Hell Without You

Chapter 15

"I heard about Donovan being arrested," he said. "The police came here yesterday to ask me twenty-thousand questions about a missing tire iron."

"So one is missing from the shop?"

"I never used them, but I know Donovan had two that hung on the wall over there." He hitched a thumb over his shoulder, indicating Donovan's work area.

Through a window in the wall that divided the reception and work area, a cross-shaped tire iron was visible on the far wall.

"The other one was different – shaped more like a crowbar, only had two ends."

"When did you notice it was missing?"

"Yesterday when that detective showed up to ask me about it. Guess it never really registered before then – if I saw it was gone, I must've figured Donovan had taken it, maybe to use on his truck or something." He frowned. "Wish I'd paid more attention now."

Clementine suppressed a sigh. "Well, I know Donovan didn't take it, because whoever did killed Trevor with it and I know for a fact that Donovan isn't guilty – I was with him all night. He never left the house."

Mike nodded. "You don't have to tell me – I know he's not a murderer. What would he even have against Trevor Grier, anyway?"

Mike's rhetorical question was a relief. Obviously Donovan had never expressed his hatred of Trevor to Mike, which was for the best. "So you believe what I believe – that someone else must've stolen the iron and then used it as a murder weapon?"

Mike appeared to mull it over for a few seconds, then nodded. "What other possibility is there?"

"Okay, so..." Her mind worked a million miles a minute as she glanced around the shop, trying to figure out how it could've happened – when and why. Her old theory of an assaulted female fighting back against Trevor didn't seem fit to hold water. If a woman had been cornered like she had, she would've fought back immediately with whatever weapon she'd had at hand, not stolen a tire iron from a garage to wield against him later. Right?

"The police told me no one broke in here," she said, going over what she already knew.

"No break-in," Mike confirmed. "I would've noticed if that'd happened."

"Does anyone else have a key?"

"Just me and Donovan. And I keep mine on my key ring – never share it with anybody."

"Did you ever leave the shop unlocked overnight? Or maybe during a lunch break?"

He shook his head slowly, frowning. "I always lock up any time the garage is gonna be empty. It's Donovan's rule. But... I don't know. Shit. What if I forgot? Left it unlocked while I went over to Ann's or something and never realized? I've been thinking about it ever since the police came by. Anyone could've come in and out of here. Lots of people have been coming by wanting work done, especially since we've been so backed up with Donovan being hurt."

"What about while you were actually in the shop – could anyone have come in and taken anything then?"

"Doesn't seem very likely that I wouldn't have seen them – we don't let customers in the work area. Safety hazard."

"And nothing else is missing?"

He shook his head. "Nah. Nothing."

What did a tire iron cost? Not much, especially not compared to some of the other equipment in the shop. Which made it look like whoever had taken it had taken it for a specific reason, like murder. Which would explain the lack of prints besides Donovan's – the real killer could've worn gloves.