Sundae dug through the tub of mail. Connor stood and dumped it on the floor. Sundae carefully sniffed through all the letters. When she couldn’t get to what she wanted, she started digging through the mail on the floor.
“Careful, she’ll have a hole through to the second floor,” Kate laughed.
When Sundae stopped, she used her paw to pull one envelope away from all the other mail on the floor. Then she howled. Connor and Kate looked at each other. Kate shrugged. Connor retrieved his gloves and opened the letter.
“What’s it say?” Kate asked. Walking around her desk, she saw a note comprised of letters cut from a magazine and glued to a plain sheet of paper. Both Connor and Kate read the letter, which said that Brad Hopper had purchased a 9mm from a Lakewood gun show. The letter went on to state the date that the gun had been purchased.
Connor held the letter in his gloved hand and looked at Kate. “Sundae goes crazy over things like this, but if she and Brad Hopper are in the same room, she couldn’t care less,” Connor said, deep in thought.
“Maybe he isn’t her type of guy,” Kate joked. She laughed.
“No,” Connor said. “I wonder if we’re looking at the wrong guy.”
Chapter 14
Everyone knew Mary Lincoln and John Edwards had been dating for six months. What no one knew was that Mary and John had sneaked out that night. Long after his parents had gone to bed, John sent a text to Mary, asking if she was ready. John pulled on his blue jeans and tucked in his shirt. He then removed a box from the top drawer of his bedside table. The screen on his phone lit up with a one-word response from Mary. Yes.
John picked up Mary and pulled his old, black, half-ton pickup truck off a curve on Highway 10. He turned off the headlights, then turned the ignition over to auxiliary with the radio on. The night was perfect. A light swish of almost-transparent clouds perched in the sky, while stars twinkled high above and through the clouds.
For months, John had saved up for the tiny box in his front pocket. He couldn’t wait to pop the big question and see Mary’s face when she saw the ring. He knew he still had to ask Mary’s parents, but this way he would know Mary’s answer ahead of time. He would be enlisting in the Air Force in a few months and he just couldn’t leave Mary without her answer.
His plan was to ask her to get out of the truck so he could get down on one knee and propose. John reached for the chrome door handle, then stopped as they saw a car slowly pull off the highway. The driver turned off the headlights and slowly crept through the brush before stopping. Through the moonlight, they could clearly see that the vehicle had no emergency lights on top of it, so it wasn’t a cop. Who was it?
“Lock the doors,” Mary said in a hushed voice.
John hit the door locks and turned off the radio. They sat, almost paralyzed with fear. A man got out of the car and walked to its back. When the trunk light came on, John and Mary watched him unload two large black plastic bags and drag them into the brush. Quickly, the man shut the trunk and got back into his car. Without the aid of headlights, he pulled the car onto the highway. Only then did the headlights come on.
“Did he dump a body?” Mary’s voice shook as she spoke.
“I don’t know,” John said, trying to curb the shaking in his voice. “Should we go see what he dumped?”
“No! We don’t want our fingerprints on whatever it is. Besides, we aren’t even supposed to be out here. I want to go home, John. Just take me home, now!”
“Shouldn’t we at least call the police?” John asked, forgetting about the ring in his pocket.
“John, I want to go home. If you want to call them later, that’s up to you. My parents would be so mad if they learned we were out at this hour.”
John started the truck and pulled back onto the highway, careful not to take the same path as the car.
“John, don’t call the cops. What if this is something and he comes after you or me? Please,” Mary pleaded with John.
John pulled his truck to a stop two houses from where Mary lived. They kissed goodnight and she ran to the house.
Once she was inside, John sat there and wondered what he should do about what they had just witnessed. Maybe it was nothing, he reasoned with himself. Lots of people dump things along the highway. But this wasn’t along the highway. The guy purposely drove off the highway and into the bushes, then dumped the bags away from the path.
Mary’s words replayed in his head. What if the guy came after them if this was, in fact, something illegal they had witnessed? John’s father always complained about how criminals were always let back onto the streets. Maybe Mary was right.
Chapter 15
At this point in the investigation, the Lakewood Police Department and the County of Natick had chased down more than 2,000 leads and tips. Some had come from local sources, while others from as far away as Canada. One had come from England. The Lakewood Police Department had set up a hotline and hired extra help to filter leads and open mail related to the Hampton case.
One latent fingerprint had been found on Brad Hopper’s photo ID card, which had been retrieved from the field along the highway. Investigators had run the print through their local base, which was a database of fingerprints. The local base files were broken down into several sections. One section contained the prints of convicted felons. Another section contained unidentified prints found at crime scenes. The last section contained prints taken for work purposes and included the prints of law enforcement, military, security, or bank employees. When nothing came back on the fingerprint, it was sent for comparison to the state base file, which was much larger. Still, no match was found. The print was then sent to the FBI’s database. Once again, nothing was on file. This meant the person to whom the print belonged had never committed a crime, been arrested, or had their prints filed for a work-related reason. Connor knew all too well that an item found in a field could have been handled by someone who had left a print but had nothing to do with the Hampton case.
Ellie had been questioned more than 12 times, and her story never changed. The same went for Sam and Kim Peters. Several others had been questioned as well, including Bud’s supervisor Pam James at the hospital, and Jeff Gilberts, an ex-boyfriend of Ellie’s.
In her report, Beth Ellis, the psychologist who created the killer’s profile, said she felt the killer was very close to either the victim or Ellie Peters. Beth believed the killer was male and that his act of killing had been methodical and well-planned. Further, the fact that the killer had shot the victim at such a close range could only mean that the act was one of deep-rooted anger. Beth felt strongly that at one time the killer had believed he had no control and that somehow the victim did. The killer’s actions on the night of the murder were a means of taking back control and redeeming himself.
The ME’s report revealed that the victim’s system had been clear of prescribed or illegal drugs. Nor did the victim have alcohol in his system.
“I feel like a dog chasing my tail. No offense, Sundae,” Connor said.
Kate saw that Connor’s frustration was mounting. She herself felt frustrated by the endless leads that turned out to be nothing at all.
“Don’t forget, we need to run by the gun store at 10,” Kate said.
At 9:15 the phone rang on Connor’s desk. “Maxwell,” Connor said, answering it.
It was Ellie. Connor put the phone on speaker so Kate could hear the conversation.
“Detective Maxwell, you had asked me if anything was missing the night…Bud was…ah,” Ellie couldn’t finish her sentence.
“Yes,” Connor replied.
“Well, Mr. and Mrs. Hampton and I have been cleaning up the house.” Ellie hesitated; the line went silent for a few seconds. “Well…ah…I had a professional photo made of myself for Bud about a month before his…” Her voice stopped again. She simply could not bring herself to say the word “murder”. “Anyway, I had a five-by-seven made of it and had it framed for Bud.”
“And?” Connor aske
d.
“The photo always sat in the den on the end table….”
“Yes?”
“It’s missing,” Ellie said, her voice quivering.
Kate quickly retrieved the crime scene photos from the Hampton file and rifled through them. The photos had been taken only hours after the murder. As was customary, the CIS team member had photographed each room from every angle. Sure enough, the only end table in the den was empty of a framed photo. The table bore only a ceramic lamp and a TV remote. Kate quickly passed the photo to Connor.
“You just now noticed that it was missing?” asked Connor.
“This is the first time I’ve gone back to the house. I couldn’t even…” Ellie hesitated midsentence. “I…was helping the Hamptons clean out Bud’s things.”
On his tablet, Connor jotted down what Ellie had said. “Anything else missing?” he inquired.
“No, but why would someone take a photo of me?”
“I don’t know, Ms. Peters.”
Ellie burst into tears. In the background, they could hear her young daughter, Kim, telling her, “Don’t cry, Mommy.”
“Ellie…Ms. Peters, are you still there?” Connor asked.
“Yes.” Ellie’s voice was shaky.
“We’re working on the case. As soon as we know something…”
Ellie hung up, cutting Connor short.
Kate and Connor sat for a minute, digesting this new information.
“A photo?” Kate looked over at Connor.
“A photo has no value to anyone except the person who wants it,” Connor said. “You sure you don’t see it, maybe on another table or on the floor?”
Kate carefully looked through the crime scene photos again, then shook her head no. “Did you happen to see her photo in Brad’s office or home?” Kate asked.
“I really don’t think he’d be stupid enough to have a photo of his ex-girlfriend sitting in plain sight at his home or office with a fiancée around now,” Connor said. “However, killers do keep trophies. Maybe he has it hidden away where only he can see it.”
“True,” Kate said.
Connor stood and locked up his and
Kate’s files. “Let’s go to the gun store and see if we can finally arrest Brad.”
Just then the phone rang.
“Maxwell.”
“Detective, this is Mr. Hampton. Do you have a minute?”
Connor sat back down in his desk chair. “Sure. You had mentioned that you or your wife thought of something.”
Mr. Hampton cleared his throat. “A few months ago, Bud mentioned that shortly after he began dating Ellie, an ex-boyfriend of hers had started working at the hospital.” Mr. Hampton hesitated. “In the same department as Bud.”
“Was it Brad Hopper?”
“Hopper? No. His name was Jeff
Gilbert.”
Connor motioned for Kate to sit down. “Did your son mention anything else about Jeff?”
“No, just that he worked there and it seemed sort of strange given that Bud and Ellie were now living together. Bud said that Jeff didn’t last long. He thought Jeff was fired a few months after he had been hired.”
“Did Bud know why Jeff had been fired?”
“No. One day he just didn’t show up to work.”
Connor drove toward the outskirts of Lakewood. Kate looked out the window as rain dripped down the glass. She listened to the hypnotic rhythm of the windshield wipers. Lakewood had been unseasonably wet that year. The dampness made the temperature feel colder than normal for late January.
“So, what was your first homicide?” Kate asked, turning to look at Connor.
“A guy held up a liquor store… Killed the owner for five dollars in the register and a bottle of whiskey.”
“Did you get him?”
“Finally. His cellmate mentioned that this guy was bragging about doing a guy in. Plus, he wanted to cut a deal for less time,” Connor said. “When we questioned him, he knew only things the killer could have known. I had refused to release those details to the reporters.”
“You still don’t,” Kate said. “It’s not like on TV, where they solve a crime in an hour-long episode, is it?”
“No, not at all. I guess I just wanted to make a difference and help people,” Connor said.
“Not to change the subject, but do you think Brad and Jeff could be in this together?”
“I guess anything is possible, like Beth said...but why? That’s the question I have to ask myself.”
Connor thought about Kate’s question as he turned on his signal and exited the highway to State Road 6. When the car slowed, Sundae stood and looked out the rain-soaked windows.
“By the way, did you know the guys back at the PD nicknamed you ‘Charlie Brown’?” Kate asked.
“Let me guess. Because I have a beagle, right?” Connor said.
Chapter 16
A bell rang as Kate, Connor, and Sundae entered the Ready Aim Gun Store through the heavy, metal, four-panel door. The rustic building was located on the outskirts of Lakewood, just inside the county line. In fact, for years an ongoing debate had questioned whether this particular address was in the City of Lakewood or on County Road 6, making it under the jurisdiction of the county rather than the city.
Kate looked at the moose head mounted on the far wall behind the handgun counter. It was accompanied by an antelope, a deer, a wild turkey, and a brightly colored pheasant. After a few more steps into the gun shop, Sundae abruptly stopped. The fur on her back stood as she emitted a low growl from deep in her throat. She was eyeing an adult stuffed bear on its hind legs, teeth bared, just to her right.
“Release, Sundae,” Connor said sternly.
Sundae released but never took her eyes off the bear. Whatever the taxidermist had – or hadn’t – done, Sundae still smelled the danger from this beast. She knew it was no cartoon bear like the red one on the Charmin commercials that aired on TV. To Sundae, there was nothing funny about that big black bear. She tucked herself between Connor and Kate, then looked over her shoulder every few seconds to check on the bear’s whereabouts.
Neither the gun shop’s address nor its standing or mounted dead animals was the reason why the detectives were there that day.
While Connor already knew that no security cameras were on the premises, the store’s owner had told Connor that he would gladly obtain records from the gun show and pass them along. However, the police department had not yet received them. The fact was, the investigators had found the gun show flyer and ticket in Brad Hopper’s home office. Plus, they had received the letter stating that Brad Hopper had purchased a 9mm Glock at the gun show. Brad Hopper was still a person of interest in the Hampton case.
At first glance, the gun store appeared to be empty at this early hour with the exception of a clerk who stood behind the counter on the far wall.
“May I help you?” asked the man. With his white beard, he resembled a Civil War general.
“Detective Maxwell and my partner, Detective Stroup.” Connor showed his shield.
“What can I do for you detectives?” The clerk smiled as he inspected the gold shields and IDs.
“We have reason to believe that on August 12, your store, or one of your vendors, sold a 9mm Glock to a man by the name of Brad Hopper. We believe this gun may have been used in a murder,” Connor said.
“August 12,” the clerk repeated. “Ah yes, August 12 was during last summer’s gun show. Several vendors exhibited their guns that day, so we had a large booth.”
“Did you by any chance sell a 9mm Glock to a Mr. Brad Hopper?”
Without a word, the clerk turned and walked into a small office behind the counter. He returned with a record book, which he set on the counter. With his index finger, he traced down the lines of each registered sale.
“Don’t you use a computer for this sort of thing?” Kate asked.
“Sweetie, we use both. I prefer to use the good old-fashioned way, myself. Don’t trust those new-fangled th
ings. If it was up to my business partner here, he would use only the computer.”
The clerk reached the date of August 12 and stopped. He turned the book around for both detectives to see.
“No Brad Hopper listed for any gun whatsoever. However, we did have several vendors displaying their guns. One of them could have sold the Glock to the gentleman.”
Connor felt Sundae pressing into his lower right leg. Looking down, he noticed she had not taken her eyes off the black bear behind them. “Would you have a list of all the vendors, by any chance?” Connor asked.
“We do. In fact, let me make you a copy.” The clerk tucked the book under his arm and returned to the office.
Kate looked at Sundae and bent down to her. “Are you worried about that big, bad bear?” She stroked Sundae’s long ears, then stood when she heard the sound of the copy machine.
“I looked just in case your theory was right. No gun was sold to Ellie Peters either,” Connor said.
“Here we go, detectives,” said the clerk as he emerged from the office, then handed them each a copy of the vendor list.
Connor and Kate looked over the list. It contained each vendor’s name along with his or her contact information. “Thank you. You’ve been very helpful,” Connor said.
That afternoon, Connor and Kate called on each of the vendors. Some of them were more than happy to help. Others complained, stating that the Second Amendment protected them.
Kate and Connor had to remind these vendors that this was a homicide investigation and if they did not want to cooperate, the police could subpoena all their records. At that point, the vendors were more than happy to produce the requested records for the day of the gun show.
Eventually, the detectives were down to the last vendor. Their hopes had been dashed, as so far no vendors had sold a weapon to Brad Hopper.
In a Split Second Page 5
