Panic filled her eyes. "You mean he could have been taking jewelry off dead girls, then giving it to me as a gift?”
"That could be one pattern of behavior," I said. "It would allow him to relive the crime every time he saw you wear a particular piece of jewelry. An earring, a necklace. Who knows? It's just a theory.”
She shivered again. "Great. I'm gonna have to throw out my entire jewelry collection.” She paused as she thought about it for a moment. "Ray was always gone at odd hours. With the AC repair company, he had a legitimate excuse. There's no telling how many calls he supposedly went on when he was doing something unspeakable."
"At this time, we haven't been able to definitively connect him to any crimes in the area, but we’ll see if there's any connection to any of the unsolved cases." I asked her about the night that Abigail was murdered.
Dana thought about it for a moment. "That was just a few days ago, right?”
I nodded.
"I believe he did service calls on both of those nights.”
JD and I shared a look.
"Do you remember what time?”
"I think he went out on a call late one night. It was probably around midnight. Like I said, Ray would help anybody anytime, day or night." Her brow wrinkled. "That's what makes it so hard to fathom. I just can't reconcile the two behaviors.”
"How long was Ray out the night of Abigail’s murder?”
She took a deep breath and thought about it. "You know, he was gone all night. I was up early the next morning and leftto go visit my sister in Miami. I spent the night there and came back the next day. So he could have been gone for quite some time.”
I shared another look with Jack, then pulled up the photo of Abigail's assailant on my phone and showed it to Dana. "You think that could be Ray.”
She studied the image for a moment. "Ray doesn't have a motorcycle. Not as far as I know.”
It was possible that Ray had a motorcycle stashed somewhere else. It wouldn’t be hard to rent a garage or parking space somewhere.
"I don't recognize the clothes or the helmet," Dana said. Then she admitted, “I guess that could be him.”
I told her the MO of Abigail‘s murder was similar to that of the victims in Pineapple Bay 15 years ago.
Dana had a lot of questions. I didn't have any solid answers for her.
“I need to do some research on the prior cases. I'd like to come back and search the premises for any souvenirs he may have kept.”
The thought disgusted her, but she nodded in agreement.
"I'm sorry. I know this is not easy news to hear.”
"No. It's not at all." She paused. "Do you think it's possible somebody found out who he was, and that's why he was killed? Some type of revenge killing?”
"I think that's a very good possibility.”
Dana frowned. “I'm not sure how I feel about that. Maybe they did the right thing. Maybe they were doing the world a favor. Maybe they saved some innocent girl from a horrible fate."
I thanked her for her cooperation once again, then JD and I left and walked back to the van. Our next stop was to reinterview Wade. It was unlikely, but maybe Ray had confided in him. But that's not the kind of thing that you casually share over a few beers.
27
“No,” Wade said when we caught up with him on his boat. “There’s no way.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, but Ray Coleman is Ray Corbin,” I said. “That’s what’s in the system.”
“The system is wrong.” Wade was adamant. “Why didn’t that come out before now?” He shook his head. “No. It’s some kind of mistake. Why just now, after his death?”
“I don’t know.”
