"The apartment wasn't disturbed otherwise, no apparent robbery," the chief said. "On the face of it, Towson was murdered between two, the time on the service receipt and six when Tony Hackett went to the apartment to pick him up."
"M.E. says he has no problem with that timing and thinks closer to six," Goddard said. "Hackett was to meet Towson to take him to a banquet for a campaign speech. Towson didn't answer the buzz. Hackett phoned, no response. The maintenance man let him in. Hackett called out, walked around and saw the body in the bedroom."
"Did you check out Hackett?" Moran asked.
"He's clean, I believe. He was in Tallahassee overnight Friday," Goddard said, "and headed back around noon. We checked his phone. He called Towson three times from the Turnpike. Last attempt was around five. Got no answer the last time so he drove straight to Towson's. The rest agrees with what the maintenance guy told us."
"We sent the rug and Reid's clothing to the lab. We're waiting for the follow-up report from CSI," the chief said. "We're interviewing every occupant of the building."
"I talked to Tammy," Goddard said. "According to her, she met Reid at the restaurant around twelve-thirty. Reid left after thirty minutes saying he was going to find Loraine. Tammy went back to her office. So Reid's whereabouts are unknown from one o'clock until I picked him up at six-thirty."
"Reid's the one, but an immediate concern here is Barner," Moran said. "Get more men on that angle, Chief. If he's alive, then find him. If he's dead, find his body. There may be a larger plot. What do you think, Goddard?"
"Barner could be the murderer and he ran. He just happens to service the Towson's apartment a couple of hours before the shooting, and now he's missing. Very coincidental. Maybe he got in somebody's way and his body is now sprawled in his house. I'd like to search it."
"Great idea, but you can't," Moran said. "We'd never get a court order to go in there, not this early. And if he's involved in the murder, we can't risk any findings being tossed out by the judge." He turned to Goddard and smirked. "Yes, too bad you can't search his house."
"If that's all, I need to get back on the street." Goddard left knowing exactly where he needed to go next. He looked up the address of Sonny Barner.
Barner's small house was on a corner lot visible from two sides, exposing any vehicle parked on the street. Goddard drove up a dirt driveway at the rear and parked unnoticed in the ragged carport. At the rear door, he found an undemanding key-in-knob lock. He slid a plastic card along the jam, and the bolt moved enough to open the door.