Lancaster found this aspect of the crime puzzling. The killer had made no effort to cover up his crime, so why take the murder weapon? It was possible that he’d purchased the murder weapon earlier, and didn’t want it traced back to him, but that was only a guess.
It felt like a revenge killing. If that was the case, then hopefully the police would be able to find a person in Elsie’s past who was carrying a grudge, and track them down.
He took another hike around the property. The main pasture was about four acres and ringed by three-board fencing. A John Deere mower sat in its center, waiting for an owner who would never return.
He sat down on the mower. The police report said that Elsie’s cell phone was in her pocket when she died. Why hadn’t she dialed 911 when the intruder entered her property? Had she panicked? Or was there another reason she hadn’t made the call?
The mower was pointed at the house. He imagined Elsie seeing an unfamiliar vehicle come onto the property, and a strange man jump out and go inside. Surely it would have alarmed her, so why not call the police? Based upon what Gamble had told him, Elsie was a smart lady. Yet for some reason, she hadn’t reacted.
It started to rain. First small drops, then larger ones that bounced off the mower and danced in the air. He stayed put, his thoughts consumed by this contradiction. Why hadn’t Elsie called the police or a neighbor for help?
The light on the back porch flickered on, and Gamble came outside. Finding him in the darkness, she motioned that he was needed inside, and he climbed off the mower. He’d gotten to see the crime scene, but it hadn’t provided any insight.
As he jogged toward the house, he gave the firepit a final glance, wondering if he’d ever know what had happened. A flash of white caught his eye. Behind the pit, a slip of paper impaled on a tree branch flapped in the wind. It looked like a receipt, and he realized that it was directly above where Elsie Tanner’s body had been found.
Chapter 3
“What does it mean?” Gamble asked.
They sat in the American Legion lot as rain pounded his car. Pinched between his fingers was a sales receipt he’d rescued from the tree on Elsie Tanner’s property. It was wet but still decipherable. He needed to turn the receipt over to the sheriff’s office, and tell the detective running the investigation what he believed had actually happened the afternoon Elsie was murdered. The police had their facts mixed up, and he needed to gently straighten them out. He couldn’t do that with a reporter hanging on his coattails, and it was time he and Gamble parted company.
“I’ll let you know once I talk with the sheriff,” he said.
She glared at him. “I thought we had an agreement.”
“We do have an agreement.”
“Then honor it. What does that receipt mean? I have a right to know.”
He’d borrowed a stepladder from Elsie’s garage in order to climb into the tree. Gamble had held the ladder so he wouldn’t fall, and her pretty clothes had gotten soaked. She’d helped him, and she wasn’t going to let him pretend that she hadn’t.
“I think the police made a mistake. This receipt may confirm that,” he said.
“You’re saying they screwed up.”
“Call it an error in judgment. The crime report states the kidnapper came onto the property and abducted Skye. Elsie jumped off her mower to confront him, and the kidnapper dragged her to the firepit and murdered her. That’s the police’s version, only there are problems with it.”
“Do you mind if I take notes?”
“This is off the record.”
She started to object, and he shut her down. “I could be wrong. If you publish it, and I am wrong, the investigation might get thrown into turmoil. Now, do you want to hear the rest?”
“Please.”
“Here’s what’s wrong with the police version. First, Elsie didn’t call 911, yet her cell phone was in her pocket. That would indicate that the kidnapper surprised her, and she didn’t have time to make the call. Second, her farm isn’t on Google Maps, yet the kidnapper knew where she lived. I think the kidnapper tailed Elsie when she was doing an errand, and followed her home.”
“Which is how the sales receipt fits in. It fell out of her pocket when her assailant dragged her across the ground to the firepit.”
“Correct. Now here’s the third thing, and it’s a big one. The police believe Skye was the target, but I don’t believe that’s the case. I think Elsie was the target, and Skye was collateral damage.”
“Why do you think that?”
“The other ten victims are linked by age. They were either middle aged, or elderly. Skye is sixteen years old. She doesn’t fit the profile of the other victims, but Elsie does. She was the one the kidnapper wanted.”
Gamble spent a moment processing what he had just said.
“How does the sales receipt help you?” she asked.
“I think it may lead us to the killer.”
“You’ve lost me.”
He flipped on his car’s overhead light and held the receipt so she could read it. It was from a GNC health and nutrition store in the Citrus Park Mall, which a search on Google had told him was six miles away. The receipt’s time stamp showed that four days ago, at 3:56 p.m., a product called Dr. Joints Advanced had been purchased for sixty dollars.
“Here’s what I believe happened. The afternoon that Elsie was killed, she went to the mall to buy supplements,” he said. “I think the kidnapper was at the mall, and followed her home. He scouted the neighborhood to make sure it was safe, then came onto the property, and used a ruse to get Elsie off her mower. When he tried to abduct her, Elsie fought back, and he killed her. The receipt fell out of Elsie’s pocket, and got blown into the tree. The kidnapper didn’t want to leave empty handed, so he abducted Skye.”
“How do you know the receipt wasn’t just floating around the property?”
“The property was spotless.”
She thought about it. “You’re right, it was spotless. So was the inside of the house. How do you know Elsie bought the supplements, and not Skye?”
“I went on the GNC site, and read the product review for Dr. Joints Advanced. It’s a supplement for older people suffering from joint pain. That tells me that Elsie made the purchase, and the receipt fell out of her pocket.”
“Or it fell out of someone’s trash can and got blown into the tree.”
“A dollar says I’m right.”
Gamble smiled. “Okay, let’s say you’re right, and that Elsie was at the Citrus Park Mall four days ago. There were probably hundreds of other shoppers there as well. How are you going to finger her killer?”
“I’ll start at the GNC store, which should have surveillance cameras. I’ll get the store to show me the videotape of Elsie buying the supplements. If the killer isn’t on the tape, I’ll pay a visit to mall security, review their surveillance tapes, and find Elsie leaving the mall. If I’m right, her killer was there, and followed her home.”
“What if mall security erased the tapes?”
“I worked a mall robbery when I was a cop. Malls keep surveillance tapes for a year, in case they’re sued. It’s the only way they can get insured.”
“And you figured all this out by that little piece of paper. I guess that’s why they pay you the big bucks.”
“No one’s paying me anything,” he reminded her.
“That’s right, you volunteered. I was meaning to ask you why.”
She was being a wiseass, and he did not respond.
“Not going to tell me, huh? I’ll figure it out eventually. Guess you’d like me to get out of the car, so you can go see the sheriff,” she said.