Lucky Like Us

chapter Twenty-Three

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TYLER SCANNED UP and down the street at each of the neighboring houses, hoping someone might have seen something. Directly across the street, the drapes on an upstairs window fell back into place. The same creepy feeling he got whenever Morgan gave him a message reverberated through him.

“Sanders, let’s check out the house across the street. Someone’s been watching us from the upstairs window. Maybe they know something and can help us.”

“It couldn’t hurt. So far you’ve gotten me further on this case in a few hours than I’ve been able to get in weeks.”

They stood at the front door of the two-story house. A little old lady opened the door and stood before them, all of five feet nothing, wearing gray slacks and a crisp white blouse. She reminded him of his grandmother. Tightly curled hair crowned her head, and he’d swear he smelled lavender. She held her trembling hands together in front of her.

“Are you the police?”

“I’m Special Agent Reed with the FBI, ma’am. This is Detective Sanders. Do you need to speak with us?”

“Aren’t you going to arrest him for what he did to that poor little girl?”

“Which him are you referring to, ma’am? And what did he do to the girl?” Tyler’s gut tightened. This was it. They had a witness.

“That terrible man who always has those floozy women over. He’s not setting a very good example for the poor boy, who lost his mother. She left years ago. A nice woman, but very young. That man always yelled at her about how she ruined his life. Seems it takes two to make a baby, and it isn’t the baby’s fault it gets made.”

“Ma’am, did you see Mr. Hillman hurt a girl?”

“Yes, he did. She had short blonde hair, very pretty, even though she was crying. Her picture was on the news. I was out clipping the roses by the picket fence. She spoke to the boy first, but he left. When the man came home and found her there, she was still crying in the driveway. He took some things out of the trunk and put them in the garage. He came back to talk with her. She must have said something he didn’t like because he hit her with a hammer he took out of his trunk. She fell to the ground. He put her in the car and left with her.”

Good God. “Was she dead? Could you tell?”

“I don’t think so. She moved, trying to get away from him when she lay on the ground. He picked her up to get her into the car. Blood ran down her face. I thought maybe he’d do the right thing and take her to the hospital. He came back later and told me that if I said anything he’d kill me. But now that you’ve come to arrest him, I can tell what happened. You’ll make sure he doesn’t hurt me.”

“Yes, ma’am, we will.” Tyler took the photo of Dianne out of the file and handed it to the woman. “Is this the girl you saw across the street?”

She studied the photo for a long time. “This is the girl. This isn’t the same photo they had on the TV.”

Tyler exchanged a look with Detective Sanders, who walked away with his phone to his ear. This would definitely get them the search warrants they needed to search Mr. Hillman’s properties and hopefully find Dianne.

Tyler turned to the detective. “Sanders, when you get the warrants, I want to search The Oak Warehouse. I think we’ll find her there.”

Tyler gave the older woman a reassuring smile. “Ma’am, an officer will come and stay with you and take your statement. Okay?”

“Oh, yes. I’ll put on some coffee. The officer will stay until you take the man to jail, right?” Mr. Hillman had certainly made sure the death threat appeared credible.

“Yes, ma’am. We’ll take good care of you.” Tyler smiled reassuringly. “You go inside while we get things coordinated. I’ll come back and see you when the officer arrives.”

The woman closed the door and threw the bolt into place.

Unbelievable—in a matter of hours they’d managed to find the suspect and a witness. Now all they had to do was find Dianne.

He didn’t think they’d find her alive, but in any missing person case it was better to find the person dead than to not find them at all. Dianne’s parents deserved closure, no matter what the outcome. Without Morgan’s message, he would have never asked about Chris taking Dianne to the dance. He would have never discovered Mr. Hillman had been the last person to see her. Now, because of the part of the message regarding the grand oak, he had a feeling they would find Dianne. And it was all thanks to Morgan.