Read Online No Place to Die by James L. Thane - Free Book Online Page B

continued to assume that the killer had transferred Thompson from the Lexus to the black van that the Chasen girl had described for me. Given the timing of Thompson’s abduction, we further reasoned that the killer had probably parked the van near the Chasen home sometime between five o’clock and six thirty last night. We were hoping to find someone who had not been home while we were canvassing last night but who had been home earlier in the evening and who might thus have seen either the van or perhaps even the killer himself.
    Again, Maggie took the south side of the street while I took the north. I began with the house in front of which the van had been parked. Unlike last night, the couple who lived in the house was at home, and a small gray-haired woman opened the door as far as the security chain would allow. I introduced myself and showed her my badge and ID.
    The woman took a good long look at both throughthe crack in the door, glancing back and forth from me to the photo on my ID. Finally she called to her husband and only when he was standing protectively beside her did she finally loosen the chain and open the door. “I apologize for being such a fraidycat,” she said sheepishly. “But after what happened only a couple of blocks away last night, I’m feeing a bit nervous.”
    The woman, who looked to be in her late sixties, introduced herself as Helen Fulton. I assured her that she needn’t apologize for being sensibly cautious and asked if she or her husband had noticed any strange vehicles parked in front of their house on the previous evening.
    “I certainly did,” she said. “That’s why I called the police.”
    “I’m sorry, ma’am,” I said, caught off guard. “You say you called the police?”
    “Yes, I did.”
    Pointing to her husband, she said, “I was waiting for Marvin to get home because we were going to our daughter’s for dinner last night. He was late and I was looking out the window for him a little before six o’clock when I saw an old black van pull up in front of the house.
    “Well, I wasn’t expecting anyone other than Marvin and I didn’t know who it might be. I watched a man get out of the van, but instead of coming up to the door, he simply started walking off down the street.”
    “Which way did he go, Mrs. Fulton?”
    “That way,” she said, pointing east.
    “Okay, just so I understand, the man got out of the van on the driver’s side, which would have been the side away from the house?”
    “That’s right.”
    “And once he was clear of the van, you watched him walk away?”
    “Yes.”
    “And the man was alone?”
    “Yes. That is, unless there was someone who stayed in the back of the van where I couldn’t see them.”
    “How well did you see the man?”
    She gave me an apologetic look. “Not all that well, I’m afraid. My eyes aren’t what they used to be, and I really only saw the man at a distance from the side and from the back. I didn’t get a good look at his face.”
    “How was the man dressed?”
    “In black. He had on a long-sleeve black shirt and a pair of black pants. I remember thinking that was odd, because it was still fairly warm, even at six o’clock last night. I thought that a person walking any distance in that outfit was bound to be hot and uncomfortable.”
    “How old would you say the man was?”
    She shrugged. “I could only guess, Detective. The way he carried himself, he struck me as a young man, probably between twenty and forty, but I didn’t see him well enough to make a better guess.”
    “Was the man wearing a hat?”
    “No.”
    “What color was his hair?”
    She thought about it for a moment, then shook her head. “I’m sorry. I don’t have any recollection of his hair.”
    “Why did you call the police, Mrs. Fulton?”
    “Well, I was angry because he just parked his van there and walked off. This is a fairly narrow street, and most of the residents are careful to park in their garages and driveways. If