The Small Brass Key

As they walked back to their cars, Officer Reynolds said, "Do you think they'll apprehend him quickly?"

"It all depends on how well he can hide out for the next couple of weeks. He hasn't committed any crime in Canada, so I don't know how much priority their police will give to searching for him; it's not like he's a serial killer. If he can stay under the radar, the longer he's on the run, the less likely he is to be caught. If he's still out there in six months we may have to request that the case be advertised on TV. Some of those "Most Wanted" shows get good results."

Officer Reynolds considered that answer for a few seconds before coming up with another question. "What do you think of this cell phone story of hers? It seemed to me that she was serious when she said that the phone was there last night."

"Yes, I agree. I don't think she was lying or confused about that. I suspect that he came back here, but for some reason never followed through with his intended actions. While he was here he probably saw his cell phone, and decided on the spur of the moment to take it with him."

The uniformed officer seemed a little confused, and asked, "Well, if he was here, why wouldn't he have let her know? It seems sort of inexplicable that he would come back and just take the cell phone."

Detective Rankin stopped and looked at the younger man and said, "Think about it. Patrick Dunn has just killed her lover, and he comes home. The only reason for coming back that I can think of would be to kill her too, and maybe even himself. I don't know what happened to change his mind, but I don't believe for a second that he just returned for his cell phone."

Reynolds slowly nodded his head as he considered the detective's words. Finally he said, "I expect that Mrs. Dunn will eventually realize just how close she came to losing her life and will wonder why she didn't. I wonder how she's going to handle that."