“Ten minutes, maybe.”
“Okay, that’s all I wanted to know.”
“You were thinking Jimmy might have offed Bruno?”
“I just wanted to eliminate the possibility, and the time line does that. Oh, who found the panties and the vaccination gun?”
“Hurd. I didn’t want to go into Bruno’s bedroom, so he and Jimmy were searching it. Hurd called me in to witness the evidence find.”
“That clears up my questions, then. Thanks, Lauren.”
“Bye-bye, Holly. See you Saturday.”
“Hang on a second, Lauren.” Holly turned to Josh. “Lauren has invited us to dinner at her boyfriend’s house on Saturday night. You available?”
“I’ll have to switch a shift, but that shouldn’t be a problem.”
“Lauren, we’re good for dinner. You said seven thirty?”
“Yep. I’ll give you the address.”
Holly wrote it down. “And Jack’s last name?”
“Smithson.”
“See you Saturday at seven thirty.” Holly hung up.
“You look happier,” Josh said.
“Lauren had the right answers to my questions.”
“I heard the questions; what did the answers prove?”
“That Jimmy Weathers couldn’t have killed Bruno.” She explained the time line and the details of Jimmy’s finding Bruno’s body.
“Jimmy’s the cop I met at the hospital, right?”
“Right.”
“And you thought Jimmy might have killed Bruno?”
“Not really. I was just covering all the bases, eliminating Jimmy as a suspect; it’s how cops think.”
“Interesting,” Josh said. “Jimmy didn’t have time to kill him and forge a suicide note.”
“That’s it.”
“But…”
“But what?”
“He had time to hide the panties and the vaccination gun, didn’t he?”
“You’re thinking that Jimmy could have murdered the women?”
“Can you eliminate him as a suspect in the women’s murders?”
“I see your point,” Holly said, “but something else eliminates him as a suspect in those crimes.”