Page 261 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

“Call Sam?”

“Emily.”

“She doesn’t want to hear from me.”

“Are you certain?”

“Unfortunately, I am.”

She sighed. “In that case, I’ll leave it alone.”

He stared at the road in front of him and nearly missed the turnoff leading to Parsons’ Automotive Repair.

Once they parked, he and Jamie made their way to the shop where a man Wade assumed was Lester lay on a creeper under a car. Not wanting to startle him, they waited patiently for him to come out.

About five minutes later he rolled out from under the car and tugged his earbuds out. “Sorry. I was listening to a podcast. I didn’t realize anyone was here.” Lester’s gaze ping-ponged between his workbench and the door. “I thought I’d finished with today’s appointments.”

“We don’t have an appointment.”

He grabbed a towel and wiped the grease off his hands. “What can I help you with?”

“We’re here about your missing girlfriend,” Wade said.

“I already told the detectives everything.” Lester looked around the room like he was searching for a means of escape. The man was guilty of something. Wade couldn’t say for sure Lester Parsons was a serial killer, but instinct told him not to trust anything the man said.

Two days later,Wade was watching interviews from Stacy McGuire’s missing persons investigation when Jamie waltzed into the office and handed him a cup of Wawa coffee.

He pushed the mug of nasty brew sitting on his desk away and took a long sip. “You’re a lifesaver.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s in the job description.”

She gestured to his screen. “Weren’t you going to wait to view those?”

“Her ex-husband wasn’t cooperative when I tried to schedule a time to interview him, so I figured I should check these out before I press the matter.”

She frowned. “He must have something to hide.”

“Or he’s sick of being railroaded,” Wade said.

“Could be.”

He reached for a report sitting in the bin on the corner of his desk. “According to this entomologist report, the insect activity on Lorraine Moore shows she’d been dead for less than twenty-four hours. It agrees with what the coroner had to say. If she was abducted the day she left for her flight, then he held her for a week before killing her."

“That’s disturbing. I don’t want to think about what she suffered in the week he held her captive.” She handed him a sheet of paper. “DNA report.”

He read the name on it. Judge Van Britton.

Jamie sank into the chair beside his desk. “Not unexpected.”

He stood and stretched. Another road trip to notify next of kin was in order. It was a part of the job he’d never grown accustomed to, but it was becoming a far more frequent task onthis case. “There are no local police in Lausanne Township, so we’ll be making the notification.”

“We’d want to be on scene, anyway, wouldn’t we?” Jamie asked.

“I suppose. It’s helpful to see the reactions of family. They can be telling.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “And when at their most vulnerable, people reveal details they might not otherwise share.”

“Exactly.” Jamie stood. “I’m driving.”

“In your dreams.” He stalked past her and headed for his government-issued Crown Vic.

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