?”
“What time was what?”
“What time did the second noise complaint come in?”
Courtney said promptly, “Twelve thirty.”
“The chief was on his way to the Madigans’, but instead stopped to help a stranded motorist?”
She looked puzzled. “Yes. Actually, two girls with a flat tire. They didn’t know how to use their jack.”
Jason asked carefully, “What time did he call in?”
“Who?”
He didn’t need to look at her expression to realize he had to tread very carefully here. Kennedy had been right about that. “At what time did Chief Gervase let you know he was canceling the call to the Madigans’ because he was stopping to help the girls with the flat tire?”
Officer Courtney did not look at her computer monitor. She said coolly, “Within a couple of minutes or so. He was in route when he pulled over to aid the girls.”
“And after he finished up with the flat tire, he signed off for the evening and went home?”
“Yes. There was no reason not to. There was no indication that Rebecca was missing at that time.”
“Right. Of course.”
She was frowning, watching him closely.
He wanted to ask her for the license plate number of the car belonging to the girls Gervase had stopped to help. He wanted to run that plate. And, assuming the registration was valid, talk to the driver of the car and verify the exact time Chief Gervase had stopped to lend a hand with that spare tire and jack.
However, he could not ask Officer Courtney for that number. He could not ask her for the very reason that she did not offer it. Because they had both realized at the same instant that here was an overlooked and alarming possibility in someone’s movements on the night of Rebecca’s murder.
The difference being that Chief Gervase had Officer Courtney’s complete and unquestioning loyalty. She was not going to willingly give Jason even one more piece of potentially damaging information—and she was most certainly going to warn Gervase.
She would not think of it as warning him because she would reject the idea that he had anything to do with Rebecca’s death—Jason was also having trouble picturing that scenario—but Courtney could see how things might look for Chief Gervase.
Yes, she would give her boss a heads-up. And Gervase…already knew that Jason was going over and over the original crime scene photos. He would soon learn that Jason had been looking for evidence in the property room. In fact, he was driving back with Kennedy and might have heard enough of their conversation to guess which direction Jason’s suspicions were headed, even if Jason had originally locked sights on the wrong target.
“Thanks for your help,” Jason said.
Officer Courtney smiled, her eyes unfriendly.
Chapter Twenty
One problem.
Okay, not one problem. Next problem.
Only Jason had seen the mermaid charm that had been left with Candy.
The fact that Honey’s charm was missing sixteen years later, well, a lot of explanations could be offered and arguments made that did not include the Chief of Police murdering a teenage girl and faking the return of a serial killer.
Jason beeped the locks on the Dodge sedan, opened the door, and slipped into the driver’s seat.