Run, Girl (If You Can)

Chapter 349: Sunglasses Man

Sunglasses Man abruptly instructed Harry "just let us off here" after some time so he pulled over to the side of the road and informed him how much the fare cost. The man shoved a $100 bill into his hands and told him to keep the change.

At that moment, Lacy finally freed herself from the seatbelt and began violently kissing the side of the man's face. He recoiled but it was too late. The sunglasses slipped down his nose.

He hastily pushed them back up before Harry could see but that didn't matter. The camera had caught the top half of his face. Darren thought the man looked vaguely familiar but couldn't recall where he had seen him before.

"May I have a copy of this footage?" he asked Mr. Wilson politely.

"Absolutely! May it help that poor woman's soul rest in peace."

Darren clutched the USB drive as if it were a priceless treasure. He didn't know who the man in the footage was but the detectives in charge of the case might. They had probably interviewed a dozen people about Lacy Knighton. Sunglasses Man could have been one of them.

He decided to head over to the 46th precinct and talk to whoever was in charge. At the front desk he put on his most professional smile.

"Hello, I'm Detective Darren Johnson from the 19th precinct. Yesterday someone called the tip line about the Lacy Knighton case and it turned out to be legit. I'd like to give the information to the detectives in charge."

He showed his badge to prove his identity and the secretary raised an eyebrow. "Why would they call the 19th precinct when the murder happened in the Bronx?"

"No idea. I've been wondering that myself."

The secretary shrugged. "I'll get them for you."

She turned around and hollered, "Ruano! Flynn! Somebody has information about Lacy Knighton!"

A pair of detectives, probably Ruano and Flynn, stopped dead in their tracks halfway down the hall. They turned around and came over to the front desk.

"This is Detective Darren Johnson from the 19th. Somebody called him yesterday with a hot tip about Lacy Knighton."

Interest shown in both detectives' eyes. Of course. The trail had gone cold until now.

"Why don't you come on back to my desk," the female detective offered. "We can talk there."

Darren followed them back and they introduced themselves. Once they all sat down he explained everything that had happened from the call to the visit to Taxi Star.

They seemed as confused as he was by why the tipster had gone to the wrong office, especially since he asked for Darren specifically, but they were thrilled hearing about the footage. Darren handed the USB to Detective Flynn and she plugged it into her computer.

She frowned as the footage played she paused it to confer with her partner. "This doesn't seem right. Meyer said she came onto him and that's why he had her thrown out of the office but here it looks like she's trying to make out with anyone indiscriminately."

"You're right," Ruano said. "Yet everyone we've talked to about her says that she's very prim and proper…and completely in love with Aaron Hale. It didn't even make sense for Lacy to come onto Meyer in the first place unless…"

Flynn and Ruano looked each other in the eyes and spoke simultaneously. "Drugged."

Darren was completely out of the loop. "What's this about being thrown out of where?"

Ruano explained it to him and suddenly the drugging theory made sense. She had seemed pretty out of it in the car.

Aaron Hale, huh? Everyone had heard about the scandal surrounding his secret marriage and children. He had seen a blurry, from-a-distance picture of the man somewhat recently. Hale's chiseled jaw looked very similar to Sunglasses Man's.

The detectives said she was obsessed with him but he seemed to hate her. Could he be the man in the cab?

"Do you think the man who abducted her might be Aaron Hale?" Darren asked.

"Honestly, I really thought he might have killed her at first based on how much Lacy's acquaintances said he hated her. Apparently she tried to trick him into an engagement when he was already dating his wife by announcing it without his consent at a big party. But he has an irrefutable alibi with multiple witnesses; he left town the day before the murder and didn't come back until the following Sunday.

"He didn't seem at all sorry she was dead but that happens more than you'd think when questioning friends and family of the deceased. It's pretty sad but I can't blame him. Lacy had been stalking his apartment building and stressing out his wife. If I were him I wouldn't be sad either," Flynn admitted.

Interesting. But that didn't help them discover who the man in the car had been. Ruano pressed play and the video resumed.

Darren had already seen this so he wasn't interested in anything other than whether or not his fellow detectives knew the man's face. He informed them about a minute before the sunglasses slip happened on the video so they could be ready to pause it.

When it happened, Flynn got to the mouse first. She squinted at the still shot of the man's face before shaking her head in disbelief.

"That's Graydon Meyer! But he has an alibi!"

"Technically speaking, his alibi is only valid at 3 PM," Ruano pointed out. "Clearly he slipped out somehow without anybody noticing right after he had Lacy tossed out of his office. Did he drug her so she would be easier to kill?"

"He might have done it to put on a show for his employees. He was very cooperative and seemed on the level. All of that strengthened his alibi. I never would have guessed! But if you look out the window of the cab when they get out, the alley she was found in is less than a block away."

Darren's smile was a bit smug. So the tipper's lead had been solid after all. They knew who the murderer was and proved that his alibi was false. He was spotted right next to the scene of the crime minutes before it happened.

It would be better if they had the murder weapon but this would still probably be enough to get a conviction. His work here was done.

"I imagine you two will need to question Graydon Meyer again. I have my own work to do so I'll head out now."

They both nodded. "Thank you so much for the help; we would never have guessed it was him without you."

"Don't thank me, thank the person who called me. He really nailed Meyer. I guess he'll be getting that reward Brann Knighton has been offering after all," Darren mused before standing and heading out the door.