Page 76 of In Cold Blood
She collected another bottle of beer.
“You think I can sleep here tonight?” she asked.
“It’s your place.”
“Yep, that it is,” she said, sinking into the brown loveseat and taking a big bite of her sandwich. “So. Any luck finding this witness yet?”
“Not so far. Though I have a few ideas up my sleeve.”
Noah got up and went into the kitchen and retrieved the manila folder.
“What you got?”
“My father managed to snag a copy of the autopsy report, the police report, and the call from the woman. There’s also a breakdown of Luke’s calls to dispatch throughout his shift.”
He took out three sheets of paper that listed the call history and incidents he had attended on the night he died. Every police department operated differently, from local PD to the Sheriff’s Office to State Patrol. Some worked eight hours but that wasn’t as common, most patrol officers were on ten or twelve-hour shifts. Adirondack County operated on twelve-hour shifts. He had been working the second watch from noon to midnight that day.
“Take a look.”
He handed it to her.
Alicia scanned while he sat on the coffee table, handspressed together, observing her reaction. “Traffic calls, a drunk and disorderly, a domestic, vandalism, a burglary, a brawl down at the pub and brewery. All run of the mill to me.”
“Look at the name of the person involved in a fight down at the brewery.”
She scanned it again. This time squinting a little. “Huh. Cyrus Keller.”
Noah continued. “He was told to leave early that night. He remarked to my brother about keeping his nose out of where it didn’t belong or else.”
“And it just so happens he works for…” she trailed off.
“Harry Carter.” He nodded, filling in the blank. “Dax said to me that no one else would hire him after his run-ins with the law. It seems Harry Carter is in the business of hiring people with criminal records. Now with him owning Hawk Island and drugs found there — I have to wonder if Luke ever got a search warrant to go over his establishment.”
“It’s not easy to land one. You think he’s operating a drug business out of it?”
“I don’t know but I think they should find out where Cyrus was that night after being sent home and if he won’t answer his phone, and he’s not at his address, maybe he can be found at his place of work.”
She handed it back to him. “Yeah. Maybe. Pity you aren’t sticking around.”
Noah slid the paperwork back into the folder. “Well, I will mention it. I plan to hand everything over to Thorne and Parish tomorrow evening.”
“So, you are going to box it up?”
“Yep.” He took a deep breath and let it out.
“That’s good, Noah.” She leaned forward and placed her hand on his. “I know you want to get your brother justice. I want the same. But it’s probably for the best they handle it.”
“For sure,” he replied, looking down at her hand.
He ran his thumb over the top of her hand.
She looked at him and he was right back there with all the same feelings he had when they had gotten involved with one another. Alicia leaned in to kiss him. At the last second, Noah turned his face away.
He rose from his seat. “I’m sorry. I… It’s not you.”
With all that had happened, he wanted to forget. To get lost in a moment of desire, where he didn’t have to think about who was walking the streets with his brother’s blood on their hands, but he couldn’t.
Alicia stared back at him for a second or two before getting up and snatching up her jacket. “Changed my mind. I think I’ll head home.”
