Just Take My Heart - Mary Higgins Clark [86]
It was absolutely the truth, Phil thought, as he replaced the phone in his office. Zach never goofed off, never ran out for cigarette breaks, always put the merchandise where it belonged, not on the wrong shelves like some of these dopes who only worked here until they could get a better job.
On the other hand, there was something about Zach that made me uncomfortable, Phil admitted to himself. Maybe it was because he seemed way too smart for the job. I always felt that about him. And he never shot the breeze at the end of his shift or went out for a beer with the other guys. Zach had told him he was divorced and had no kids so it wasn't as though he was rushing home to a family.
Betty Tepper, a forty-something divorcee, worked in the account?ing office. When she had learned that Zach was single, she had in?vited him to a couple of parties but he'd always made some excuse not to go. He just didn't seem interested in having any friends.
What are you going to do? Phil asked himself. In this economy, there are dozens of guys who'll jump at the chance for a steady job here with good benefits.
And Zach Lanning had been kind of weird, he thought. He never looked me in the eye when I talked to him. It was like he was always checking to see if anyone else was coming near him.
Ralph Cousins, one of the newer guys, stopped in the office after he punched out at four o’clock. Phil, got a minute?
“Sure. What's up?” Not another one quitting, Phil hoped. Ralph, a twenty-three-year-old African-American, worked the day shift and was going to college at night. He was smart and dependable.
“Phil, something's been bothering me. It's about that guy Lan?ning.”
“If it's about Lanning, relax. He quit this morning.”
“He quit!” Cousins repeated, excitement in his voice.
Surprised at Ralph's reaction, Phil said, “He was planning to leave at the end of the month. Didn't you know that? He was going to move to Florida to take care of his mother. But now she's dying, so he left this morning.”
“I knew I should have played my hunch. I hope it's not too late.”
“What hunch?”
“I was watching Fugitive Hunt the other night and I told my wife that the composite of the guy who's a serial killer looked a lot like Lanning.”
“Oh, come on, Ralph, that guy is no more a serial killer than you or me.”
“Phil, last May when Mother's Day was coming up, I asked him about his mother. He told me that he never knew her, he'd been raised in a bunch of foster homes. He was lying to you. I bet he's out of here because he's afraid somebody who saw that program will identify him.”
“I've seen that program a couple of times myself. I think you're crazy, but if you are right, why didn't you call right away? They're always offering rewards for tips.”
“I didn't call because I wasn't sure, and I didn't want to make a fool of myself. And I wanted to talk to you. Because if the police came here to question him and it turned out not to be him, I thought maybe you could be sued if I had given the tip. But I'm going to call them now. I wrote down the number Saturday night.”
As Ralph Cousins was dialing his cell phone, Betty Tepper came into Phil's office. “What's this I hear?” she asked. “Is it true that Zach Lanning quit?”
“This morning,” Phil snapped. Although trying to digest the mind-boggling fact that he may have been rubbing elbows with a se?rial killer for two years, he was still able to be irritated that Betty-could never learn to knock before she barged into his office.
She did not try to hide her disappointment. “I thought I was wear?ing him down and he was going to ask me out. He was a plain-look?ing guy, but I always felt there was something mysterious and exciting about him.”
“You may be right, Betty, you may be right,” Phil responded, as Ralph Cousins dialed the number of Fugitive Hunt.
After his call went through, Ralph began by saying, “I know you get plenty of tips, but I honestly believe that my coworker here is Charley Muir, the serial