The Neighbor - Lisa Gardner [37]
“You mean because he can’t be around kids,” D.D. said.
“Exactly. So even at a local garage, Brewster can only work on the cars, never at the front counter. After all, you never know when a woman might walk in with two-point-two kids.”
“But he’s a good employee.”
“The best.” Colleen shot them a grin. “Vito can work Brewster to the bone, and the kid’ll never complain because they both know he can’t just quit and get a job elsewhere. People think sex offenders can’t find employment. In fact, there are certain ‘savvy’ employers out there who are more than happy to have them on board.”
Miller was frowning now. “Poor little Aidan Brewster? Couldn’t keep his hands off a fourteen-year-old, so now we should all feel sorry for him?”
“I’m not saying that,” Colleen replied evenly. “The law is the law. I’m just saying that for most of the judicial system, you do your crime, you serve your time. Brewster went to jail, but he’s still serving time, and will be for the rest of his life. Ironically enough, he would’ve been slightly better off had he killed the girl instead of sleeping with her. And as a member of the judicial system, I’m not comfortable with that analysis.”
D.D., however, was already pondering something else. She turned to Miller. “Do you know where the Joneses got their cars serviced?”
He shook his head, jotted down a note. “I’ll get on it.”
“Who are the Joneses?” Colleen asked.
“Jason and Sandra Jones. They live on the same block as Aidan Brewster. Except sometime in the middle of last night, Sandra Jones disappeared.”
“Ahh,” Colleen said with a sigh. She sat back in her chair, hooked her hands behind her fireball hair. “You think Aidan had something to do with it?”
“Have to consider him.”
“How old is Sandra Jones?”
“Twenty-three. A sixth grade teacher at the middle school. Has a four-year-old daughter.”
“So, you’re thinking Aidan abducted the mom from her house in the middle of the night, with the husband there?”
“Husband was at work—he’s a local reporter.”
Colleen narrowed her eyes. “You think Brewster was after the kid? Because Aidan’s taken four or five polygraphs where he’s had to volunteer his entire sexual history. Pedophilia has never come up.”
“I don’t know what I think,” D.D. said. “Except, by all accounts, Sandra Jones is a very beautiful woman, and let’s face it, twenty-three isn’t that old. In fact, what does that make her? The same age as Brewster?”
Colleen nodded. “Same age.”
“So, we have a beautiful young mom and a registered sex offender living just houses away. Any chance that Aidan is good-looking?”
“Sure. Shaggy blond hair. Blue eyes. Kind of surfer dude, but in a sweet sort of way.”
Miller rolled his eyes.
D.D., however, kept spinning the theory out. “So Sandy’s husband works most nights. Meaning she’s alone a lot, isolated with the kid. Maybe some evening she’s out in the yard with her daughter, and Aidan comes by, strikes up a conversation. Maybe the conversation leads to a relationship, which leads to …”
“She runs away with him?” Colleen suggested.
“Or they get into a fight. She finds out about his history, gets mad. After all, he’s been around her kid, and according to all reports, Sandra Jones would do anything for her kid.”
“So he kills her,” Colleen said matter-of-factly.
“Like you said, these guys are desperate not to go back to prison.”
“So Aidan Brewster seduces the lonely housewife down the street, then murders her to cover his tracks.”
D.D.’s turn to shrug. “Stranger things have happened.”
Colleen sighed. Picked up a pencil, bounced the eraser end on her desk half a dozen times. “All right. For the record, I think you’re off base. Aidan already entered a high-risk relationship once before and he got nailed for it big-time. Given that, I think if he saw a woman like Sandra Jones out