The Birthday List(37)

Slippery bastard. The liquor store’s camera had caught the suspect killing the cashier and Jamie, then nothing, according to Simmons’s case file.

Having a rookie review the video feeds was probably Simmons’s biggest mistake in the case. I was guessing the rookie only reviewed the timeframe directly after the murders, not hours later.

“So where are you on reviewing tapes?” Dad asked.

“I’ve watched everything we had in evidence, but it’s not much. I’m still waiting to hear back from the grocery store and some of the other shops in the complex to see if they’ve got extended footage saved somewhere. Fingers crossed, we’ll get something else. And I’ve requested all of the stoplight camera footage from that whole area too. It’s getting pulled from the archives. They should have it early next week.”

“I hope he pops up on a camera.”

I nodded. “Me too, but if not, I’ll go to Plan B.”

Plan B was my Hail Mary.

The grocery store complex was next to one of the busiest streets in Bozeman. If we didn’t catch the killer on camera leaving the complex, then Plan B was to catalog all of the cars that came through the area stoplights during a five-hour stretch after the murder. From there, I’d start matching cars to those seen on footage from the shops’ various security cameras. I was hoping I’d be able to compile a short list of cars that had been in the complex and then run plates from the stoplight cameras. With plates, I could pull vehicle registrations and maybe find someone who matched the killer’s description.

Plan B wasn’t just a stretch, it was a really fucking big job that was going to take me a hell of a long time.

“Plan B is a big job, Cole.” When I’d told him about it a week ago, he’d cringed at the number of hours I’d estimated Plan B would take.

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that, but if we don’t see the guy on camera, it’s the only angle I’ve got.”

Dad sighed. “This is my fault. I should have done more to follow up on Simmons’s investigation. I never should have let this go unsolved for so long.”

“Well, it wasn’t just you. We all got busy and this just got forgotten. By all of us.” Everyone except for Poppy.

“When you asked me for this case a couple of weeks ago, I said you could have it but it was on your own time and you weren’t getting any help.”

Dad and my boss didn’t want the momentum we had with the drug task force to take a hit because I was wrapped up in this cold murder case that had a slim chance of ever being solved.

I respected where they were coming from, but that didn’t make finding extra time any easier. I was already putting in long hours on the task force. Add to that time spent with Poppy to help her on this list, and I would be running on fumes for the foreseeable future.

“Yeah. I remember. But I’ll find a way to fit it in.”

“I’m changing my mind.”

I blinked in surprise. “What do you mean?”

“You’re still going to have to squeeze it in between task force work, but I’m calling in another favor to your boss and asking Matt Hernandez to pitch in too. Maybe between the two of you, the murder case can get more traction.”

I sat back in my chair, stunned. “No shit?”

“No shit.” He took another drink of his water.

“Why? What changed your mind?”

“I’m pissed this case wasn’t handled correctly, and besides that, your mother is all kinds of infatuated with Poppy.”

That makes two of us.

Dad loosened his tie. “She’s all I’ve heard about since she came to dinner. Christ, we’ve eaten at her restaurant four times in the last ten days.”

I grinned. “Sounds like Mom.”

“And she’s not the only one infatuated. Don’t think I missed the way you looked at her over dinner either.”

Damn. When I’d asked Dad to transfer the case, I hadn’t exactly disclosed my feelings for Poppy. Hopefully, if I was honest with him now, I wouldn’t get the case jerked away.

“I’m not going to lie and say this case isn’t personal or say I don’t have feelings for her.”

“And I’m not going to lie and say my feelings for you aren’t the reason you have this case in the first place. What I will say is that you need to be smart. I’m giving you Hernandez so he can take the lead.”

Fuck no. This was my case. “Dad—”

“Think about it, Cole.” He held up a hand to cut me off. “Do you want a relationship with this woman?”

I closed my mouth.

“Then this has to be done by the book. I’m not saying you’d fuck up the investigation, but put yourself in an attorney’s shoes. Let’s say you actually find the killer. How is it going to look to a defense attorney when the widow’s boyfriend’s name is all over the police report? Don’t give the killer any more chances than he’s already had.”

I sighed and leaned back in the chair. Dad was right. If we actually found the killer, I wanted the fucker to hang, and in order for that to happen, the investigation itself couldn’t be called into question.

“Okay. But can I still participate?”

“Participate,” Dad nodded, “but stay behind the curtain. Do the grunt work. Spend your time staring at video footage, but let Matt run any and all questioning. Let him be the face of the investigation.”