“Okay. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
Katie left the room and Cisco decided to stay with her, padding along behind. She cleaned up the kitchen, took out the trash, and spent a few moments with Cisco. She knew she needed to go to bed, but she was curious about some of the paperwork. Maybe she would find something useful to their investigation.
She walked through the house, turning off the lights and double-checking the doors. Grabbing the files of interest and her laptop, she went to her bedroom and shut the door. Cisco jumped into his favorite comfortable chair in the corner, disinterested in what Katie was looking at. She read the pages from the banks and letters that had been sent to owners of the various properties Trey Roberts had collected information on. The ones from decades ago seemed to be informing owners they were going into foreclosure or letting them know they could refinance.
After a while, all the letters began to look the same. Katie did find out about a couple of finance and appraisal companies. She opened her computer and began searching. The companies were mostly still in business and one had changed name. She continued searching and found various connections to Crowne & Miller Construction LLC and East California Demolitionand Construction. She looked up and pondered that for a moment. Was the construction company the link that joined everything? It couldn’t be that easy, could it? She accessed a list of its previous projects and upcoming ones. They had never worked for the county before. It looked to Katie, as she read through more paperwork and lists on the computer, that there were several companies that had bid for the job, but Crowne won.
Katie could hardly keep her eyes open. She closed her computer and put the files with her notes on her side table. She would continue in the morning. McGaven was better at finding names and connections on the computer than she was.
“Night, Cisco,” she said.
The dog was already snoring and having puppy dreams.
Katie fell into a deep sleep. Even though she was comfortable and nestled in her blankets, she still tossed and turned and even made soft noises. The images that flashed in her dreams as abstract messages and warnings kept her uneasy. Quick flashes of faces known, unknown, and ones pertaining to the investigation seemed to be warning her. Blood was on their faces. Men, women, and children. There were four little boys that stood next to each other as if in alliance. When one of them turned to face Katie, he had blood on his face as he nodded slowly, giving her a secret message…
The sound of her cell phone brought her out of her sleep and she sat straight up in bed. Taking a moment to acclimate to her surroundings, she answered the cell.
“Scott,” she said with a gravelly voice.
“Hey, sleepy head.”
“Gav?”
“Yep.”
“What’s wrong?”
“It’s maybe what’s right. Officer Andrews called me and said Grant went to a warehouse on the east side and he thinksJunior was there. We need to relieve Andrews and get a tail on Junior.”
Katie was now wide awake and getting out of bed, making a groaning sound.
“I’m on my way to pick you up.”
“Good.”
“You all right?” he said.
“You bet. See you in ten.” She ended the call.
It was a good lead and they needed to identify Junior and follow him. They definitely didn’t want to let him know they’d found him. If he spooked and bolted, they might lose their only chance at solving the remaining murders.
FORTY-SEVEN
Wednesday 0135 hours
McGaven drove into Katie’s driveway exactly ten minutes later. Katie locked the door and walked to McGaven’s black truck. She was definitely more fully awake and was looking forward to finding Junior before he went back into hiding or killed someone else. He didn’t seem to have a moral compass on killing people. She climbed into the truck and shut the door. McGaven backed down the driveway and headed toward the warehouse location.
“You look more awake than you sounded,” said McGaven.
“I was in a deep sleep when you rang. What did you expect? I got ready in ten minutes.”
McGaven laughed.
“Where are we meeting Andrews?” she asked.
“Gas station a block from the location.”
