TWENTY-FIVE
Sometimes with this case, Amanda felt like they were spinning their wheels, but surely, they had to be getting closer to a resolution. They had the killer on camera—she was sure of it. But it wasn’t enough.
“So this person got to the shipping docks without being seen and left the same way.” She shook her head, glanced out the passenger window as Trent drove them to the coffee shop. “Even when people have security cameras that work, it doesn’t get us anywhere.” She was beyond frustrated.
“We got somewhere.” Trent pointed at the photo in her hand. “We’re going to find that person.”
“The killer. I feel it in my bones. Eve’s reaction and the timing line up.”
Trent breezed through a yellow to red and pulled into the Caffeine Café parking lot.
“I agree, and for a place with all those security cameras, they sure are weak in the shipping and receiving department.”
“Right. Something else the killer must have known about. A former delivery driver or…” She shook her head. “What motive?” She realized as she asked the question there could be so many—and ones they hadn’t even yet considered. One they might not even discover until they cuffed the killer.
They got out of the car and went inside. Trent got the door for her, and she noticed a sticker on the glass advertising free Wi-Fi for customers as she passed through.
It was three in the afternoon, and the place was rather empty, though Amanda imagined in the morning during the week, the line went to the door. It wasn’t Amanda’s type of coffee shop. If she was going somewhere other than Hannah’s Diner, she preferred places that served good old-fashioned American coffee. Black. Nothing fancy like this place that offered the gamut—espressos, lattes, cappuccinos, macchiatos, and the list likely went on and on. Considering the crowd they drew, maybe coming here was more of a shot in the dark than she’d first imagined. Even if the mystery person had followed Eve here, would they have been noticed? Would they have even come inside? They could have remained in the parking lot.
Security cameras may be her and Trent’s only hope here too.
Amanda stepped up to the counter, her gaze roving the ceiling in search of a camera. She spotted one and pointed it out to Trent, then held up her badge to the clerk, a thirtysomething with black hair and long bangs that poked into her eyelashes. A nameplate pinned to her shirt told them her name was Carla. “Detective Steele, Prince William County PD. I need to speak with the manager.”
“That’s me.”
“We need to talk to you for a moment… if there’s somewhere more private?” While the place wasn’t packed, there were still people coming in and hanging around.
“Sure. Denise,” Carla called out to a woman who was working a fancy coffee machine. “You’ll need to handle things for a few minutes.”
Denise acknowledged Carla with a wave.
The manager led them to an office in the back. She sat at the desk, but Amanda and Trent remained standing.
“I can’t be long,” Carla said. “It’s just me and Denise today.”
“Does this person look familiar?” Amanda extended the printout of the mystery figure.
Carla took the photo and studied it. “There’s no face.”
“Just look at the shape of the body, height, stature, clothing. Any of it look familiar?”
Carla stared at her blankly, gave the picture back to Amanda. “You do realize how many people come in here in a day?”
“All right, let’s try something else. You know Eve Kelley?”
“Of course. An extra-large one-shot red eye, no sugar.”
“And that is…?” Amanda just stuck with black coffee.
“It’s drip coffee, black, with a shot of espresso. She also liked to add a sprinkle of cocoa.”
“Does she ever come in here with anyone?” Trent asked.
“No.”
“You ever see anyone tailing her?” Amanda countered.
“Ah, no. What’s going on?”
“Eve Kelley is dead.” Amanda felt fine with disclosing this, as it would be hitting the news today, if it already hadn’t.
“Oh.” Carla rubbed her forehead.
“Did you know her… besides her coffee order?” Amanda asked.
“Not really. Just that she owned Pixie Winks.”
Amanda nodded, not seeing any other emotion in the woman but empathy for what had befallen a fellow human being. “Does that security camera in the coffee shop work? You have any more out front?”
“It does, and we do. But I’m not sure I can just hand over the footage.”
“Would you need to contact the owner to allow us to take a look?” Amanda was doing her best to balance push with diplomacy.
“I would. And he’d probably want a warrant.”
“Even though one of his customers was murdered?”
Carla rolled her eyes and huffed out a breath. “Something you should know about my boss. He’s a douche. He’s going to assume you’re trying to pin Eve’s death on the coffee shop.” She paused, met Amanda’s gaze. “Are you?”
“Not at all.”
“Well, I can call him and see what he says.” Her gaze dipped to the phone on the desk.
Amanda smiled. “We’ll be happy to wait.”
Carla licked her lips and picked up the receiver. A second later, she was speaking to the owner. A few seconds after that, she was hanging up. “Yep. Just as I thought, he wants a warrant.”
“We’ll get him one.” Amanda led the way outside, Trent on her heels.
Amanda wasn’t going to run the request past Malone. She got on the phone with Judge Anderson, who was known to be quite accommodating and flexible with approving verbal warrants. She ran through what she needed with him in the seclusion of the department vehicle.
“Sorry, Amanda, but I’m not hearing enough to substantiate this request,” Anderson said, not standing on formality. “If you had proof that the person you suspect of poisoning Eve Kelley was with her at the coffee shop, that would be one thing. But from what you told me, you don’t.”
She went silent, stunned but not entirely surprised. She could see his standpoint once he’d echoed the circumstances back at her. “Not yet. Not with certainty, but—”
“Sorry, Detective. Get me more, and I’ll approve a warrant for the video.”