CLOSE TO HIM by Blake Pierce

Author:Blake Pierce [Pierce, Blake]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2025-10-06T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The search for Howard Brennan had expanded beyond the reservation. State police, federal marshals, even border patrol had been alerted, but the seventy-seven-year-old former Dean of Students had vanished without a trace. No credit card usage, no cell phone pings, no sightings of his truck. For a man his age, possibly suffering from cognitive decline, it was an impressive disappearing act.

"He had help," Ben said, hanging up after yet another fruitless call. "Or he's been planning this for a while."

Kari stared at the map spread across her desk, marked with possible routes Brennan might have taken. "The question is whether he's running from us or from the killer."

"Maybe both." Ben rubbed his eyes. They'd been at it since dawn, and it was now past three in the afternoon. "We need to refocus. Can't find someone who doesn't want to be found, but we can eliminate suspects for the murders we're investigating."

"You're right." Kari pushed the map aside. "Let's verify alibis for Whitehorse's murder. Start with Dr. Martinez."

They drove to NAU, finding the campus quieter than usual with winter break approaching. Dr. Martinez was in her office, surrounded by boxes of files she'd pulled from storage. She looked up as they knocked, her face showing the strain of the past few days.

"Detectives. Any word on the missing witnesses?"

"That's not why we're here," Kari said. "We need to verify your whereabouts between Sunday night and Monday morning."

Martinez blinked. "Is someone else dead?"

"Please just answer the question," Ben said.

"Sunday night... I was at home. Working on grades, final papers. Monday morning I had a faculty meeting at nine." She pulled out her phone, scrolling through her calendar. "I can show you my activity logs. I was editing student papers until almost 2 AM Monday morning."

"Can anyone verify that?" Kari asked. "Neighbors, friends?"

"My next-door neighbor complained about my porch light being on all night. I was reading papers outside—the fresh air helps me focus." Martinez found what she was looking for on her phone. "Here—emails I sent throughout the night. Feedback to students, correspondence with colleagues."

Ben examined the timestamps. "These could have been scheduled to send automatically."

"They could have been," Martinez agreed, her voice hardening. "But they weren't. Look at the content—specific responses to student questions, real-time discussions about thesis problems. I can show you the papers I was grading, my handwritten notes with timestamps."

She pulled a stack of papers from her desk, each covered in red ink with times noted in the margins—her system for tracking how long she spent on each essay.

"Why do you timestamp your grading?" Kari asked.

"Department policy. We have to document our time for workload assessments." Martinez's laugh was bitter. "Bureaucracy might be my best alibi."

They spent twenty minutes going through her documentation. The evidence was compelling—a clear trail of academic work throughout the crucial timeframe. Martinez also produced a receipt from campus security showing she'd reported a burnt-out bulb in the parking lot at 11:47 PM Sunday.

"I couldn't find my car in the dark," she explained. "Had to call security for a flashlight escort.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.