Nate and Laura exchanged a look. Maybe that should have been their first question. That alibi covered him through the period of time when they believed that Alana had been attacked.
Which ruled him out as a suspect if they were able to verify his alibi with the foreman and other members of the crew and confirm that he had never left the site.
“Even during the storm?” Laura asked, seeing at the last minute a potential issue with his alibi.
“Yes,” Mullins shrugged. “We were working under plastic sheeting. That was enough to keep the worst of it off us. The project is already over deadline, so we needed to keep going.”
Being over deadline (and probably over budget too) would tally against every single construction project Laura had ever heard of. It was sounding like it checked out.
Which was going to leave them high and dry without a suspect, yet again, and another victim on the killer’s list. Even if she hadn’t died, what happened to Alana would have to be life changing.
“Thank you,” Laura said, getting up from her seat. “We’re going to verify your alibi and then come back to you. In the meantime, if you think of anything that might help us with Alana’s attack, someone will be right outside the door at all times, so just call out.”
She led Nate outside, studiously avoiding the pleading look in Mullin’s eyes that clearly questioned whether he could not just be released and slumped against the wall as the door closed.
“We screwed up,” she muttered, closing her eyes. “What a waste of time.”
“I’ve got a message from Chief Rondelle,” Nate said, scrolling through something on his phone. “He couldn’t get us on the line while we were in there, so he texted me. He wants us to hurry up and solve it before someone else gets hurt.”
“He’s not here,” Laura snapped. “He doesn’t know what it’s like on the ground here.” She rubbed her temple. She was tired of all of this. Stressed out about Chris and about what to do. Tired from the nightmares. Tired of her visions not working properly and not knowing how to fix them. Tired of getting it wrong.
“Yeah, well, tell him, not me,” Nate said, clearly taking offense at her snapping at him.
“It’s not like you’re helping,” Laura said, knowing immediately that she would regret saying it but saying it anyway. “Why didn’t you ask for his alibi as soon as we arrested him?”
“Why didn’t you?” Nate fired back, and Laura knew she had absolutely no response to that which would exonerate her.
She had messed up. That was why she was angry. And all of this was getting her nowhere, but she didn’t know how to stop.
“I need some air,” she shot at him, stalking away fast, wondering where she could go to distract herself from going for a drink.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
He hunched behind the building, putting his back against the brickwork. There might have been all manner of dirt or tiny creatures on the surface, but he didn’t mind. It would brush off the back of his waterproof jacket. It wouldn’t be permanent. That was the kind of sign you could get rid of when you needed to.
The man he was following, the so-called captain, was laughing and joking as he moved down the street. He wouldn’t be laughing and joking for long. He didn’t want to have to make it so, but it was necessary. And if he was going to have to take out someone, the captain was a good choice. The kind of choice that allowed him to feel just a little bit better about having to do it.
Although not a lot better.
The captain was moving out of sight, so he made to go after him, moving forward—
And stopped dead, looking down in horror.
The storm last night had left the coast wet and battered, and here in the alley behind the buildings there were dips and cracks in the concrete. One of them was a bowl-shaped indentation right in front of him, large enough to fit maybe a basketball, and it was full of water.
Water he had almost stepped right into.
He shook his head, trying to dislodge the fear. It was only a little water. Only a little.
But you could drown in only a little water, couldn’t you?
Even something so small as that could be dangerous. Sometimes, the most dangerous. You wouldn’t think you had to be wary of it, and that was how it would be your downfall.
He had to be careful. They were still trying to get to him, and if he let them take him before he finished the last task to protect himself, it would all have been for nothing. All three of them. And he couldn’t let it all have been for nothing.
He lunged forward, making it around the puddle without so much as a splash, and moved swiftly behind the next building until he got to another vantage point. He looked, but there was no sign of the captain. He whipped his head from side to side desperately, straining to see as much as he could from here. No captain. Had he walked on too fast?
Had he turned off somewhere, distracted by someone else?