Page 50 of Race to Save Her

Katie giggled. “I promise I’ll behave.”

“Like that’s going to happen,” he muttered.

THIRTY

Wednesday 1825 hours

As Katie drove to Ames’s house she kept thinking she should go home, but then she thought about his arrogance and mean spirit. She wanted to turn the tables on him by showing up unexpectedly; to make him feel uncomfortable.

His house was in a quiet community where many police and firefighters lived, and where there were no problems or crime. Many of the houses were initially rentals, but the first responders could get support to buy. Since Ames was a transplant from California, Katie figured he would be living in this type of area.

Katie looked for 929 Cedar Street and found it was the last house on a dead end. Slowing her Jeep, she parked a couple of houses away. Still wrestling with her decision, she wondered if she should wait until he was on his twenty-four-hour shift and catch him off guard with his co-workers. But she was still mad, and she wanted answers sooner rather than later.

As Katie got out she could hear some distant thunder. The forecast stated that a storm would roll through this evening, which wasn’t unusual for the time of year in the warmer months. She could feel the warmth from the heat of the day dropping as the system moved in. It was dark; the cloud cover was moving fast. The homes she walked past had their lights on and curtains pulled.

Katie felt a light mist on her face as the wind began to pick up speed. Ames’s outside light was on as if he were expecting someone. There were sheer curtains that showed the inside lights were on in the house as well. His SUV for work was parked in the driveway.

Katie found herself at the front door. She knocked.

“Come in,” said Ames from inside.

There was the typical bark of a German shepherd—loud and rapid. Katie heard Ames say, “Nein,” which meant no in German. The dog stopped.

She hesitated, but eventually opened the unlocked door. “Hello?”

“Come in, Detective,” said Ames. He sounded as if he had been expecting her.

Katie walked farther in and shut the door. “How did you…?”

“You ever heard of cameras?”

Of course, she thought. Katie stood in the middle of the living room. Ames was in the kitchen chopping something and whatever he was cooking on the stove smelled fantastic.

“So what can I do for you, Detective?” He never missed a chop. “Do you have an arrest warrant?”

“What are you talking about?” she said, moving closer to the kitchen.

“You seem to think I killed some woman and then dismembered her in the bathtub, or somewhere, and decided to leave body parts of her around town.”

Katie felt a cold nose nuzzle her hand. She looked down and saw Ames’s K9, Blitz, curiously checking her out. The dog was a beautiful sable German shepherd. She gently petted his head.

“I don’t know how to answer that,” she said.

A boom of thunder shook the small house.

“What do you mean, you don’t know how to answer that?” Ames scoffed. “I bet my name, and probably my face, are on your murder investigation board. Am I right?”

Katie was taken by surprise, she hadn’t been prepared for his bold and direct questions. “Yes, you are on our preliminary list.”

“Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For telling me the truth,” he said.

“That’s not why I’m here.”

“Why, then?”