Pulling out his cell phone, Jason punched in a few buttons and waited for West to answer.

“It’s about time you called me. I’ve been waiting to hear from you.”

And West gave Jason shit about how he answered the phone…

“It’s nice to talk to you too, bro. I’ve got information for you. What do you have to tell me?”

Jason heard West snapping at someone, his tone short and impatient. Whatever West had to say wasn’t good news. He would have made a terrible poker player.

“Roger Gaines died from a gunshot wound to the heart. Thirty-eight caliber. Coroner confirmed death to be around eight at night.”

“Nothing we didn’t know,” Jason observed. “Is that it?”

“Pretty much. Roger Gaines was in mediocre health for a man so young. His weight was too high, his muscle tone terrible, and his arteries already showed the effects of a junk food diet paired with a sedentary lifestyle. Add twenty years to his age and he would have been a ticking time bomb.”

Those facts went along with what they’d found out from Stuart Gaines. Jason quickly filled West in on what he’d learned today.

“What about forensics?”

“I don’t have it all back yet but I can tell you that you were right about one thing. The standard is for every room to have six plastic cups on the counter.”

“So he did have company. The killer was someone he knew.”

“Or he could have used the cups earlier and threw them away,” West pointed out. “It gives credence to your theory but it doesn’t prove it. I will concede that I agree that the killer was someone he wasn’t afraid of. He didn’t fight or struggle. As for finding any trash from the room in nearby dumpsters? We came up empty.”

Jason growled in frustration. “This guy isn’t stupid. I feel like he knew what he was doing. He planned it out. This was no spur of the moment thing.”

“But why would someone plot to kill some guy who is basically a nerd. The most dangerous thing Gaines did was read about murder from the safety of his brother’s home. That’s not going to get you killed generally.”

“What about fingerprints?” Jason doubted the killer had been that careless. He seemed to have covered all the bases.

“We got a couple of hits in the database but I was able to weed them from the suspect list. They both had solid alibis. One’s in jail and the other was at work a hundred miles away with about a dozen witnesses.”

Shit and double shit.

“So basically we got nothing. That’s great. I’m going to have Jared check out Brad Enright. He was supposedly Roger’s best friend from kindergarten but he admitted today that they competed with each other.”

“Nothing wrong with a little healthy competition. That hardly makes him a suspect,” West observed.

“It does if Enright married Roger’s high school sweetheart,” Jason laughed, remembering the car salesman’s expression when he’d revealed that little detail. “In my book that makes a possible motive.”

“So maybe Stuart Gaines killed his little brother because he was a huge sponge, living off Stuart’s hard work. Or perhaps Brad Enright killed him because of some jealousy thing. I’ve got to tell you it’s not much to go on.”

It wasn’t and that bugged the hell out of Jason. How could one man have so little contact with the outside world and still be physically alive? Somewhere there was a person who interacted with Gaines regularly – maybe even on a daily basis.

“Enright told us about a new girlfriend. She’s unlisted so I’ll have Jared take a run at finding her. Hopefully he can do that overnight so I can talk to her tomorrow.”

West sighed. “I’d love to shake loose from this case and go with you. Anything to get me away from the mayor. He called me six times today.”

Jason’s brother was working on the ritual-like murder of a teenager. Murders of kids trumped adults every time and this one was taking all of West’s attention, which was fine with Jason. He didn’t need a babysitter to do his job.

“About what?”

“Hell if I know,” West retorted, dislike in his tone. “To bitch, mostly. Election time can’t come too soon.”

“You could end up with someone much worse,” Jason warned with a laugh. “Maybe you should think about running yourself. The Andersons have friends in this town. You’d probably get some support.”

There was muffled choking on the other end of the call which told Jason loud and clear what his brother thought of the idea of running for office. Or using his family connections.

“Never say that out loud again. I mean never.”

“Then I better hang up because I can’t think of any other way to solve your problem. I’ll call you in the morning.”

Jason rang off and then quickly dialed Jared, hoping he wouldn’t wake the baby, Elizabeth Rose. Jared picked up on the first ring.

“Did I wake her?” Jason asked, taking a swig from his beer bottle.

“She’s asleep and so is Misty. Let me get into the den so I won’t bother her.” Jason heard the sound of a door and then another. “Okay, we can talk. I’ve got information for you. Really interesting stuff.”

This was the first good news of the day.

“I’m listening.” Jason slid the pen and notebook in front of him and paged to an empty space. “Go ahead.”

“You asked me to investigate your neighbor Brinley Snow and I did find out a few things. She had a restraining order against some guy – Tom Leeds – back in Chicago. From what I can tell he was the father of one of her students. Apparently Brinley felt the little girl should be held back a year and the father lost his ever-loving mind. Started following her around. Showing up at restaurants and movies. Sitting in front of her apartment. She received threatening letters and Leeds even tried to get her fired. Told the school board she was hitting and verbally abusing the kids in her class. It was a fucking mess.”

“Let me guess. They had to investigate her because of the allegations.”

Anger churned in Jason’s gut at the unjustness of Brinley’s situation. Anyone who had spent five minutes with the woman would know she wouldn’t hurt or abuse someone.

“It gets better. Leeds was a big shot in the Windy City and had a couple of board members in his pocket to make her life extra special horrible. Eventually the whole case fell apart when several influential parents came to her defense but it was a real cluster for awhile. Brinley resigned and took a year off tutoring at one of those centers for gifted children. I’m not sure how she heard about the opening in Tremont but she was hired and moved here in April.”

And moved in next door the first week of May. Only days after Mrs. Barnes had moved out and into an assisted living facility.

“Maybe Leeds isn’t over the whole thing, although how he would know Roger Gaines I have no idea. You didn’t find a connection?”

“None,” Jared said flatly. “And believe me, I looked. If they’ve ever had any contact they’ve hidden it well. I’d make sure you protect Ms. Snow. If Leeds is out there and still upset, he might escalate from stalking to something more up close and personal.”

Which reminded him that Brinley was out of his sight. After hearing this he couldn’t let that happen.

“Where was Leeds at the time of death?”

“A birthday party for his daughter. Plenty of witnesses but he’s rich enough to hire people.”

“It’s a stretch,” Jason admitted. “It’s doubtful Leeds would go off after all this time.”

“I’m not done researching him. If there’s something there I’ll find it,” Jared vowed. “Which reminds me, I’ll have more information for you on Roger Gaines by morning. I’ve got a program running right now.”

“Add one more. Anita Hazlitt.” Jason spelled her name and gave the few particulars that he had. “I want to talk to her. Preferably tomorrow. If you don’t have time I can do it.”

“Then let me get back to work. If I have any issues I’ll send you a text by midnight. You’ll be awake?”