An Evil Mind--A Suspense Novel Read Free Page B

address through the database and found that Tyler and Rhona Stelter currently resided there.
    The only vehicle registered to Curtis was a four-year-old Mazda 6.
    Mark’s plan was to go to the Stelters’ house later today, after he interviewed the employees of the McDonald’s on Grand Avenue.
    If the Stelters refused to cooperate, he would not request a search warrant.
    Could this be a trap?
    He doubted it was a trap, but he would watch his back anyway.
    The chances were small that the gun was still in the air vent: people usually didn’t leave their firearms behind when they moved.
    The Assistant Warden of the Dallas County Jail called at nine-thirty. He told Mark that Curtis and Phillips had shared a cell from December 17 to January 12.
     
    2
    The house at 4540 Spring Lane was a one-story bungalow with an attached garage. A gray Honda Accord sat in the driveway. As Mark climbed the porch, he heard a TV murmuring inside. He unsnapped the clasp on his holster. He needed only two seconds to draw his gun and fire a round.
    Strangely, part of him wanted the Stelters to refuse to let him in.
    He pushed the doorbell button. The chimes rang cheerfully. A dark-haired man in a wife-beater and shorts opened the door. Mark held up his badge and said, “I’m Detective Mark Hinton with the Dallas Police Department. Can I come in?”
    “What is this about?”
    “The previous tenants left something important in this house, and I came to retrieve it.”
    The man stepped back. “Please come in.”
    Mark went inside. In the living room, the man grabbed a remote from the coffee table and muted the TV. “What did they leave?”
    “You’ll see. What’s your name?”
    “Tyler.”
    “Tyler Stelter?”
    “Yes.”
    Tyler was not carrying a gun: there were no bulges in his pockets or wife-beater.
    “Where’s the master bedroom?”
    “Let me show you.” Tyler led Mark to the master bedroom, which adjoined the kitchen.
    “Do you know who lived here before you?” Mark asked, looking around the room.
    “No,” Tyler replied. “Did they leave something valuable?”
    “When did you move here?”
    “Last March.”
    Mark patted his pants pocket to see if the screwdriver he had brought with him was there. Then he took out a pair of latex gloves and slipped them on. Tyler Stelter stood by the dresser with his arms folded across his chest, silently watching him. Pointing to the air vent, which was located above the door, Mark asked, “Have you ever removed this vent cover?”
    “No.”
    “Do you mind if I remove it?”
    “No, I don’t.”
    “Can you bring me a chair, please?”
    “Sure.” Tyler walked out of the room. When he came back, he carried a wooden dining chair. He stood in the doorway and asked, “Here?”
    Mark nodded, and Tyler put the chair down.
    “Thank you.” Mark climbed onto the chair.
    “Did the people who lived here before us put that thing in there?”
    Mark peered through the grille, and saw only blackness.
    “Yes.”
    Mark pulled out the screwdriver and undid the cover screws. He put the screws and the screwdriver in his shirt pocket, removed the cover, and looked inside the vent.
    There was a pistol in the duct. Covered with dust, it lay about five inches from the edge of the vent hole. Mark picked up the gun with two fingers and took it out of the duct.
    It was a nine-millimeter Heckler & Koch USP. Its serial number had been filed off.
    Mark was surprised by how excited he was to see the gun. Edward Phillips’s story had checked out: Sam Curtis had indeed told Phillips where he had hidden his Heckler & Koch. Phillips’s credibility had just grown a little.
    The question now was, had this pistol been used in the Eddie’s Mini Mart robbery?
    If he dropped the gun off at the crime lab today, he would have the answer tomorrow.
    “It’s a gun,” Tyler said.
    Mark stepped off the chair, laid the vent cover on the floor, and placed the pistol in a plastic bag.
    Why hadn’t Curtis come to get his gun