Page 53 of Evidence of a Folktale

“Sure,” he said. “Any luck finding Chayce? Gold called right before you. Neither the hotel nor the motel has a record of him staying with them. They’re sending over their security footage for us to review, though, just in case.”

“That sucks,” Bel said. “And no. No luck finding Chayce here.”

Griffin cursed. “All right, I’ll get you those phone records.”

“Thanks.” She hung up and dialed Officer Rollo.

“Detective?” he answered on the third ring.

“I have a question,” she said. “You were stationed outside Bajka Bed-and-Breakfast last night.”

“I was.”

“What did Ellery Roja say to you?”

“What do you mean?” he asked.

“Last night, she left at 11:54 p.m., paused at your squad car, and then walked down the street.”

“Wait…” he trailed off. “That was the victim? That woman was so bundled up, I didn’t recognize her. I assumed it was someone’s assistant because she yelled something about chips at me.”

“Chips?”

“I think that’s what she said. She was on the phone, so I figured an actor had sent their assistant out for a midnight snack.”

“Chips…” Bel faced the street Roja had walked down before she disappeared from the camera’s view. “The twenty-four-hour mini-mart,” she said, understanding dawning on her. “It’s a short walking distance from the B and B, so she bundled up to buy snacks. She probably saw your squad car and figured she should explain herself.”

“I should’ve offered to drive her, but I wasn’t supposed to leave the parking lot. My shift ended at midnight, but I chatted with Yates when he relieved me for a bit. When I left, I didn’t see her walking back, but I admit, after working a double, I was just trying to stay awake to drive home. Was I the last person to see her alive?”

“Maybe. Unless she made it to the mini-mart.”

“Do you want me to stop by and check?”

“Thanks, but I’m already halfway there. At least we have a map of Roja’s movements before she died.”

“I feel bad didn’t recognize her.”

“Don’t be,” Bel said. “I only knew who she was because Griffin and I just interviewed her. We can’t follow everyone everywhere. We’re already stretched too thin.”

“You can say that again. Well, if you need my help, just call.”

“Will do. I’ll talk to you later.” She hung up and wrapped her arms around herself to ward off the cold as she jogged the rest of the way to the store. It was a quick walk, and the shop’s owner was in his office when she arrived. He confirmed that Ellery Roja had indeed stopped by, and like the bed-and-breakfast, the mart had an in-house security system. The owner played her midnight shopping spree for Bel, but it offered little insight into the designer’s last movements. A few minutes after she left Bajka’s Bed-and-Breakfast, Roja walked into the mini-mart, still on the phone. She didn’t seem under duress or upset as she grabbed an armful of chips, soda, and miscellaneous snacks, and then she hung up her call to pay with cash. She then left the building, having been there for all of six minutes, and vanished from the surveillance’s sight, not to be seen again until the following morning, naked and gutted on Eamon’s property.

“When the judgelearned who the victims were, we received the warrants and records so fast that I almost suffered whiplash,” Griffin said when Bel arrived at the station. “We reviewed Rossa’s and Roja’s calls for their last few days. We also had both victim’s assistants confirm phone numbers, but we found nothing.”

“What do you mean?” Bel asked. She’d finally returned from the mini-mart to update her boss, and it seemed they both had much yet so little to share.

“No random numbers called or texted either victim. So, I think it’s safe to say, the killer didn’t use a phone call to lure them into the woods,” Griffin said. “The records confirmed Roja was on the phone at midnight, but it was business. Something about last-minute fabric requests. I don’t understand the technicalities, but we verified with the caller. They’re her supplier, so it wasn’t a threat. Seems she really left the bed-and-breakfast for snacks. I don’t know, could we be looking at crimes of opportunity? What if Rossa and Roja weren’t the targets? They were just the only crew members the killer found unattended?”

Bel cursed. “That’s possible. She had her phone with her at the mart. I saw it on the security footage, but all her belongings, cell included, were missing from the crime scene. The killer probably dumped them… or maybe he was stupid enough to keep it.”

“One can hope.”

“Can the phone company tell us where their phones last pinged the cell towers?”

“In town,” Griffin said. “Nowhere near the Reale Estate, though. The phone company believes both devices have been powered down.”

Bel cursed again. “I doubt the killer kept them then. If he knew to turn them off far away from his killing grounds, he knew not to keep evidence. He probably dumped them, and my guess is far from both the crime scenes and their last cell pings. Those locations would be too obvious.”

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