“Details?”
“I don’t know. God. Dave was a friend of mine too. We were Rotary Club together.”
Did Merritt torture him, then kill him when the man could reveal nothing about Allison’s whereabouts?
“How’d you hear?”
“Police called, asking if I’d heard from Alli, if she had any information about it.”
“I’ll talk to them.”
After the men disconnected, Shaw called the main FPD number,dropped the CEO’s name and three minutes later he was on the line with Dunfry Kemp.
“Detective. It’s Colter Shaw.”
“Yessir.” The voice was burdened. Because of this call or had more files arrived in the night?
“I understand that Ms. Parker’s lawyer has disappeared.”
A moment of debate. Then: “You’ll keep this to yourself.”
Meaning from the press.
“Yes.”
“Security video in a storefront on Fourth Street showed a man, dark windbreaker—what Merritt was wearing earlier in the day—getting into Mr. Stein’s car. Had a gun. Then it drove off. The car was found abandoned by the Kenoah about six this morning.”
“So he’s armed.” Adding quite the complication. “Any sign of a struggle? Blood?”
“I don’t know at this time.”
“Have you talked to anyone in his office? They see anything?”
“His paralegal-slash-secretary. She never heard from him after she went home about five.”
“Can I speak to her?”
Kemp’s cooperation wouldn’t extend there. “She doesn’t know anything. Anyway, she’s taking a few days off. She’s scared of Merritt.”
“I left you a message about video cameras in Marshall County.”
“Oh, yessir. I called them. Haven’t heard back.” The detective covered the mouthpiece and Shaw heard him speaking in muffled tones with someone else.
Shaw said, “So. This’s a felony investigation now.”
“It is. We have some patrol officers searching the area where his car was found.”
“You assign Homicide detectives?”
“It’s Major Cases here, and we will be.”
Shaw was tired of this. “You haven’t yet?”
“No. But those two patrol officers? They’re veterans. They ran a canvass on Fourth Street, then moved on to the river.”
“You have their report?”
“Not at this time.” Now the voice was not only burdened but resistant.