Just Take My Heart - Mary Higgins Clark [108]
This was the picture of a man with a distinct resemblance to a younger Billy Tryon. Emily stared at it, stunned. Noted on the sketch was one sentence. “May be known by the nickname 'Jess.' ”
Steve Murphy was back. “Find any good clues we can work on?”
Emily tried to keep her voice steady as she pointed to the sketch. “I hate to say it, but my files may have gotten mixed up. This isn't the one I have in my file. I'm sure that the original your artist made is kept somewhere.”
“Sure. You know the system. The sketch is made and copies are rolled off. We can check against the original. No problem. But I have to tell you, my guess is that if there's been a mixup it happened in your office. I was around when that girl was killed. This is defi?nitely the one I remember being in the file. Is there anything else you want to copy?”
“The whole file if you don't mind.”
Murphy looked at her. His voice crisp, he asked, “Are you seeing something that might help us to solve this case?”
“I don't know,” Emily said. But as she waited for the file to be copied, she wondered what else is in the Evans file that Billy didn't bring back. Could Billy have been the mysterious boyfriend that Natalie suspected of murdering her friend? Had Billy Tryon ever met Natalie Raines?
And if so, was that why he may have been eager to piece together Jimmy Easton's story and have Gregg Aldrich convicted of Natalie's murder?
Everything is beginning to make sense, Emily thought.
It's not a pretty picture but the parts may be falling into place.
Just Take My Heart
76
Where better to hide than in his own house? On Tuesday morning, the idea struck Zach like a thunderbolt. He knew the routine. The police would have stormed in there like gangbusters looking for him. He could just picture them, guns drawn, afraid for their lives, going from room to room, then disap?pointed that they didn't reel in the big fish.
If it weren't for the worry over Henry Link's nosy son-in-law going to the police about the van, he could have lasted for awhile in this shabby motel thirty miles north of Glen Rock. He'd had a fairly de?cent sleep last night and he felt pretty safe. The owner, a shuffling old guy with thick glasses, would never connect him with the pic?ture on his small-screen television.
But what good was that when the van got reported and every cop within a hundred miles was looking for it?
He still had the option of driving straight down to North Caro?lina right now and trying to disappear into the waves of newcomers settling there. But the need to go back to Emily was overwhelming. He'd sleep here tonight, he decided, pay for the next few days and leave the van here. In the morning, he would take a bus to the Port Authority in New York, then another one out to Glen Rock after dark.
He'd slip through the backyards in his neighborhood, and with any luck his extra key to the rental house would still work. He could go in the back door and wait it out. Of course they'd have a guard for Emily. He knew that routine. Of course she would have had her locks changed. But she always opened the door to let Bess out in the backyard for a minute or two before she went to bed.
Of course Bess would bark when she saw him. But he'd buy those treats she loved so much and throw a couple of them on the ground. That's all the time he'd need to force his way in.
It was a good plan.
And he knew he could pull it off.
Just Take My Heart
77
Emily drove directly home after she left the DA's office. I have to be very careful, she thought, and I have to be very sure. Page by page, word by word, I'll compare the reports that Billy brought back two and a half years ago to the entire Jamie Evans homicide file that I have now.
The sketches are completely different. Steve Murphy confirmed that only one sketch had been done during the Evans investigation and that was the one that I saw this morning. What other reports didn't Billy bring back? What else am I going to find?
As she turned onto her block, she saw