For My Brother Read Online Free PDF Page B

back bedroom.
    Jason noticed the window was cracked slightly open and the screen was missing. He went to the back door and found it unlocked. Outside, the screen lay on the ground below the window, next to a set of shoe prints in the soft soil below the ledge. He went back through the house and found the uniformed officer.
    “Get on your radio and call for a forensic team. Tell them Detective Strong made the request.”
    “Yes, sir.”
    Jason turned to the friend.
    “Jerry Baker, is it?”
    “Yeah.”
    “When was the first time you noticed your friend wasn’t around?”
    “Two days ago. I called him to confirm our golf date, but got no answer. I left a message, but he didn’t call back. Yesterday, I showed up to play golf and he wasn’t there. I played with the two other guys in our group.”
    “I’d like you to give their names to the officer.”
    “Sure.”
    “So when did you decide to come over to the house?”
    “I called him at work this morning, but they said he didn’t show. So I left my job to come over and see what was up.”
    “And being out of contact for a couple days is unusual for you two?”
    “Yeah. We’ve been friends for years, and he never misses work or golf without calling.”
    “Okay, thanks.”
    Jason saw Nina coming back down the sidewalk and went to meet her.
    “Anything?”
    She shook her head.
    “Hear no evil, see no evil. Nobody admits to noticing anything.”
    “To be expected. Folks in this area tend to keep to themselves, at least officially.”
    She put her notebook away and looked at him.
    “How ’bout you? You find anything?”
    “Actually, I do want to show you something. Come take a look.”
    Nina followed him through the living room and into the bedroom, where he pointed at the windowsill.
    “I think we may have a point of entry here. I called for a forensic team.”
    The uniformed officer stuck his head in the bedroom door. “Forensics is here.”
    “Okay, thanks.”
    A few minutes later, the tech came into the back of the house.
    “I need you guys to dust the house, and in particular, this window ledge. Also, I need a casting of a set of footprints.”
    The tech followed Jason to where the detective had seen the shoe prints. Jason pointed at them.
    The tech nodded. “Yes, sir.”
    Looking from the back door, the small yard behind the duplex opened onto an alley. Jason and Nina walked back to where they could see for two blocks in either direction. The alley eventually hit a street at both ends.
    Nina summed it up.
    “This might explain why no one heard or saw anything. Easy to come and go without being noticed.”
    Jason was nodding.
    “Almost perfect cover.”
    They walked back to the front of the house. Nina grabbed the file out of the car.
    “The address for the ex-wife is in here. Do you want to go talk to her?”
    “Yeah, we’re done here.”

 
     
    Chapter 6
     
     
    Chelsea Morris took a quick look at the clock. Fifteen minutes more, and her shift was over. She grabbed the coffee pot for the hundredth time today, and went over to Mr. Perkins. Ever since Chelsea started at Daylight Donuts, the elderly man had sat in her station. In all that time, he’d never ordered food. Just coffee, black and hot, a half-cup at a time.
    “Here you go, Mr. Perkins.”
    “Just a half-cup.”
    Chelsea smiled, and obediently stopped at the halfway point in his cup. They played out this dance all the time.
    “You want a donut?”
    “No thank you, young lady. I think I’ll just have coffee today.”
    Mr. Perkins had lost his wife ten years ago. He had told Chelsea about his beloved Dolly many times, and Chelsea always listened patiently. She didn’t know how old Mr. Perkins was, but she guessed him in his seventies.
    Talking to people of his generation was easy for Chelsea. As the last of seven kids, her parents were already in their late forties when she came along.
    Sitting next to Mr. Perkins was a young man drinking a mocha latte. He hadn’t said two