“We struck out with Doug Reynolds,” Eric said, as Dantzler came into the War Room. “He has an alibi and it’s solid.”
“Out of town?”
“Hospital. He went in for an emergency appendectomy on the day before the murders. Wasn’t released until three days later.”
“He was a long shot at best,” Dantzler said, sitting. “But it’s good to eliminate him as a suspect. Knowing for sure allows us to move forward.”
“Jack, are you still sold on all of this?” Eric asked. “I went back and checked the murder book and the trial transcript again last night. Went over it hard. And I have to tell you, I can’t find anything to contradict the verdict. The evidence says guilty.”
“You may be right, Eric. But…”
“You’re challenging work done by Charlie and Dan. Think about it. Those guys were good detectives. They didn’t botch things.”
“I can’t disagree with anything you’re saying,” Dantzler said. “But something isn’t right about this case. It smells. And I can’t walk away from a case that has a sour odor to it.”
Dantzler took the Doug Reynolds folder from Eric.
“Ask yourself this, Eric. Why would a guy warn me to keep away from a case that I hadn’t even begun looking into? He wouldn’t, unless there was a reason for him to be worried. And why would he worry if Eli is guilty? That’s one area that troubles me. Another is the fact that I caught Greg Spurlock in a series of lies. Why would he lie? What is he covering up? I need answers to those questions. The evidence, yeah, it points to Eli. But the circumstances of the crime do not. This was a professional hit, and I just cannot bring myself to believe Eli Whitehouse is a professional hit man.”
“Maybe not. But I can’t see a seventeen-year-old kid like Greg Spurlock as a professional hit man, either,” Eric said.
“Greg Spurlock didn’t kill anybody. But he knows more than he’s telling. That much I’m sure of.”
“Want me to check him out?”
Dantzler shook his head. “Milt is. Once he’s put everything together, I plan on having another chat with the good doctor. Only this time it won’t be at Paisano’s, he won’t be drinking wine, and I won’t be so nice.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“Go back to the obits and check the females. You don’t have to be so detailed this time around, though. Mainly, I want to know if any of them had criminal activity in their past.”
“You think the shooter could’ve been a woman?”
“Anything’s possible.”
“Those two guys were tied up, Jack. If the shooter was a woman, she had to have an accomplice. No way she could have done it all by herself.”
“Well, just look into the female obits, see if anything hinky pops up. If nothing does, then I’ll probably need to throw in the towel and walk away from the case, sour odor or not.”
“I’ll get on it first thing tomorrow.”
“Did I tell you what a terrific job you did gathering information on those obits?” Dantzler said, standing.
“If you did, I didn’t hear it.”
“It was excellent work, Eric. You went above and beyond on this job. I want you to know I really appreciate it.”
“And I’m sure you’ve read every word of my manuscript.”
“Gonna start on it tonight.”
“Yeah, right.”