Chapter 15

"When I told my wife we why we hadn't Identified the girl. She asked, if I had found her wallet. No girl would be caught dead going out at night without at least a clutch bag. According to my wife. So I got to thinking, if she was killed here, then her bag might be somewhere around here. If so where was it? I checked all the other buildings and there it was. Well it was near some disturbed dust in this little building, but under an old desk. It was late at night and dark as the Sheriff's soul in here that night. I should have gone over it sooner, but there has been so many things to do."

"Okay Wilson, whose wallet was it?" I asked.

"The name on the ID is Mary Beth Martin," he said. "According to the ID she is 18 a student at the State University at Abbottsville."

"So it isn't Lucy?" I asked.

"I never said that, The student ID is a fake. Somebody went to a just a little effort to make it. This ID is for someone on a door somewhere to cover his ass, not to really weed anyone out," Wilson explained.

"Okay, so is it Lucy?" I asked.

"Sure looks like her to me. I compared the pictures and they look about the same. They didn't even use the aging programs on her picture. I guess if they did it wouldn't look as much like her." Wilson said.

"Did you tell Simpson?" I asked.

"No, I was going to after I told you," Wilson said.

"I'll tell him. First of all how to you see it unfolding now," I asked.

"There are some tire tracks. I made pictures and got them ready to send to the SBI super computer. He takes or forces her to go into this building. I'm not really sure which it was. Something happens to spook her. She runs off leaving the purse. He chases her into the main building. She is trying to hide.

"I'm not sure what he did to her there first, but in the end he hit her with an aluminum baseball bat. He hit her more than once. We are probably going to find out from the pathologist that he beat her with his hands first then put the cloth over her face and killed her," Wilson guessed.

"Not much hard evidence but that sounds like a pretty good working theory. It beats she walked in with him carrying a bat. He beats her senseless then gets the bat out of his car trunk. So you found the bat," I asked.

"Yes, but it might not help much. It looks like one of those bats that has been around some, but it was wiped clean," Wilson said.

"Now that makes no sense. He took the time to wipe it clean, but he didn't put it back in the trunk of his car. Unless he knew something about forensics," I said.

"You could be right Sheriff. If he knew that he could never get all the trace evidence off the bat. It would have been better to get rid of it after he wiped it clean. Then if we search his car there is nothing to tie him to her," Wilson suggested.

"Since it could be anyone's bat, it is going to be hard to trace to anyone person. Tell me Wilson how is Simpson doing with all this," I asked.

"He is asking the right questions and listening to me. Something the last detective didn't always do," he said.

I nodded my approval and walked back to my truck. I was struck with the memory of my first real whodunit ever. It was a young girl in this very same area. It wasn't a party this time, but it was still a young girl's murdered that got me started.

I dialed Eddie's cell. "Eddie let's meet somewhere for coffee. We need to talk." I said.

"Okay Sheriff, how about the Cafe on the Square?" he suggested. I would have countered with the Brit's pub, but I didn't want anyone to think we were drinking in the middle of the day.

When I got to the cafe, Eddie was already seated with a cup of coffee. "So what can I do for you chief," Eddie asked.

"Wilson managed to get us a preliminary ID. Looks like it is Lucy Martinez," I said.

"Yeah, I was pretty sure that it was," Eddie said.

"Yeah me to," I agreed. "So lets combine information and speculation."

"Well, I have been checking on the plant first of all. It seems the people around her know you can go there and not be hassled by the deputies. The deputies only respond to complaints up there. It is too damn large an area filled with deserted manufacturing building in that area. It we patrolled them all we wouldn't have time to do anything else."

"So what happens up there?" I asked.

"Well seems they sell come weed up there, and there is also some bartering," Simpson said.

"Are you trying to tell me they trade blow jobs for weed?" I asked with a smile.

"Or for money," he said.

"The guys don't normally go there to meet women or sell pot. It usually starts somewhere else and ends up there. That's what I hear anyway," Simpson informed me.

"So are you thinking Lucy was a pot head or a hooker?" I asked.

"Maybe both, she was painted up like a hooker," Simpson said. "Since Wilson said she could have been killed there, it could have been a dissatisfied client."

"Or a drug deal gone bad. You know neither one explains that fake ID," I said. "Drug dealers don't ask for ID and for the pervert trade the younger the better."

"Unless she is using it to get into college bars, but that don't make no sense either. College boys are buying weed, not selling it usually There is no money to be made on blow jobs what with those college girls giving them away for a beer or two."