White shirt, black-framed glasses, tall and lean.
Standing, he had to be around five-nine.
Exactly what the neighbor lady had described.
Bill flipped open the ID file Martha handed him.
"Percy Cobb, twenty-five, math grad student at Ashford University, currently interning at a tech company over in Ridgefield. What was your relationship to the victim?"
"Online friends."
"Just online friends?"
"Yes."
"Never met in person?"
"No."
Bill smiled.
"Then tell me this. Why, less than an hour after Elaine Fox died, did you call that phone?"
"Why is it that her mother didn't know that phone existed, but you did?"
"There was nothing on that phone. One backup account to stay in touch with you, and the chat history wiped clean."
The questions came one after another, but Percy didn't flinch.
"I don't know anything about Elaine's home life."
"As for the call this afternoon, Elaine told me to make it."
Bill's brow drew together.
"When?"
"Last night. She told me to dial that number today at exactly one o'clock."
"She also said that if the person who answered wasn't her, it meant she was already dead."
Bill went still for a beat and was about to press further when Percy cut him off.
"Officer, are Elaine's parents still at the station?"
Percy dropped his eyes and gave a small laugh.
"If I were you, I'd go stop them right now."
"The moment they leave this station, they're going to take the younger sister and get out of the city."
"They're probably already on the highway."
"Want to guess why they're running?"
Bill's expression shifted. He turned to Martha.
"Verify this. Now!"
Martha bolted out of the interview room.
Less than two minutes later, she shoved the door open and rushed back in.
"Captain, got it!"
"The car registered to Ina Dickerson hit the highway ten minutes ago!"
Bill dialed the mother's number at once.
It connected fast.
"Ms. Dickerson, the investigation isn't finished. Why are you leaving the city?"
There was a silence on the other end, then came Ina's voice, hoarse and worn out.
"Officer, my younger daughter has an appointment tomorrow with a cardiac surgery specialist in New York."
"We waited half a year for that slot."
"This fever set off her heart condition too. We can't put it off any longer."
"We've already lost one daughter. We can't lose the other one."
Bill's voice dropped low.
"And Elaine?"
"What about her arrangements?"
Silence again on the other end.
More than ten seconds passed before Ina spoke, slowly.
"Libby will help us. She's my neighbor, and my best friend."
"She watched Ellie grow up. She'll handle everything that comes after for us."
"Officer, I'm sorry."
"Once my younger one has been seen, we'll come straight back and cooperate with the investigation."
The line went dead.
The interview room fell quiet. Martha couldn't hold back.
"Captain, should we have highway patrol stop the car?"
Percy suddenly broke in.
"Officer."
"If you stop Elaine's parents, her sister misses this specialist appointment, and she very likely won't make it."
"But if you just let Elaine's parents go, the truth about her death will never come to light."
"So. Will you choose the living, or the dead?"
Bill's head snapped toward Percy.
"How do you know Elaine's parents were going to leave?"
"What else do you know?"
Percy only fell silent, staring straight at Bill, waiting for his answer.
"I'm not making that choice."
"I'll send people to bring Elaine's mother back, and we'll get Elaine's sister to the hospital ourselves."
"No one gets held up."
With that, Bill turned and headed for the door.
At the threshold, he stopped.
"One more thing."
He turned back.
Set Elaine's phone down on the table.
On the screen, that wallpaper of a whiskey bottle was jarring to look at.
"Why whiskey?"
"What does Elaine have to do with whiskey?"
Percy looked at the phone.
Said nothing for a long time.
In the end he only gave a slight shake of his head.
"It isn't time yet. You haven't found the most important thing."
"And what is the most important thing?"
Percy said nothing more.
I don't know either.
But I think Bill was close.
Bill left the interview room with his brow still furrowed.
Martha hurried after him, laptop in her arms.
"Captain, I've pulled all the security footage from around Elaine's building."
"Also, the department's pushing us. The case has already made it online. They want a statement out fast."
Bill nodded.
He lined up three clips side by side on the screen.
One from the stairwell camera.
One from the entrance of the complex.
The last, the indoor footage from the day of the celebration dinner.
He watched them through three full times.
Just as the fourth pass was about to start, his pupils suddenly contracted.
"Wait!"
"Martha, the bottom-right corner of the celebration footage. Zoom it in all the way!"
The moment he saw what was there, he shot to his feet.
"I know what happened!"
