One Deadly Sister - Page 75/211

"They're outside in my truck."

Goddard walked out with him and stood while Barner searched around and found the job tickets for Saturday.

Goddard examined the copies. "Here's the copy for Towson, the next job is around three and the last four-thirty. None are signed by your customers. You could have made these up. Anyway, you had plenty of time to go back and shoot Towson."

"I left after the four-thirty, had to drive to Orlando airport, you know. I don't have no siren."

"I need to look through this truck now, Sonny, to be sure you're in the clear. Then you can go. Okay with you?"

"Don't you need a search warrant to do that?"

"Okay." Goddard held up the job tickets. "I need to make copies of these. Can I give them back to you later?"

Barner nodded and locked the van door.

"I'll see you around, Sonny. Don't start traveling around the country again."

The detective went back inside and joined up with Moran and the chief in the hall.

"Chief, I want a tail on him right now. He's scared enough now to get rid of the gun. If the gun's not in his house, it could be in that exterminating van, assuming he's guilty, of course."

"We're shorthanded, Chip. We have to escort all the V.I.P.'s out of town."

"One man, give me one man. Moran, I need a search warrant for his house and for his van. We'll keep a tail on him right up to the minute we go in. We can't let him ditch that gun."

Moran said, "Dumb bastard."

"You're wrong, he's not dumb. Didn't you hear his answers? He was sailing right along until I mentioned Tammy Jerrold, then he fell apart."

"He's dumb enough to commit murder."

"Is he smart enough to get away with it? That's the question. I've no doubt he could plan it and do it. Not smart for him to run away and call attention to himself though. Remember that Moran, if you ever murder someone don't run, it's a dead giveaway."

"You sure hit a nerve talking about Tammy. How did you know to push his sex button?"

Goddard couldn't mention finding the sexy photo purporting to be Tammy in Barner's house, since he had no warrant to be in there. "He obviously has the hots for Tammy. He turned red when I mentioned her name. That might be enough motive for him to kill Towson. I wanted him to know we're aware of that motive. That should make him extremely nervous. When the guilty get nervous they make mistakes, such as leaving town and trying to dispose of the weapon. The guy's emotional. Maybe he'd kill for love. Maybe he shot Towson and the found money was an unexpected bonus. He's just committed a crime, gets scared, finds himself with lots of money and runs off to hide in Vegas."