Rocky nodded. “Let him go, but, of course—”
“Yes, I’ll put a tail on him,” Jack said.
“Jack, you doing anything tonight?” Rocky asked him.
Jack’s brows arched with surprise. “I was hoping to have dinner with my wife and kid, because this case is driving me crazy, but I gather you have something in mind?”
“I was thinking about a small get-together,” Rocky said. “That will take care of dinner and hopefully avoid some of the going crazy.”
Jack’s expression turned to a frown. “A get-together? Tonight? Hell, Rocky, this isn’t the time for a party.”
“Devin’s place,” Rocky said. “Just friends.”
“Friends like...?” Jack said, waiting for some kind of an explanation.
“I’m asking Vince and Renee, too. And Beth Fullway, Theo Hastings, Gayle Alden and, of course, Brent Corbin.”
“Corbin?” Jack said, stunned. “The same Brent Corbin we’re holding in a cell right now?”
“Yep.”
“I already told him Brent won’t come,” Devin said.
“A party. Oh, yeah. I can just see it. He’s going to want to party with us, for sure,” Jack said.
“Trust me, he’s going to want to speak his mind and get sympathy from his friends,” Rocky said. He smiled. “Devin, just make sure he feels it’s our way of saying we’re sorry. He’ll come.”
14
The one thing the warrants had produced was Brent’s athame. It was in a leather case nestled on a fabric bed; the covered elastic bands that secured it in place hadn’t even been broken.
“The guy could be a pro at getting rid of evidence,” Jack began, “or―”
“Or he’s innocent,” Rocky finished.
Jack looked at his watch. It was going on four, time to shut things down for the day. “You sure you don’t want to cancel this party tonight?”
“No way. It’s not a big party. Just dinner and conversation with friends,” Rocky said. “I’m going to take off and pick up Devin. She’s with Jane and Angela at the hotel. On the way back to her place, I want to stop by the bar where Barbara and her friends were drinking. If Corbin is innocent, then someone who was there that night slipped that phone into his pocket.”
“I had men question everyone who was working there that night. None of them could contribute anything useful. They remember Corbin and the women, but no one saw them together,” Jack told him. “And no one remembers seeing anyone messing around with Corbin’s jacket, either.”
“Sometimes a second go-round helps,” Rocky said. “People keep thinking and end up remembering something else, maybe something small, but sometimes that’s all it takes.”
*
“It was a busy night. I already talked to the police. I’m sure you have the report.”
The bartender seemed weary, Rocky thought—not uncooperative, simply weary. His name was Judah Baker; he seemed to be about thirty and, unusually for “wicked” Massachusetts, he had a rich Southern accent.
Rocky was glad he’d decided to do more of the interviews himself. Not that he didn’t have faith in Jack’s cops, they just weren’t...
They just weren’t as invested, because they hadn’t had a vision the night Melissa died, and they didn’t speak to the dead. They might never know when a clue appeared right in front of them.
“I know you’ve been over this already,” Rocky said. “But three young women have been brutally murdered, and more women’s lives depend on what you can remember. We really need your help.”
Judah looked past Rocky to Devin. “Hey,” he said, frowning, “you’ve been in here with Brent. Aren’t the two of you friends?”
“Yes,” Devin said. “Good friends.”
“But he was arrested, huh?” Judah said.
“He wasn’t arrested, he was questioned,” Rocky corrected. “Are you sure you can’t remember anything else from that night?”
Judah shook his head. “I wish I could say, yeah, there was a creepy guy hanging around all night—musta been him. But if there was, I didn’t notice him. I was moving a mile a minute.”
“Did Brent stay at the bar the whole time he was in here?” Rocky asked.
“I can’t swear to it, but I never saw him get up,” Judah said. “We talked a little. He’d just finished his tour and wanted a beer before heading home, like he usually does. He seemed pleased, said he’d had a good tour. I told the cops all this yesterday,” Judah said.
“I know,” Rocky said.
He was surprised when Devin added, “Sometimes, once you take a little time and think about things again, you see more.”