Page 269 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

“Yep.” She clicked something and the printer coughed out a page with his profile.

“His name came up on Monday, too. He’s been driving out to Boulder Field and was noticed by one of the rangers on several occasions.”

“I think it’s time we made a return visit to Lester, don’t you?” She grabbed his keys from off his desk. “I’ll return these when we get back. We’re taking my car.” He reached for his keys, but she dropped them into her purse. “Deal with it, Wade.”

He followed her out to the parking lot and climbed into the passenger seat. “It’s unnatural for me to be a passenger.”

“Tough stuff, buddy.” She grinned. “It’s my turn to drive.”

She sped out of the lot, and he held onto the dash for stability while his lead-foot partner drove them to Parsons’ Automotive Repair in record time.

The sign in the front window claimed they were open, but the garage was locked up tight with no sign of Parsons.

Jamie took her keys out of her pocket on the way back to the car, and he snatched them. “I’m driving.”

“It’s my car,” Jamie said.

“You nearly gave me a heart attack with your driving. I’m never getting in a car with you driving again.”

“Whatever. You drive like an old lady, but I suppose I can tolerate your driving until we get back to the station.”

“We’re not going back to the station.”

“Where are we going?”

“Lester’s house.” He grinned. “Would you look up the address? I think we should pay him a visit at home.”

Fourteen minutes later, they pulled up outside his house in Tresckow. Jamie scrunched up her face. “This double-block house is his.” The rundown house looked more like a drug den than a home.

“You know, Jamie, everywhere else in the world they call them twin homes. I’ll never understand why they’re called double-blocks around here.”

She laughed. “We like making up our own names for things around these parts.”

He chuckled.

The two walked side by side, keeping an eye on the overly interested neighbors. Wade knocked on the front door. They waited a minute, but nobody answered. Jamie peered in the front window. “It doesn’t look like anybody is here, but let’s check the back before we go.”

He nodded his agreement.

After knocking on the back door and looking in a few more windows, they returned to the car and headed back to the station. It was doubtful a judge would give them a warrant, but it looked like Parsons skipped town.

As Wade expected,the judge denied their request for an arrest warrant on Lester Parsons, but he granted search warrants for his home and garage. They spent the remainder of the week executing them, hoping to find the cooler Lester was seen with or some clue as to where he was keeping his boat. It was clear from the condition of his house all his profits went into the boat.

The work week came to an end, and Wade found himself slogging through his weekend routine once more. After youth group on Sunday night, he’d spent hours sorting through files, and he repeated the whole process again on Monday. He was certain he was missing some crucial fact but couldn’t put his finger on it.

He spent Tuesday morning taking a second look at the dresses the victims were found in and discovered they were all the same size and style, but the tags had been removed. He assumed it was intended to make his job harder. The killer probably hadn’t expected the first four bodies to be found, but he’d been prepared in case they were.

Jamie had taken Monday off for the final fitting of her wedding gown and hadn’t yet arrived. He figured she had last-minute details for her wedding that needed to be handled. The wedding was on Saturday evening, and he didn’t have a date despite her constant efforts to set him up.

Late Tuesday morning, he was sipping coffee that tasted like dishwater when the connection finally hit him. Teddy bears. Jewelry. Gifts. He needed to make a few calls to be sure, but it looked important.

Jamie showedup after lunch with a silly grin pasted on her face.

“What are you so happy about?”

“I’m getting married.”

“That’s not news.”

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