Free Delusions With Murder: A Rilynne Evans Mystery by Jenn Vakey

focus on the house.  It took several minutes of concentrating before she got what she needed.  The houses basement, which was fairly large, was nearly empty, with the exception of a washer and dryer near the stairs and an old couch pushed against the back wall.
    This was going to take a while and it’s getting late, she thought to herself.  She just needed a few hours sleep, and she would start fresh in the morning.  With one last thought of Derek Hartley, she closed her eyes and quickly drifted into a deep sleep.  Perhaps it was the wine, or the fact she had only gotten six hours of sleep in the past three days, but Rilynne had her first dreamless night in months.
    *     *     *
    She poured herself a cup of coffee, and sat down gathering the papers she had left on the floor the night before.  When she reached the photos of the apartment upstairs, she stopped and closed her eyes.  The last she had been able to see of Derek, he was injured and coming face-to-face with his attacker.  Rilynne had tried several times, but was unable to get another glimpse of him.  This morning was no different.
    Half of the detectives were already in the office when Rilynne stepped through the door.  Judging by the crowd around the computer monitors in the corner, the ATM footage had come in.
    “What do you got?” Wilcome called out as he passed Rilynne and headed for the screen.  As the group parted to let Wilcome in, Rilynne was able to see images of the front of her building.
    “The ATM takes a picture every three seconds,” Butcher responded.  “We can see Hartley entering the building at two twenty-one alone, then leaving again at two thirty-six.  Unfortunately, a woman was using the ATM at that time, so we can just make him out between her left ear and the edge of the frame.  He’s looking back like he’s talking to someone, but we do not have an image of them.  We do, however, know which direction he headed when he left the building.”
    The disappointment on Detective Wilcome’s face was shared amongst the rest of the detectives.  Wilcome actually looked like he wanted to hit something.  “Well, pull all of the faces off for the three days we don’t have surveillance.  The perpetrator had to go into the building in order to get Hartley out.  He’s on these tapes somewhere.”  He walked away without waiting for a response.
    The atmosphere in the room did not improve as the day went on.  The background checks started coming in on the owners of the houses on their list.  By lunchtime, nearly half of them had been cleared.  Rilynne went out with Detective Ochoa to look into the ones they couldn’t.  Luckily, most of the owners were more than willing to allow them to have a quick look at their basement.  Some of them even seemed a little amused.  One very nice older woman even insisted on making them sandwiches before they left.
    There were only three homes left on their list as they headed back to the office.
    “This one-” Rilynne pinned the first report on the board, “-we did not get a response at.  Donovan and Ochoa are going back after five.  These two-” she hung the other two next to the first, “would not let us in.  We are running more extensive checks on the owners now.  Rodriguez and Davidson are keeping an eye on them just in case one of them happens to be our house and they try to move Hartley before we go back.”
    “What about the houses that are not in the city limits?” Wilcome asked, leaning back in his chair.
    “Those are going to be a little harder,” Rilynne said as she dropped down in the chair across from him.  “We have two that have basements listed on the property information, but homes that were built by the owners may not have it listed on the records.  Steele’s sister is a real estate agent, so he’s working with her to find past sale listings.  If a home has one, it should be on the reports.  That just leaves us with the houses that still have