Page 59 of Vanishing Point
“I spent all night…verylegallyresearching the alias.” She flashed Thomas a smile that was half-hearted in its rebelliousness. “I got a credit card andmagicallygot into his recent purchase history. I saw it was used here, and then…very muchobtained security footage through the letter of the law, and here we are.”
“Here we are. Thank God we’ve got someone who’s not a cop on our side.” He pushed the door open, but his phone trilling stopped him. It was a call from Copeland.
“What’s the update?” Thomas answered by way of greeting.
“The ping of the postal inspector’s phone is a dead end. She turned it off before she left Bent city limits. They’ll keep trying. If she turns it back on, we’ll have her.”
He wasn’t surprised, but he was disappointed. It was a big if. Clearly, she didn’t want to be found.
“We did get some information this morning from poking around Fairmont. Dianne Kay had a meeting with a Realtor Monday. Laurel’s on her way over to meet with the woman and talk to her and see what she can find out.”
“A Realtor?” Was the postal inspector just…planning on moving here? Was this a dead end, a great happenstance coincidence?
“I’m in Fairmont. Rosalie got me a lead I want to follow up on.” He relayed everything Rosalie had told him in the office. “We’re going to interview the convenience store employees. I need you to go to the postal inspector’s hotel. See if Eric Carter was staying here. I’ll forward you the security cam still and his alias.”
“That’s promising. I’ll show it around. If we can prove that Eric Carter and the postal inspector are working together, we should be able to get a search warrant to ping his phone.”
He’d probably have it turned off like the inspector, but it was something. A chance. Thomas was going to believe in every chance he could.
“Keep me posted,” he said to Copeland, then hung up. Rosalie had gone ahead of him into the store when he’d have preferred it if she would have waited. Frowning, he moved for the door, but Rosalie was jogging out.
“The guy who was here apparently just got off shift. Parked around back.” She was already jogging around the side of the building and Thomas followed.
There indeed was a guy getting into his car. “Al Jones,” Rosalie shouted.
The man stopped, half in the car and half out. He looked at them both with lots of suspicion, but slowly got back out of the car. “Who’s asking?”
“Thomas Hart. Bent County Sheriff’s Department. I have a few questions I need to ask you.”
Al studied him. “You aren’t dressed like a cop.”
Thomas pulled his badge out of his pocket. “I’m a detective. We have information that a man going by the name Jim Errin bought some stuff from the store Friday night.”
He shrugged. “Lots of people do.”
Rosalie held out the picture she had. “This guy.”
To his credit, Al studied the picture with a furrowed brow. “Yeah, I remember him.” He handed the picture back and said nothing else.
Thomas only resisted growling because Rosalie did it for him.
“Can you tell us what you remember? When he came in? What he did?” Thomas asked.
Al sighed. “Yeah, I guess. It was kinda early in the night. I start at nine and it was before ten for sure. He bought gas. Some food and a twelve-pack. I only remember because he complained about the price of beer. Told him if he didn’t like it, go to a grocery store. Thought I was going to have to call the cops the way he looked at me. But then he just left.”
It wasn’t much, but it was something. “He have a woman with him? In the store or maybe waiting in the car?”
Al shook his head. “He was alone, but he bought enough snacks for two people or a long time.”
“Anything else?” Rosalie demanded.
“He was definitely carrying, but that’s about it. Made his little complaint, then left.”
Carrying. Great.
“Which way did he go?”
“Hell if I know, lady.”
