TWENTY-FOUR
Amanda and Trent were taken to the warehouse, where they were introduced to Ralph Newman, who managed Shipping and Receiving.
“I understand you’re here about what happened to Eve Kelley.”
“We are,” Amanda said. He was larger than the figure from the video, broader shoulders, thicker neck. But he didn’t strike her as too affected by Eve’s death. Then again, maybe he was striving to keep this meeting professional and leave emotion out of it.
“Please, sit.” Ralph cleared two chairs that had been stacked with papers. “There you go.”
Amanda and Trent sat down.
“We understand that Eve Kelley made a habit of touring the warehouse every morning,” Amanda said.
“Yes, that’s right.”
“She met with the production manager. Did she meet with you?” Mitch from security hadn’t mentioned a morning meeting between the two, but she thought she’d ask anyway.
“No, we didn’t speak much. If she had questions about anything to do with shipping, she took them up with production. It was Gary’s head that would roll. Honestly, I was happy for the buffer.”
“Did Eve have a temper?” Trent asked.
“She could if things didn’t work out the way she thought they should.”
There would be no faulting the woman for that. “Eve Kelley didn’t meet with you, but did she make it a routine to walk through the loading docks?” She was just trying to gauge what Ralph knew about Eve’s movements.
“She did. Not sure what she was really looking for and never asked. She was the boss.”
“Did you see her there yesterday morning?”
“Uh-huh.”
Every one of Ralph’s responses lined up with what they knew. “Do you have an employee with broad shoulders, narrow hips, short dark hair, who might like to wear a ball cap?”
“You mean one of these?” He pulled a white ball cap with the Pixie Winks logo from his desk drawer. “Everyone does when they’re on the floor.”
Was the mystery figure an employee or an imposter who’d snuck on premises and knew about the hats? “What about the rest of my description?”
“It doesn’t sound like any of my guys. Most of ’em are a little heavier set.”
“Could it have been a courier dropping something off?” Trent asked.
“Could have been.”
She would have liked a more definitive response. “Does the description I just gave you fit any of the regular delivery people? I’m assuming you usually have the same ones who show up.”
“We do, but the description you’re giving isn’t lining up. And they wouldn’t be wearing a Pixie Winks hat.”
That still wasn’t the answer Amanda wanted to hear. The pixelated image of that mystery figure was clear in her head and the proportions could fit Tony Bishop. But then, wouldn’t Eve have reacted to him being in her building? He could have obscured his face from her, though, or have been wearing a disguise. She swallowed roughly, nerves making her tremble, but she pressed her lips into a tight smile. “Okay. Thank you for your time.” Amanda handed Ralph her business card, and she and Trent returned to the security office.
They found Mitch perched on the edge of his chair, tapping on the desk. “It will just be another sec— Oh, there we go.” He popped a USB data stick from his computer and paired it with a printout. “Got their face, but it’s shadowed and very hard to make out. I put the JPEG on the USB drive too.”
Amanda and Trent looked at the printed photo, and Mitch was right. The mystery figure might as well be a dark glob. “Did you see where they went or had come from?”
Mitch’s lips twitched, and he slowly shook his head. “It’s like they just appeared, then vanished.”
She thanked the security guy for his help, and she and Trent left his office.
“We’ll get this photo to Detective Briggs in Digital Crimes. See if he has any luck cleaning up the image,” she said.
“And then what?”
“No one here seems to recognize the mystery person. And Eve Kelley felt like someone was watching her. Whoever injected her with pentobarbital knew her morning routine, probably even familiarized themselves with camera placement. They knew how to reach her without being seen.”
“Also, how to get in and out. What do you propose for our next stop?”
“Eve grabbed a coffee at Caffeine Café every morning. We go there, ask around and see if anyone saw this person.” She was being rather optimistic, given the resolution of the photo, but hopefully they’d get lucky.