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THE PHONE RANG AT THE Barkleys and Jim picked it up on the third ring. He immediately recognized Sam’s voice.
“What you got for me?”
“Some good news.”
“That means you’ve got some bad news, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Give me the good first.”
“The reward worked. We found the rifle in Hinesville. Apparently one of the deputies took it when no one claimed it. The sheriff’s office has been covering up that fact.”
“That’s great. Was it like I said?”
“Yes. Some of the markings were there. The problem is the deputy had a gunsmith mount another scope on it and the old mount sites were damaged.”
“What does that mean?”
“It’ll be hard to prove that your scope could mount on this weapon. There’re only two attachment points left. We’ll need the other rifle to compare with this one. Another good point, or bad, depending upon how you look at it; you have now convinced Walter you are a serial killer. His professional pride is killing him. He knows you are what you say you are, but like you, he can’t prove it. That tells me we are on the right track. If we convinced Walter, it can’t take too much more to convince a judge. We just have to find that other rifle.”
“How’s it look?”
“Not very good, Jim. We haven’t had one nibble in Dexter. In fact, everyone hated the Woods so much they now refuse to even talk about them.”
“Increase the reward to $5,000. No, make that $10,000 for the gun. That should get something going.”
“God, I hope so.”
“We’ve lost so much time I’m scared to death for Peggy. She can’t stay on death row forever.”
“Ten thousand should get us the gun. I’ll call you when we’ve got it. Bye.”
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