Chapter 3

Leaving California and eventually crossing into Utah seemed to be the final thing that Fiona and Lizzie needed to really begin to relax completely. After several hours on the road, Gavin kept an eye out for the first decent looking place and they stopped to eat around mid afternoon.

While the SUV was being filled up with gas, the three of them took a table in Ma Baker's and ordered up fried chicken, coleslaw and several ears of corn.

The waitress was just as cheery and friendly as all the other service staff Gavin had come across since arriving in the US and the portions of food that duly arrived were just as unfeasibly large as usual.

"You know, it's hardly surprising the US has obesity issues. I mean, look at this! Every time we eat out the portions they serve up are enough for two or even three people. I'll never get through all this," he moaned. "You've got to hand it to them though, they've got the friendly customer service thing down to a fine art in this country."

The girls both laughed. They had ordered a single portion between the two of them, well aware of what to expect in terms of the size of portions that restaurants served up.

Once the food had been served and they had relative privacy, Fiona questioned her brother on what he planned to do next.

"So, bro, I'm guessing that you had to use the $10,000 to redeem the necklace that's in the case. What about your promise to the dead guy? Didn't he ask you to make sure his wife got the money?" she asked.

"I thought it was too risky carrying that money around. Remember, the dead guy had been handling it and it could have linked me back to him. Too risky by half. I've got plenty of money so I'll just give his wife $10,000 of my own once I find her," Gavin replied.

Lizzie finished chewing on a piece of chicken and swallowed before joining in the conversation. "How are you going to find this mystery woman?" she asked.

Gavin paused to gather his thoughts before replying.

"I've already been searching the internet for anything that might help me. The details of the robbery and Sinclair's court case looked as if they might give me the clues I needed, but that kind of fizzled out.

"I thought my next line might be to look at the prison — San Quentin I think it was — and see whether there's any way I can get his last known address from there."

"That's pretty unlikely," Fiona said between mouthfuls. "No government agency is going to release personal details to just anybody."

"I know that! I've been trying to come up with a way to get access. Maybe I could phone up and pose as a local lawman in Louisiana or maybe the probation service," Gavin thought out loud.

"Why would they need his last known address? If you were a cop or someone from the probation service then you'd already have those details. You'll have to think again, bro, that's not going to fly," laughed Fiona.

"Perhaps you could pretend to be from a TV company — you know, a journalist researching something for a story or something," suggested Lizzie.

"Perhaps," Gavin nodded, giving her idea some thought.

"Maybe you should just hire a private detective to do the work for you. Wouldn't that be the easiest thing to do?" asked Fiona.

"That's a good idea, sis. Yeah, a private dick, good thinking," said Gavin, the sarcasm dripping from his words. "How long do you think it would take a private detective to link the information I'm looking for to the murder of Sinclair in Cathedral City? Don't you think that would look kind of suspicious to somebody like that?"

"Oh! I never thought of that," said Fiona, blushing with embarrassment.

Ideas flew back and forth between the three of them while they finished their meal, but by the time they were ready to resume their journey Gavin was no clearer on how he was going to proceed with his enquiries.

Local interest in John Sinclair's murder was still high and it wasn't difficult for Markow to get News Channel 3 to air the CCTV footage of Gavin in the pawn shop. A voice-over asked anyone with information on the man contained in the footage to contact Cathedral City PD on the toll-free number.

Within the first hour of Gavin's image being shown, there were enough calls identifying him as someone who had stayed at the Dorel Dorset to convince Greg that he had his lead.

When his officers returned from the motel they had all of Gavin's details.

"He checked out yesterday, Chief. Gavin MacSween, appears to have had two young women with him. Registration has him down as a Brit and the credit card used for the booking and other costs incurred during his stay would back that up. The reservations were made via the internet seven weeks ago, so they predate when Sinclair was released from prison. The home address given in the booking is in the US though, not the UK." The detective quickly referred to his notes. "Apartment building in Cedar City, Utah. Should I contact the locals and have them take a look?"

Markow screwed his eyes shut and pinched the bridge of his nose as he thought about how he should proceed. He hadn't been expecting the international angle and was immediately worried that that could complicate things. Having no jurisdiction as an officer in Utah also meant that he would have no choice but involve the Cedar City PD.

"Let me deal with Cedar City PD," he ordered at last. "I suppose the motel will have cleaned the room already, but get a forensic team in there anyway. Let's see if we can find anything — I want them to go over that room with a fine-toothed comb."

Greg's secretary found him the number for Cedar City PD and he closed his door while he made the call to his counterpart. He was transferred several times before eventually getting through to Chief Phil Grissom and they exchanged the usual pleasantries before Greg explained the reason for his call.

"Listen, Phil. I've got a murder investigation running down here in Palm Springs and from what I've got so far it looks as if my number one suspect is holed up in your neck of the woods," he explained.

"Oh, is that right? What can you tell me?"

Greg sketched out the details as vaguely as he could, but included the fact that he himself had been an eye witness.

"We've tracked him through the motel he was staying at and his registration gives his residence as the Iron Spring Apartment Building. Now having looked at CCTV images of this guy I have no doubt that he's my man, but I'm still waiting to get a warrant signed for his arrest," said Greg.

"Once you've got the warrant give me a call, Greg and I'll be happy to pick him up for you. Meantime it won't do any harm for me to have someone swing by the apartment building and give the place the once over."

"Ah, Phil? I was hoping that you'd extend your hospitality and let me be in on the arrest. I surely would like to be there, I feel as if I've got a personal stake on this one given I'm the only witness," said Greg.

He held his breath waiting for Grissom's response. Markow knew he would feel far more comfortable if he was on the ground and able to limit any damage that his suspect could do when he was picked up.

"Kinda unusual, Greg, but I don't see why not. Sure, I'm sure you'd do the same for me. Get back to me when you've got that arrest warrant. Meantime if I come up with anything, I'll let you know."

Greg let out a sigh of relief as he ended the call. He sorely wanted to be on the scene to find out the contents of the paper sack and also to hopefully stop this Gavin MacSween from causing him any bother when he was arrested. With any luck the transfer from Cedar City to Cathedral City could be carried out quickly and then he would be in complete control once more.

The next day and a half were difficult for Markow however. He was having trouble convincing the DA to get a judge to sign a warrant on the strength of his claims to be an eye witness alone. His initial account had made it clear he didn't get a good look at the jogger — a fact underlined by his sketchy description on the day of murder. The DA thought it was an almighty leap from that to Markow being positive about his identification of Gavin through the CCTV footage.

Greg's argument was also hampered by the fact that he hadn't mentioned the pawn ticket Gavin had used — that would have been too dangerous and would focus attention on events ten years ago. Instead, Greg had claimed he had stumbled over the footage by sheer accident. He thought back to the conversation he'd had with the DA that morning.

"So, let me get this clear, Chief. You go from having no real idea of what this guy looks like; to four days of door to door that delivers nada. With no leads, you then visit the jewellery store that Sinclair robbed ten years ago to — let me get this right now — to make sure there were no loose ends you say, basically to find out if Sinclair had revisited the scene of the crime so to speak.

"The owner of the store doesn't have any recollection of Sinclair having been there in the past few days, but he lets you look through his CCTV footage anyway and you identify this Gavin MacSween and say he's the jogger? You'll forgive me if I'm more than a little sceptical, Chief. You need to give me more than that."