In Her Tracks (Tracy Crosswhite #8)(52)
The documents were Cole’s cell phone records and her computer records.
“Anything?” she asked.
“No calls or texts while she worked. She did send text messages and made phone calls to area codes 626 and 909, cities in the San Gabriel Valley.”
Tracy read the time of the calls, which were between ten to ten fifteen in the morning, twelve to one, and two to two fifteen. “Her breaks,” Tracy said.
“Appears to be. The photographs are unremarkable,” Kins said. They had hoped to find recurring pictures of a man, perhaps a boyfriend no one yet knew about. “Take a look at the last photograph on the phone.”
Tracy did. It was a picture of the trailhead sign at North Park. Cole had photographed the “No Dumping” sign above the doggy poop bags.
“So we know she had a sense of humor,” Kins said.
“And didn’t exactly feel threatened,” Tracy said.
“And a nineteen-year-old who abides by an employer’s rule not to send text messages from work doesn’t exactly sound like someone who would blow off work two days in a row and jeopardize getting fired, does it?” Kins reasoned. “The last text was to Ame Diaz at 3:55, just before she left work. She said she was going for a run and hoped to make it to the party.”
Kins motioned for Tracy to turn the page. “Tuesday night she called a costume store in North Park. I phoned the store and asked if anyone remembered a woman calling about a pirate costume two days before Halloween.”
“Any luck?”
“Nah, not over the phone. The lady said Halloween is their crazy season. I asked Billy to have officers follow up with the costume shop and see if anyone remembers her coming in. I doubt she did.”
“Why?”
“Because I asked the woman in general what a pirate costume would cost to rent. She said that, because it was Halloween, anywhere from fifty to seventy-five dollars.”
“Ouch,” Tracy said. It explained why Cole went to the thrift store and cut up the skirt and blouse herself and opted for the $9.99 accessory pack at Bartell Drugs.
“She also looked up Bartell drugstore locations, as you speculated,” Kins said. “And she used the map app to locate the stores and several public parks.”
“So she intended to go to North Park?”
“Maybe more out of necessity, as you also speculated. Something else,” Kins said. “She didn’t map Ravenna Park, which indicates she didn’t plan on going there—or she knew the route.”
Tracy set down the pages. “Now what?”
“The mother and father called this morning looking for an update. I’m just getting ready to call. You want to handle it?”
“Not a chance.”
Kins smiled. “Thought I’d ask.” He picked up the phone and dialed. From his end of the conversation, Kins sounded like he was doing his best to keep the family calm.
While Kins spoke on the phone, Tracy made a list of suspects and known evidence. That list included Brian Bibby, Scott Barnes, Franklin Sprague, Evan Sprague, and Carrol Sprague. She also listed the “unknown psychopath.” Next to each name she noted evidence that seemed to exonerate each, like Brian Bibby’s bad back and his choice of walking shoe, and Scott Barnes’s physical size as well as his shoe size. Franklin Sprague and Carrol Sprague were unlikely because both had been at work Wednesday at four thirty; they’d confirmed Franklin’s employment and work history with the retirement home but had not yet reached the correct person at Home Depot to confirm Carrol Sprague’s employment. Driving to the Home Depot was on Tracy’s to-do list.
In making the list, Tracy realized they’d failed to ask Franklin and Evan for the shoes they wore when they walked in the park. She made a note. She would tell the Spragues, as she had told Bibby, that she needed the shoes to eliminate them from the prints they’d found.
She looked back over her list and circled the name Evan Sprague. She wondered about Franklin’s too-quick excuse for his brother’s faulty memory, particularly whether Evan recalled walking Wednesday afternoon, and his supposed illness. He had certainly been healthy enough to mow the lawns on Thursday, and to hand out Halloween candy that night.
Tracy wrote a note by his name. When did he come down with the flu?
She also made a to-do list, which included returning to the Fremont trucking company and to Bartell Drugs. Finding out who knew Cole was running that afternoon seemed to be the key. It was unlikely the perpetrator would have waited to grab just anyone, especially since runners did not regularly use the park, though the perpetrator did likely know that the trail came to a dead end and that the stump would be the perfect place to hide. That also coincided with the evidence that someone had purposely moved the body and the car away from the neighborhood. She made a note to have another detective run background checks, particularly of any young men who lived nearby, and determine if any had a criminal record, particularly of violence against young women.
Tracy made a few more notes, then used Faz’s desk phone to call the Washington State Patrol Crime Lab and leave a message asking Michael Melton to call her the first chance he got. She wanted to be certain Melton prioritized the DNA analysis on the cigarette butts. Violent Crimes got priority, with homicides at the top of that list, but the lab remained backed up. She wanted to be sure Melton understood there was a young girl missing, and time was of the essence. Melton had six daughters of his own. It didn’t hurt to play the empathy card every now and then.