In Her Tracks (Tracy Crosswhite #8)(31)

“And is this the woman?”

“Sure looks like her,” Bibby said. “She had her hair pulled back in a ponytail. That’s the only thing keeping me from being a hundred percent certain, but I’d say ninety percent.” In the photograph Cole’s hair hung to her shoulders. “She live around here? I’ve never seen her before, but I figured if she was running in the park maybe she just moved in.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because it’s not really a park for running. There’s just the one trail and, as I said, it dead-ends at the bottom of the ravine. It’s also steep, which I imagine is hard on a runner’s knees going downhill, all that pounding, and the back, I suppose. And, what goes down must come back up again, which would not be pleasant. Beyond that, the entrance to the park isn’t easy to find, if you don’t live here. I figured she must have recently moved to the neighborhood and didn’t know any better.”

“What time do you and Jackpot go for your walk?” Kins asked.

“Depends on the time of year. Jackpot and I leave the house so there’s enough daylight to make it there and back. We walk in the afternoon because it helps to settle Jackpot down for the night and helps me stretch out my back.”

“When did you see the woman going for a run?” Kins asked.

“It was Wednesday.” Bibby looked to his wife as if calculating the time. “So Jackpot and I would have left the house at about 3:45.”

“Do you walk with your husband?” Tracy asked Lorraine.

“Sometimes, but not always. I still work part-time. I didn’t walk with him Wednesday.”

“So then what time did you see Stephanie Cole?” Tracy asked Bibby.

“I thought you might ask me that, so I checked the sunset calendar. The sun set at 4:48. Jackpot and I saw her right around 4:35 to 4:40, as we were walking back up the trail. I’d just put Jackpot back on leash . . . He got to chasing after a squirrel or a rabbit or some damn thing and was running in circles all over the brush. I had just got him back on leash when the young woman came running down the trail. I recalled thinking it was getting dark and the young lady had better hurry if she was going to finish with any daylight.”

“What was she wearing?” Kins asked.

“Running clothes. Leggings, long-sleeve shirt, sneakers. She had those buds in her ears for listening to music. The kind without any wires. Not sure what you call them.”

“Wireless,” Tracy said.

“Makes sense to me,” Bibby said.

“Was she carrying a phone?” Tracy asked.

“In her hand.”

“You said you and Jackpot walk that route every day?” Kins asked.

“Occasionally we’ll stray, but why, when the park is right there? I’m a bit of a creature of habit. Lorraine will agree, I’m sure.”

“Did you have any interaction with the runner?” Kins asked.

“Nothing verbal. She smiled, and I nodded and pulled Jackpot out of the way. She was a little thing.” He set out his hand, palm down. “Not even as tall as Lorraine, I’d say.”

Kins asked and Lorraine told him she was five foot five. Cole was five foot four.

“Do you think she went missing in the park?” Lorraine asked, looking and sounding concerned.

“We don’t know,” Kins said. “We’re doing our best to retrace her whereabouts that afternoon. I take it that you didn’t see her come out of the park?” he asked Bibby.

“I did not. Jackpot and I would have been home by then, or close to it, I’d guess.”

“Did you see anyone else as you completed your walk? Anyone on the trail or who looked to be waiting around it?”

“No. I thought Jackpot and I were the last ones . . . until she ran by.”

“What about on the street as you came out of the park? Did you notice anyone?”

He shook his head. “Sorry.”

“Anyone sitting in a car?”

Bibby shook his head. “Don’t recall seeing any cars. I mean, cars park along the curb all the time, but mostly during school hours. Most are gone by three o’clock.”

“When does school get out?”

“Two thirty,” Lorraine said.

“Lorraine taught there thirty-seven years,” Bibby said. “Easiest commute a teacher has ever had.”

“Is that where you still teach part-time?” Tracy asked.

“I don’t teach any longer, but I help with some of the administrative work.”

“How did you hear that the young woman was missing?” Kins asked Bibby.

“The news.” He made a gesture to the television screen. “As I said, I’m a creature of habit. After Jackpot and I walk, we sit down to watch King 5, and I have a cup of coffee. I was watching the news yesterday, and they put up the woman’s photograph and said she was missing. I turned to Lorraine and said, ‘I think I walked by that woman in the park Wednesday.’”

Lorraine nodded.

“I said, ‘Does she live around here?’ Lorraine often knows before me because new parents will enroll the kids in school, though this girl looked too young for kids. Could have moved here with her parents, I suppose. Did she?”

“Did she what?” Kins asked.