“Who bought that phone?”
JJ shook her head. “No idea. If I had to guess, that phone’s been destroyed.”
Okay, so maybe the information wasn’t as helpful as she’d hoped.
*
Baz spent the next couple of hours digging deep into Nancy and Brian Wright’s life while the rest of the team divided and conquered the other couples.
While their main priority was locating Cedric Hawkins, the theory Reese and Brantley were now going off of—the wives had conspired to off each other’s husbands—required that they do a deeper dive on everyone in hopes of pinpointing where he was. If he was being kept somewhere, it wouldn’t be in a public place, which meant they needed to drill down on possible locations. Property owned by one of them seemed the likely answer.
He found it interesting that they’d come to this conclusion so quickly, but Baz figured that had something to do with so many people looking at the same puzzle. A diverse group was going to have the best outcome because they each saw things that the others didn’t. In this case, it had been the reactions of Annie Hawkins and Mallory Jacobs that had thrown up the red flags.
Well, that and the fact that Nancy Wright was nowhere to be found despite the fact Detective Mathis assured them she had agreed to come into the station.
“Who talked to her?” Baz wondered aloud, thinking back to the police report that stated Jacobs’s body had been found in the locker room.
“What?” Evan asked from his desk across the way.
“Mathis said Nancy Wright was comin’ into the station. Do we know who talked to her to confirm that?”
Evan glanced down at the notes on his desk. “I don’t see anything, no.”
“Hey, JJ,” he called up to the loft and repeated the same question.
“Mathis didn’t say,” she answered.
“What’re you thinking?” Evan asked, turning in his chair and stretching back. “Maybe they’ve got help on the inside?”
Baz gave it some thought. “The original detective on the cases is no longer working them…”
“That definitely raises questions.
“And if the police report was altered … the one about Jacobs’s body being found at the country club…”
“More questions,” Evan agreed.
“What I don’t understand is the crime scene information. What happened to it? Altering the report is one thing, but not all of it. What did the original detective find at the crime scene?”
“Better yet, why would it benefit anyone to alter it?” Evan mused. “Who does it help if they believe Jacobs’s body was found somewhere other than where he died?”
“Maybe someone’s tryin’ to cover up where he really died. I’m gonna call Mathis,” Baz stated, pulling out his phone. He dialed the detective’s number, put the phone on speaker.
“Mathis.”
“Detective, this is Sebastian Buchanan with the OTB Task Force. I’ve got a question for you.”
“Shoot.”
“The police report for Seth Jacobs’s death states his body was found at the country club. When we spoke to the country club manager, he said that wasn’t the case. Did you work the scene?”
“I did not, no. I was out of town.”
“Who did?”
“The original detective,” Mathis said simply.
Too simply.
“And who was that?”
“I’m not at liberty to say.”
Baz frowned at Evan. What the hell kind of police department were they running?
“Look,” Mathis added, “this is being handled higher up on the food chain. I’ve been told to work the cases from the beginning. That’s what I’m trying to do.”
“Did you take a look at the crime scene after the fact?”
“I’ll admit, I haven’t had a chance yet,” he said, sounding sincerely apologetic. “It’s been a hectic day, and I’m doing my best to align all the information I’ve been given. Because there’s too much to work for one person, I’m trying to get some help here.”
Baz tried to remember that Mathis had only received these cases this morning. He knew from experience that it took time to get the information together to see what leads would shake out.
“What about Mrs. Wright?” Baz asked. “Did you talk to her?”
“I didn’t speak to her directly, no. One of the other detectives took her call. I don’t know why she didn’t show up.”
“And who was that?” he asked, hating that he sounded like a broken record.
“Phillips,” Mathis answered, as though they would possibly know who that was.
“Mind if I speak to him?”
“He’s … uh…” Mathis paused, his breaths coming in heavier, as though he was moving around. “I don’t see him, but I’ll track him down and let you know.”
“All right.” Baz sighed. “If you learn anything, will you give us a call?”
“As long as you do the same.”
“Will do,” he promised.
The call disconnected, and Baz stared blankly across the room. “What do we know so far?” he wondered aloud. “The facts.”
JJ strolled up to his desk, immediately answering his question. “We know that Cedric Hawkins spent the night with his girlfriend last night and possibly got a phone call in the middle of the night. He then drove to a convenience store where he somehow ended up with a burner phone purchased by Nancy Wright in his vehicle.”
Elana hurried over to the electronic board and began jotting down the notes so they had them in one place.
“Is it safe to say that Nancy Wright met up with him?” JJ asked, glancing between him and Evan.
“I’d say it’s highly probable,” he agreed. “How else did her burner phone get in the car?” He looked up at JJ. “You think she planted it so she could track it?”
“Untraceable.” JJ smirked. “Unless she’s got some mad skills.”
Baz doubted cyber-hacking was one of Nancy Wright’s hobbies, but he didn’t know the woman.
“We know that Brian Wright died of an overdose of nitroglycerin, found by his wife in his home,” Evan added.
“The reports are all in sync for that,” JJ chimed in. “According to the report, his wife was out to dinner with friends that night. Annie Hawkins called the police when Nancy got home to find her husband dead. From what Reese said, Mallory confessed to going over to the house after the fact when Nancy called her.”
“So Annie was out with Nancy on the night her husband overdosed on nitroglycerin,” Baz said, watching as Reese came over to join them.
“But Mallory wasn’t with them?” Evan asked.
Baz frowned. “Where was Mallory when her husband’s body was found?”
“When it was found, I don’t know,” Reese said. “However, she had an alibi for the time of death, which was supposedly two days prior to finding the body. She told us she was at dinner and a movie, had the receipt and ticket stub to prove it.”
“Do we know who she was with?”
JJ held up a finger as she skimmed her iPad screen. “She was”—her head lifted, eyes widening—“with Nancy.”