Chapter 5:
With nothing else to collect at the scene Nick and Hank went to question Monroe, who was waiting by the bike bridge. Rosaleen followed a short distance.
Hank said, "Mr. Monroe, we meet again. What brings you here?"
Monroe answered, "I like to hike every now and again. You know to mix it up."
Nick asked, "Were you the one, who came across the… victim?" He couldn't bring himself to call Sarah a body.
Monroe shook his head, "No, I'm the one that almost got ran over by the two bikers. I was also the one who almost got pummeled because they thought I was the killer. After calming them down, and convincing them I wasn't going to kill them, I called the police."
Nick nodded, "Did you see anything out of the ordinary? Anyone stand out?"
Monroe shook his head, "No. I wish. Sad part is this place is good for hiding. It's so dense. There have been many times I didn't see someone until I almost ran into them."
Hank butted in, "Did you know a Sarah Jennings?"
Monroe looked shocked, "Roddy Geiger's friend? I've never met her, but he talks about her all the time. Is that….? God! This is going to kill him."
Hank asked, "You're close to Roddy Geiger?"
Monroe shrugged, "He was having a tough time with the mess that happened at school. I play the cello. Someone thought it would a good idea if I had a chat with him. We just kept talking. He's a good kid. He's not going to take this well at all."
Nick motioned Hank to the side, and whispers, "Someone needs to inform Roddy of this. He might not be family, but it isn't right for him to find out from the news."
Hank answered, "I agree with you. You might have to inform him yourself. I don't think his father has forgiven me for launching his ass into prison. I rather take on Mrs. Jessup by myself."
Nick asked, "How about you take Wu instead? That way she knows we are taking her daughter's death seriously. I'll take Monroe and Rosaleen with me. Maybe having them there will show Mr. Geiger I'm not a threat."
Hank agreed and the shouted, "Hey, Wu. We need to get going and see Mrs. Jessup."
Wu walked up and answered, "We don't need to. She's at the station. It seems that Sarah never showed up at her friend's last night as planned. The Captain is waiting with her."
Hank sighed, "Great. Maybe I should have gone with the ex boyfriend detail. Okay. Let's go. See you after, Nick?"
Nick answered, "Yeah. I feel like we're not going to sleep for a long time."
Hank frowned, "I hate it when you say that. Why can't you get a 'feeling' about lotto numbers or something?"
As Hank and Wu left Nick returned to where they left Monroe and he motioned Rosaleen to join them. He said, "Monroe, this is Rosaleen Deage. She teaches Folklore at Pacific University. Rosaleen, this is Eddie Monroe, ummm clockmaker."
Shaking the hand Monroe offered, "I've heard about you."
Monroe squeaked, "Oh? Umm I mean really?"
She smiled, "A coworker of mine had you restore and engrave a Victorian pocket watch. He gave it to his wife on the day he retired. It read 'From now on you're my time keeper'. It was very romantic, and the watch was beautiful."
Monroe grinned, "Yes. I remember now. Swiss watch from the Wittnauer. It sure was a beauty. Eight caret gold with seventeen jewels, basket weave design. The springs and gears still worked perfectly. It was a joy working on something that exquisite. Ummm, but you probably didn't need to know that. Sorry."
She laughed, "I'm fine with it, Mr. Monroe. It's rare to see someone, who truly enjoys their work as you obviously do."
Nick stepped in, "I kind of need to ask you both a favor. I'm going to tell Roddy about Sarah, and see if he's seen anything strange. Could you both come with me? If you both are there, it might help."
Rosaleen frowned, "I can understand why you'd want Mr. Monroe to come along. He knows the boy. Why me?"
Nick answered, "Roddy's dad gets a little defensive with me. If you're there, he might accept that I'm not trying to throw his son in jail. Plus it cuts down on gas, since I won't have to drive you back home until after the visit."
Silently they drove to the Geiger trailer. None of them were look forward to what they were about to do.
The Geiger home was a bunch of the trailers and sheds set on land haphazardly. It was cluttered and not really clean. Evidence of Mr. Geiger's profession as a rat catcher was everywhere.
Nick knocked on the door with Monroe and Rosaleen hanging back. A minute later a rather irritated disheveled man opened the door. Seeing Nick he slammed the door quickly.
Monroe asked, "You get that a lot, don't you?"
Nick frowned, "Shut up, Monroe."
Knocking on the door again, he said louder, "Mr. Geiger, I need to talk to Roddy. It's important. Please let us in?"
A young man with lots of curly dark hair answered the door, "Hi Detective, Monroe."
Monroe awkwardly waved as Nick said, "This is Rosaleen Deage. She's a professor, who trying to help with some police business. Roddy, can we please come in? I promise it's not to accuse you or your father of anything."
Roddy nodded and opened the door wider to let them in. The inside was just as cluttered as the outside. There was some evidence that Roddy lived there. There were music posters on the wall and a beautiful violin on the kitchen table. It looked like they interrupted Roddy's practice.
Nick asked, "How's school going? Has it gotten better?"
Roddy shrugged, "Okay, I guess. It's school. Same old, same old. Got first chair again. The new music teacher is impressed with me and doesn't care how big my daddy's wallet is. Sarah's helps a lot. It might have gotten ugly if she didn't stand up for me, and remind people who was really responsible for Mr. Lawson's death. It's not the same as before, but we're becoming friends again."
Nick squeezed his eyes shut for a moment and said, "Roddy, I need you to sit down. I have something to tell you and it's bad."
When Roddy hesitantly sat down, Nick took a deep breath and asked, "Have you heard about the woman, who was found at the Amphitheater a few weeks ago?" He waited for Roddy to nod before he continued, "We knew that she wasn't going to be the last one, but we didn't have anything to go on. Today, I got a call. Some bikers found a young lady by the Stone House. Oh God, Roddy, I'm sorry, but it was Sarah."
Roddy started shaking and crying. He kept repeating that it was impossible. The three of them didn't know what to do, or how to comfort him.
His dad held onto his son. He looked at Nick and asked, "What now?"
Nick sighed, "I just want to tell Roddy about Sarah. I knew they were close, and I didn't…..I didn't want him to find out from a stranger. Again, Roddy, I'm so sorry. I'll do everything in my power to catch this guy."
Roddy nodded. Getting control of himself, he asked, "Do you have any leads on this?"
Nick shook his head, "No. When you're ready, I want to ask you some questions. You said that you got closer to Sarah. You might have seen something that could help us."
Roddy took a deep breath, "I'm ready. Ask me anything. Anything to help Sarah."
Nick sighed, "Okay. Have you seen anyone hanging around Sarah? Someone new. Has she mentioned anyone bothering her? Any little detail could help, Roddy?"
Roddy frown, "No. I'm sorry. Sarah is…was happy. I was the only new person that was hanging around her. Even though we hung out a lot, I was pretty busy with school, and…umm work."
Nick smiled, "You still DJ?"
Roddy blushed, "Yeah. It's good money, and really there's no harm."
Nick nodded, "Don't worry. I'm not going to bust you for it. You might be able to help me identify someone though. Just bear with me. I know it's a long shot, but could you look at this picture and tell me if you've seen her?"
Nick handed him a picture of the first victim. Roddy looked at it for a moment and then nodded, "I can't be certain, but she looks like this girl that use to come to raves with these two other girls."
Nick asked, "Do you know her name?"
Roddy answered, "No, but I do know the name of one of the other girls. You do too. It's that lawyer that you had to protect a few months ago, when her coworkers were being killed during flash mobs."
Nick frowned, "You saw this woman with Adalind Schade? Are you sure?"
Roddy nodded, "Yeah. I got the feeling that she knew them, but the other two were closer."
Nick asked, "Why do you say that?"
Roddy grinned, "Well, she seemed friendly enough, but the other two seemed to know each other in a more, how do you old guys say it, a biblical sense."