“No, they don’t.” She frowned, then asked, “I’m surprised a woman visited him.”
“Actually, she visits on a weekly basis,” Griff said. “I’m wondering if they’re romantically involved in some way.”
Romantically involved? She stared at Grady. “I hope they are. Maybe that’s an indication he’s moved on.”
“Or he’s charmed this Karla into helping him,” Grady said, deflating her balloon of hope. “Have you run their backgrounds?”
“Yes, neither of them has a criminal background. That doesn’t rule them out as being involved, though,” Griff hastily added. “I think they bear looking into.”
Lauren sat back in her chair, her mind whirling. Was it possible Karla and Eric were working together in this kidnapping plan? If so, she hoped they were found and arrested very soon.
Before Nelson was released from jail.
8
For Lauren’s sake, Grady hoped Nelson was romantically involved with this Karla woman. Deep down, he couldn’t help but wonder if Nelson was manipulating the woman. Maybe pretending to care so that she would help him orchestrate these attempts to kidnap Lucy.
Eric Howington could easily be involved too.
“Do you know if Eric Howington was in Nelson’s fraternity at Loyola?” He held Lauren’s gaze. “We know Nelson’s dead friend, Bobby Morton, went to college with him.”
“Hang on, I’ll check.” He could hear Griff typing on a computer. “No, it doesn’t look like Howington was part of a fraternity.”
Grady turned to Lauren. “Any idea how Eric and Nelson may have met?”
She shook her head, her expression troubled. “I’m sorry, but I have no idea. If Eric isn’t a friend from college, maybe from work?”
“Griff, can you get us a list of all the members of the Delta Sigma Chi fraternity? Nelson Derringer was a member, and we’d like to see who else might be involved.”
“Makes sense. I’ll ask Dom to get the list for us,” Griff agreed. “I don’t see anything that indicates Howington and Nelson worked together, though.”
Grady frowned. “That’s odd. It takes a dedicated friend to visit someone in jail. Usually people distance themselves from that sort of thing.”
“I agree,” Griff said. “Eric visited him twice in the past month.”
Grady could tell Lauren thought Eric was involved in the attacks. “Okay, thanks. What else do we know about Karla Dalton? Maybe the local cops should interview her.”
“I don’t know much yet, but interviewing her is a good idea. I’d almost rather the FBI took the lead on that, though,” Griff said. “Nothing against the Chicago PD, but we wouldn’t want to tip our hand on our suspicions.”
“Could Eric and Kayla be working together somehow?” Lauren asked. “I mean, maybe Eric is the gunman, and Karla is the driver.”
“Anything is possible, but without proof, all we can do is talk to them,” Griff said. “Do you want me to touch base with Agent Braun?”
“We can do that.” Grady felt bad dragging Griff into the investigation. “I don’t want you to get in trouble for this.”
“I’m just helping a friend,” Griff said lightly. “There’s only so much investigating I can do from Wyoming.”
“True.” He shrugged and looked at Lauren. “Do you have any other questions for Griff?”
“This is going to sound weird, but do you have a picture of Karla?” Lauren flushed. “Maybe I’ll recognize her.”
“Good point.” Griff tapped the keyboard again. “Okay, I’m sending photos of both Eric Howington and Karla Dalton.”
Grady pulled up his email address and waited for the pictures to load. Karla’s came up first. He turned the laptop so Lauren could see the screen. The woman was pretty enough, but nothing special. Not nearly as beautiful as Lauren.
Lauren stared at the photo for several long seconds. Then she sighed and shook her head. “I don’t recognize her.”
“Okay, let’s try Eric.” He double-tapped the mouse pad to bring up the second image. Eric looked a little rough around the edges; there was a hardness to the guy’s eyes that gave Grady the sense he’d done some bad things. Considering his criminal record was clean, either the guy was just having a rough day or he’d been smart enough to avoid being caught.
