And There He Kept Her (Ben Packard #1)(59)

He found Thielen typing at a computer in the squad room. Mac Davis was standing behind her, holding a Diet Coke and wearing his dispatch headset.

“What have you got?”

Thielen got up and went to the printer and came back with two pages and handed one to Packard. “As best as I can research for now, these are the names and addresses from the five pill bottles we found yesterday.”

Mac noisily sipped his soda and looked at Packard’s copy of the list with him. “I can tell you right now that Eunice Amberson died in January. She went to my church. You could talk to her family but you won’t get much out of her.”

Packard reached over and plucked a pen from behind Mac’s ear and scratched out Eunice’s name. “Two of these addresses are farther out. Two are at Graveside Manor.”

Graveside Manor was the nickname for an apartment building in town by the lake that had been remodeled and rebranded as assisted living residences for independent seniors. The actual name of the place was Lakeside Manor.

“Did you pull any info on the guns?”

“The .22 is registered to Dan Gherlick,” Thielen said. “Nothing came up for the .38 we took out of the ceiling. Mac offered to keep researching online for a D. Chambers in the area.”

Mac said, “Tomorrow we can get into any city records not online. I know the gals over there.”

“I’d rather have it today.”

“You’d rather have it yesterday but it’s Sunday. Normal people have the day off.”

The pills felt more important than the gun at the moment. Packard made a mental note to ask Dan about it when he called him later. It might be another family gun that hadn’t been registered. “We may find out talking to these four that the gun came from one of their houses.” To Thielen: “Let’s split these up. You want the two at Graveside or the others?”

“I’ll take the other two. I know Martin Hughes. I’ll visit him and Emmett Burr.”

“Call me when you’re done. Sooner if you turn up anything interesting.”

***

The day was passing quickly. Too quickly. Packard got pulled back into the overturned semi business again before he could get out of the station. The marijuana found in the car had been stored in the narcotic evidence locker. Now it needed to be bagged in serialized evidence bags, meticulously weighed and logged in DEA ledgers, then signed off by Packard and another witness to create a chain of custody record.

He stopped for a late lunch at the Spot Café and sat at the horseshoe counter. While waiting for his burger, he got a text message from Susan offering dinner at the restaurant if he wanted to stop in and give her the latest. Packard put the phone away, thinking that Susan wasn’t prepared for the latest. Susan was better left in the dark. The idea that someone might have killed Sam Gherlick to cut the connection between him and wherever Jesse and Jenny had gone that night was not going to reassure his cousin about her daughter’s situation.

A pair of old guys whose names Packard couldn’t remember started talking his ear off about the bad traffic and how it wasn’t even full-on summer yet and how many drunks they saw on the roads at all hours. Elaine Wilson moved around the inside of the horseshoe, a barge of a woman in a white apron. Her hair was shorter and oranger than usual. She winked at Packard, glad the old farts were hassling him instead of her for once. Packard noticed she’d traded her typical Vikings sweatshirt for a long-sleeved Twins jersey.

“How are they looking this year?” he asked, nodding at her shirt.

“Terrible, as usual. My daughter and I are going down next weekend for three against Seattle.”

“Professional sports is nothing but overpaid drug addicts and wife-beaters,” one of the old-timers said.

“Oh, here we go,” Elaine said.

“And here I go,” Packard said, sliding his credit card across the counter. “I’ll take the check.”

***

It was late afternoon when he pulled up in front of Graveside Manor. Figuring out how and where Sam got his drugs might have looked like it was taking him away from finding Jesse and Jenny, but Packard didn’t think so. Drugs were the through line connecting everyone involved in this case. Sam knew where Jenny and Jesse were going that night, and now Sam was dead. Interviewing old ladies about their missing pills might not lead him directly to the target, but it was a step in the right direction. Packard was sure of it.

Manor was a generous description for the simple two-story building with a central lobby and wings to either side. An outer door led to a secured foyer. He saw a reception desk inside with a dark computer screen and no one sitting at it. Packard picked up a handset and dialed the security code for Apartment 105 where Olivia McDonald lived. He waited a full minute before a thin, trebly voice said, “Hello?”

“Ms. McDonald. I’m Deputy Packard from the sheriff’s department. I’m calling from the lobby. I was wondering if I could come in and ask you a few questions?”

“Is this for fundraising for the police department? I’m on a fixed income.”

“No, ma’am. I want to ask you some questions related to a case I’m working on. Won’t take long.”

“But I can’t see you. How do I know you’re a real deputy and not an ax murderer?”

“I can show you my badge if you let me in.”