Page 27 of Dead Man's List

“No. It’s about that wrap we did for Norton Landscaping. Please, Detectives. Sit down.” She left the room for a moment, returning with her laptop. She sat in a recliner, and Bran perched on the arm. “There has to be some mistake,” she said as she typed. “David Norton and I have been doing business for years.”

“Was this a new design?” Connor asked.

Bran nodded. “It was. He emailed me about it.”

“Did either of you talk to him?” Kit asked.

Jennifer shook her head. “Not recently. Bran set up online ordering and it’s made dealing with customers so much easier.”

“Everything’s in writing and the designs are approved online,” Bran explained. “Much less stressful than dealing with them face-to-face or on the phone. David approved this design himself. It was for a much larger trailer, so everything had to be resized.”

“Did you see David Norton when he picked up the finished trailer?” Connor asked.

Another shake of Jennifer’s head. “I didn’t.”

“Ask Shelley,” Bran said quietly.

Jennifer shot Bran a glare. “She’s not answering my calls or texts. You know that.”

Bran sighed. “I know. But I was hoping that she might be back from wherever she went by now.”

Jennifer pointed to her screen. “I don’t have to call her. There are special instructions on this order. He dropped off the trailer the night before we were due to start. It was picked up the same way—after hours. He was to call the office with his credit card to pay the balance before he picked it up since we’d be closed.” Her mouth fell open. “Wait a minute. He never paid for the wrap. Sonofabitch. Norton always pays his bills at the time of pickup.”

Bran made a frustrated sound. “That email address is one letter off his normal.”

Jennifer gasped softly. “You’re right.” She met Kit’s eyes. “Were we cheated?”

“We don’t know,” Kit said. “When was it dropped off and picked up?”

“Dropped off on Monday after hours and picked up Tuesday, also after hours. We never do pickups after hours unless the client has paid in full in advance. I need to talk to Shelley, becauseIdidn’t authorize this. Norton is a good client, but I never would have let him take the finished trailer without paying for it.”

Sam believed her. It looked like Kit did, too.

“Miss Porter, wait,” Kit said when the woman started to dial a number on her cell phone. “Tell me about Shelley. How well do you know her?”

“She’s my sister’s kid,” Jennifer said, visibly upset. “She’s nineteen and kind of a screw-up, but she’s really trying to get her life back on track. She’s an addict but she went to rehab and she’s been clean.”

“For two weeks,” Bran muttered.

Jennifer gave him a warning glare. “I gave Shelley a job several months ago. Before she went into rehab. She did steal some money before rehab, but she’s been okay since she came back. I don’t know what happened here.”

“Don’t call her yet,” Connor said. “We’ll get to the bottom of this. Where does she live?”

Sam didn’t have a good feeling about Jennifer’s niece. From the look in Connor’s eyes, neither did he.

“Fifteen minutes away, with my sister. But I haven’t seen her since Tuesday afternoon. She sent me a text on Tuesday night, said she was taking off the rest of the week. That she’d be back on Monday. I wasn’t happy about it, but there wasn’t anything I could do. She never answered my calls or texts. I’m going to read her the riot act when she comes in tomorrow. But if she met the guy who ordered that wrap…You said he killed someone?”

“We don’t know for sure,” Connor said. “But it looks like it.”

Jennifer wrung her hands. “If he hurt her…”

“Give us her address and we’ll go check on her,” Kit promised.

Jennifer’s chin lifted. “I’m going to follow you in my car. Bran?”

“You know I’ll come with you. Let me put away the eggs and we can go.”

Kit wanted to argue with them. Sam could almost see the words she wanted to say. But in the end, she only nodded. “Of course.”

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