cups of coffee sitting on a small table situated in the corner of the room. "I hope you like Chinese."
"It is my favorite."
Smith showed us how to use two of the spare screens to view the surveillance tapes.
"I have some things to take care of. Let me know if you see anything that might be of use. My cell is on." He jotted his number down on a napkin.
"I'll let you know if we find anything."
He nodded curtly then left us to our own devices.
Kelly and I sat down at the table and sorted through the boxes of food.
"So, let's go over what we know." I reached behind me and grabbed a pen and paper from the desk.
"We know that Marvin liked the ladies," Kelly said and then popped a cream cheese wonton in her mouth.
"He was a huge cheater. No monogamous relationships for him. He was stringing Bambi, Addie, and Chelsea along at the same time."
I jotted down notes as we spoke.
"Marvin was killed at 11:00 pm on the night of the twenty-second. Chelsea said she was at home waiting for Marvin to show up. Addie said she had to pick her mom up from the airport that day, but we still don't know where she was that night."
"From what Smith said, none of the ladies have an alibi for that night," Kelly said.
"But the odds of Addie being able to move Marvin's body under the tree is miniscule. She's barely half his size."
"True," Kelly agreed. "So Addie being the killer is highly unlikely."
I chewed a bite of noodles then tapped the box with a chopstick. "I think one of the other two women did it. A lover scorned and all of that, but without any real evidence, there's no way to know for sure," I said. "I wish we knew what the cops have found so far, if they even have any evidence."
I took a bite of a pot sticker and continued to tap the box with the chopstick. "Chelsea said that the mall closed at 9:00 pm on the night that Marvin was killed. According to Chelsea, the only people still in the mall after that time would've been those whose job it was to straighten up the winter wonderland scene in preparation for the next day."
"If Marvin was killed at around 11:00 pm, then everyone had to be out of the building or else someone would've witnessed Marvin being killed," Kelly said around a mouthful of rice.
"Unless he was killed somewhere else and then moved to the tree," I added.
"True," Kelly agreed. "We need to watch the tapes of the areas closest to the wonderland scene around the time of death, between 10:00 pm and 12:00 pm."
"Sounds like as good of a place to start as any." I shrugged and took a sip of coffee.
We finished off the tasty Chinese food Detective Smith had left us and turned our attention to the monitors.
"Which camera is closest to the wonderland area?" Kelly asked.
"That would be"—I rolled my chair over to look at the paper directory hanging on the wall—"the food court." I rolled back to the desk.
She clicked on the computer screen, scrolled to the one labeled food court , and clicked on play.
We waited a minute then a grainy black and white picture of the area just outside of the food court popped up.
I reached up and hit the fast-forward button until the time at the bottom right corner of the screen hit the 10:00 pm mark.
The camera panned the entire food court and about twenty feet outside of the area. We could see a small portion of the tree but not the actual murder scene.
We leaned back in our chairs and settled in to watch the next two hours of tape. We watched in silence as the camera panned the food court, then to the area just outside of it, and back to the starting point again.
"I don't think any of the women murdered Marvin," Kelly spoke up.
"What? Why not?" I looked at her like she was crazy. The killer was almost always a scorned lover. Didn't she watch CSI ?
"Well." She propped her feet up on the corner of the desk and laced her finger across her midsection. "Usually when a woman really loves a man and he's been murdered, she's pretty distraught. None of the women we talked to today
"It is my favorite."
Smith showed us how to use two of the spare screens to view the surveillance tapes.
"I have some things to take care of. Let me know if you see anything that might be of use. My cell is on." He jotted his number down on a napkin.
"I'll let you know if we find anything."
He nodded curtly then left us to our own devices.
Kelly and I sat down at the table and sorted through the boxes of food.
"So, let's go over what we know." I reached behind me and grabbed a pen and paper from the desk.
"We know that Marvin liked the ladies," Kelly said and then popped a cream cheese wonton in her mouth.
"He was a huge cheater. No monogamous relationships for him. He was stringing Bambi, Addie, and Chelsea along at the same time."
I jotted down notes as we spoke.
"Marvin was killed at 11:00 pm on the night of the twenty-second. Chelsea said she was at home waiting for Marvin to show up. Addie said she had to pick her mom up from the airport that day, but we still don't know where she was that night."
"From what Smith said, none of the ladies have an alibi for that night," Kelly said.
"But the odds of Addie being able to move Marvin's body under the tree is miniscule. She's barely half his size."
"True," Kelly agreed. "So Addie being the killer is highly unlikely."
I chewed a bite of noodles then tapped the box with a chopstick. "I think one of the other two women did it. A lover scorned and all of that, but without any real evidence, there's no way to know for sure," I said. "I wish we knew what the cops have found so far, if they even have any evidence."
I took a bite of a pot sticker and continued to tap the box with the chopstick. "Chelsea said that the mall closed at 9:00 pm on the night that Marvin was killed. According to Chelsea, the only people still in the mall after that time would've been those whose job it was to straighten up the winter wonderland scene in preparation for the next day."
"If Marvin was killed at around 11:00 pm, then everyone had to be out of the building or else someone would've witnessed Marvin being killed," Kelly said around a mouthful of rice.
"Unless he was killed somewhere else and then moved to the tree," I added.
"True," Kelly agreed. "We need to watch the tapes of the areas closest to the wonderland scene around the time of death, between 10:00 pm and 12:00 pm."
"Sounds like as good of a place to start as any." I shrugged and took a sip of coffee.
We finished off the tasty Chinese food Detective Smith had left us and turned our attention to the monitors.
"Which camera is closest to the wonderland area?" Kelly asked.
"That would be"—I rolled my chair over to look at the paper directory hanging on the wall—"the food court." I rolled back to the desk.
She clicked on the computer screen, scrolled to the one labeled food court , and clicked on play.
We waited a minute then a grainy black and white picture of the area just outside of the food court popped up.
I reached up and hit the fast-forward button until the time at the bottom right corner of the screen hit the 10:00 pm mark.
The camera panned the entire food court and about twenty feet outside of the area. We could see a small portion of the tree but not the actual murder scene.
We leaned back in our chairs and settled in to watch the next two hours of tape. We watched in silence as the camera panned the food court, then to the area just outside of it, and back to the starting point again.
"I don't think any of the women murdered Marvin," Kelly spoke up.
"What? Why not?" I looked at her like she was crazy. The killer was almost always a scorned lover. Didn't she watch CSI ?
"Well." She propped her feet up on the corner of the desk and laced her finger across her midsection. "Usually when a woman really loves a man and he's been murdered, she's pretty distraught. None of the women we talked to today
Similar Books
