Chapter 19 Chapter Nineteen "I Know Who She Is"

Daniel Cooper had been informed of the subject of this morning's meeting in Reynolds' office, for all the detectives in the firm had received a report the day before about the theft of Lois Bellamy which had occurred a week earlier. memo.Daniel Cooper hated meetings.He really didn't have the patience to sit with him and listen to those rambling nonsense. He arrived at Reynolds' office forty-five minutes late.Reynolds was halfway through his sentence. "Your presence is rare," Reynolds said wryly.The other party did not respond.It's a waste of time, Reynolds thought.It seemed to him that Cooper knew nothing about cynicism and nothing but how to catch a criminal.And in this regard, he had to admit that this old man was really a genius.

In the office sat the firm's three senior detectives: David Swift, Robert Schever, and Jerry Davis. "You've all seen the report on the Bellamy burglary," said Reynolds, "and now there's something new. Lois Bellamy is the chief's cousin. The chief is in a fit of rage." "So what are the police doing?" David asked. "Avoid the press. No wonder they did. The investigators were the same as the Penn State Police. They did question the burglar they caught in the house, but they let her escape." "So they must have a good idea of ​​what she looks like," Swift said tentatively.

"They only saw her evening gown," Reynolds cut in. "They were so fucking impressed with her figure that they couldn't even tell the color of her hair. She It looked like she was wearing some sort of curly-haired nightcap, and her face was smeared with clay glue. She was a mid-twenty-six-year-old girl, as they said, with a stunning ass and tits. Didn't leave any A trace. We have no clues, not a single one." Daniel Cooper didn't speak until then. "No, we have a clue." They all turned to look at him, with varying degrees of dissatisfaction in their eyes.

"What did you say?" Reynolds asked. "I know who she is." After Cooper had read the memo the morning before, he had decided to visit Bellamy's place for himself, a logical first step.For Daniel Cooper, logic is the order that conforms to God's will, and it is the root of all problems. To be logical, one must start from scratch.Cooper drove to Bellamy's apartment on Long Island, took a look in the car, turned the steering wheel, and returned to Manhattan.He's got all he needs to know.It was a lonely house with no public transport nearby, meaning the burglars had to drive themselves.

He told the crowd gathered in Reynolds' office about his deduction. "She was probably reluctant to drive her own car because it would be detected, so her car was either stolen or rented. I decided to check the car rental company first. I guess she It must have been rented in Manhattan because it's easier to remove the tracks there." Jerry Davis was rather unimpressed. "You must be joking, Cooper. Thousands of cars are rented out every day in Manhattan." Cooper ignored his interruption. "All car rental companies are equipped with computerized control systems. Relatively few women come to rent cars. I have identified them all. The girl who committed the crime rented a car at the prepaid car rental company's 61st rental car on West 23rd Street. rented a Chevrolet Caprice at 8 p.m. and was back in the yard at 2 a.m. on the night of the theft."

"How do you know this is the escaped car?" Reynolds asked suspiciously. Cooper grew impatient with these nonsensical questions. "I checked the mileage. It was thirty-two miles to Lois Bellamy's place, and another thirty-two miles back. That exactly matched the odometer on Caprice's car. The car The car was rented under the name of Eileen Branch." "Imposters," speculated David Swift. "Yes. Her real name is Tracy Whitney." Everyone stared at him dumbfounded. "How do you know that?" Schever asked. "She gave a false name and a false address, but she had to sign the rental contract. I took the originals to Police Building #1 and had them look for fingerprints. They matched exactly with Tracy Whitney's. She had Served in South Louisiana Women's Penitentiary. If you remember, I spoke to her about a stolen Renoir painting."

"I remember," Reynolds nodded yes, "when you said she was innocent." "Then—she was innocent. Not now. The Bellamy case was her fault." This little bastard did it again!And his success seemed so easy.Reynolds tried not to sound reserved. "That's--nice job, Cooper. Pretty. Let's get her. Let the police take her, and then--" "On what charge?" Cooper asked lukewarmly. "Because of renting a car? The police can't identify her, and there is no evidence confirming her yet." "Then what shall we do?" Schiffer asked. "Let her get away with it?"

"That's the way it is this time," Cooper said, "but I know who she is now. She'll do it again. When she makes a move, I'll get her." The meeting is finally over.Cooper couldn't wait to take a shower.He took out a black-faced pad and wrote carefully on it: Tracy Whitney.