Hour of Need (Scarlet Falls #1)(32)
Hannah stopped and faced the cop. “Do you have any evidence besides a footprint?”
“Unfortunately nothing concrete enough to share at this time.” McNamara propped his elbows on the armrests and intertwined his fingers.
“Really?” Hannah’s brow arched. “Are you any closer to finding out what happened to my brother and sister-in-law? It’s been five days since they were killed.”
“I really can’t give you unsubstantiated details, ma’am. I’m sorry.” McNamara didn’t react to Hannah’s sharp tone, which Grant knew would piss her off more than yelling.
“What can you tell me, Detective?” Hannah tapped a frustrated toe on the floorboards.
McNamara didn’t blink. “We have a cast of the footprint in the snow at the murder scene. We’ll try to match it to the one in the flower bed. If we’re lucky, we might be able to tell what size and type of boot the culprit was wearing. We didn’t find any usable fingerprints here or at the other scene. We have no witnesses, but we have recovered the bullets, so if we recover a weapon, ballistics will know if it’s the gun used in the murder.”
Hannah’s body was immobile, but her eyes flinched. Grant tried to keep the image out of his head, but he knew what a bullet to the head looked like up close.
“Grant told me you had copies of their calendar and contact information from the phone company. Did those yield any clues?” Hannah leaned a shoulder on the wall, her casual posture a ruse.
McNamara rubbed an eye. “I’ve gone over every entry. They all seemed very straightforward and normal. I didn’t see anything out of their ordinary daily patterns. But I’d like to give you a copy of that information to read over in case we missed something. You might have more intimate knowledge of your brother and sister-in-law’s lives. One of the entries could have a special meaning.”
“Have any of their credit cards been used?”
“No,” McNamara said.
“And you still haven’t located the car?” she asked.
“No.” McNamara’s voice tightened with each answer.
“Do you have a single suspect?” Hannah pierced the cop with an icy blue stare.
“The investigation is still in process, Ms. Barrett. I really can’t speculate.” The cop was doing his best to not react. At this point, it looked like work.
“I’ll take that as a no,” Hannah said. “How do a small-town lawyer and a skating coach get murdered without any suspects?”
McNamara’s mouth tightened. “I never said we didn’t have any suspects. I just can’t tell you who they are. I wouldn’t want to cast public suspicion on innocent people.”
Grant watched Hannah digest his statement. His sister was struggling with Lee’s death. Like Grant, she preferred to channel emotions into action. The inability to take the offensive bottled her nerves. At some point, she was bound to explode. Grant could empathize.
He interrupted the stare down between Hannah and the cop. “When can you bring the calendar and contact information, Detective?”
“I’ll bring the papers by later today,” McNamara said, rising. “You’ll let me know if you see anything strange?”
“I will,” Grant said.
Grant walked the cop to his car.
“I don’t understand why someone would need to search my brother’s house,” Grant said.
McNamara shook his head. “I went through the whole house the day after the murders. I didn’t find anything of interest.”
“I’ve looked, too.” But Grant was going to keep searching. The cop pulled away, and Grant went back to the house. Someone thought Lee had something to hide.
Chapter Twelve
Ellie hurried up the walk to her front porch. She stamped her feet on the cement and shook a few snowflakes from her head. Heavy gray clouds on the horizon appeared ready to burst, matching her mood. She breathed in and out. Hold it together. Nan’s and Julia’s lives depended on her keeping her cool and finding that file. The clock was ticking.
She unlocked the front door and went inside. “Julia? Nan?”
Silence greeted her. Oh, no.
Ellie rushed back to the kitchen. A piece of notepaper on the counter caught her attention. She snatched it.
Julie and I went next door.
Relief almost made her giddy. They were fine. Clammy and sweating, she opened her wool coat. After a long day at the law office, she preferred to take out her frustrations on her renovation project. But not tonight. She went upstairs and changed into jeans and a sweater. She grabbed a jacket on her way out the door. The note from Nan provided the perfect excuse to pay Grant a visit and start snooping. She hadn’t been given a deadline, but if the man from last night contacted her again, she intended to have that file.
On the Barretts’ front porch, she knocked, though AnnaBelle had already announced her presence with frenzied barking.
What if she didn’t find the file? Her stomach churned with possibilities. Assuming he even kept his end of the bargain. With people who threatened to kill, there were no guarantees.
Grant opened the door. Faith was draped over one broad shoulder. Blocking the dog with a knee, he moved back. “Ellie, please come in. I’m glad you came over. I want to ask you some questions.”