Colt Crawford - Chapter 11 (Thursday)

We have a lot of new readers this week, so keep in mind that today is voting day. The poll on the right will be open until midnight on Saturday. Enjoy!

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The address that the university had given them for Jailene Arroyo was a dud. It led Colt and Krissy to a small apartment about fifteen minutes from the campus in a seedy area of town. By the time they got there, the place was cleaned out and all that remained was the occasional stain on the worn carpet. As they walked thorough each of the empty rooms, the thought occurred to Colt that maybe it had been empty for a long time. “There are cobwebs on the stove,” he said. “No one has lived here for a while.”

“So she never even moved in,” Krissy deduced. “Or she just can’t cook, but it could be that she is part of a much bigger plan.”

“Now the question is, ‘Does Jailene Arroyo have anything to do with Steven Mathis?’” Colt commented taking one last peek around the empty apartment. “And if so, how can we connect them?”

Krissy thought for a moment. “I’ll run her name through the system, but something tells me it is an alias.”

“What we need is a picture.” Colt was thinking through his options when he added, “Call your friend at the university. Have him check with Kevin to see if he has any photos. I want to know if anyone ever saw her around the apartment. Then we can show it around the marina and see if anyone there recognizes her.

Krissy made the call and the university police promised to stop at Kevin’s dorm to request a picture. “While we’re waiting, I can send you a copy of her student ID photo,” the cop at the front desk said. Krissy rattled off her e-mail address then she and Colt headed back to the station to print the picture.

After a quick lunch and armed with Jailene’s photo, Colt and Krissy returned to the marina. During their quick stop at the police station, Krissy had made a call to the service writer turned salesman at the Ford dealer where Creighton worked. In just under two minutes she had confirmed that Steven Mathis was indeed in the L.A. area for the day. He had stopped by to pay Creighton a visit on his first day back at work. “At least we won’t have to worry about Mathis catching us snooping around about this girl,” Krissy said.

“Let’s start with the secretary if she’s in today,” Colt replied. “She’s pretty easy to manipulate.”

“Easy targets are good.” The two detectives stepped out of Colt’s BMW and made their way through the half-full parking lot toward The Yachtery. Peering through the darkened front window, their optimism faded. “Looks like no one is home today,” Krissy said.

A thought flashed through Colt’s mind. The office hours were posted on the front window. The sign indicated that The Yachtery was scheduled to be open Monday through Thursday and on weekends by appointment. Given the fact that it was Tuesday, Colt grew concerned. “Did you get the name of the girl who was attacked at the university?”

“Yeah,” Krissy replied thumbing through her notes. “Jasmine Kennedy.”

“Have the university guys send her photo to my e-mail address. I think I found part one of our connection.”

Ten minutes later, Colt’s phone buzzed to life and began singing its familiar tone. “That’s what I thought.” He looked at the photo on the iPhone and then compared it to the photo of a smiling woman snuggling up to a man that was positioned on the secretary’s desk in Mathis’ office. “His own assistant. Now someone is sending Mathis a message.”

Krissy glanced at the two photos. “Who is close to Mathis? So far we haven’t found anyone who knows him on a personal level.”

“I’m guessing she is,” Colt said waving the picture of Jailene Arroyo in front of Krissy. “Let’s go back to the art gallery. Maybe they will recognize her.”

Colt stepped away from the front window of the Yachtery where he had been standing and made his way next door. The same young proprietor was on duty and Colt went straight for him, Krissy a step behind. Pulling out the photo, he began to ask if Jailene had been seen in the area. The trendy young man shook his head. “I already told you, the guy keeps to himself.”

Ready to move on, Colt stopped short of the front door. He looked up and noticed a surveillance camera staring out the front window. “Can I look over your security tapes?” Colt asked. “Specifically this camera?” The camera in question had a perfect view out the window of the gallery and had to have covered the front of The Yachtery office as well.

“Suit yourself.” The proprietor escorted Colt and Krissy to a back room where a fairly new iMac was sitting on an uncluttered desk. He pulled up the video footage from the front camera and left them to look it over.


--- Results ---
Who is sending Mathis the message?
A) No one. He attacked Jasmine Kennedy to throw the cops off of his trail. - 45%
B) Jailene Arroyo, because of a personal conflict she had with Mathis - 55%
C) Creighton, in an effort to buy more time (Is he really that stupid?) - 0%