Linda Crowder - Jake and Emma 02 - Main Street Murder by Linda Crowder Page B

He’d hoped that even though their faces were not visible someone might remember seeing them at the parade.  He issued copies of the pictures to patrol officers in every city in the county along with a countywide “be on the look-out” order.
    That done, Joyner went back to the parade footage and turned his attention to the bystanders who had been close enough that morning that they might have noticed the two men.  A local parade attracts a predominantly local crowd and Joyner had been on the Casper PD long enough to recognize a good number of faces in the crowd. 
    He made a print of the crowd shot and made a list of the people he recognized, putting an “X” on those faces in the picture.  As he learned more names, he checked those faces off the picture and in this way ensured he had found and spoken to everyone who would have been in a position to overhear the two men’s conversation. 
    Joyner got a list from Cheri of all the Casper Welcome members who had walked in the parade and questioned them as well.  Since their attention had been on the crowd, he hoped one of them might have noticed the two men.
    It was slow going but in his experience it was this kind of steady, unglamorous footwork that usually solved cases.  Unfortunately, the results were discouraging.  A few people remembered noticing the two men but no one could give him a meaningful description.  None remembered hearing anything unusual in the men’s conversation immediately prior.
    The only glimmer of a lead came when he’d shown the photo of the men in the crowd to Kristy Castle.  She hadn’t reacted to the shorter man’s photo but when she looked at the two together, Joyner thought he saw the shadow of recognition pass across her face.  Then it was gone and she handed the photo back to him.
    “Are you sure you don’t know these men?” he had asked her, studying her reaction.
    Kristy had shaken her head.  “The taller one reminded me of someone I used to know, that’s all” she had explained. “It startled me.”
    Joyner had handed the picture back to her and asked her to look more carefully.  “You know Mrs. Rand thought they might be talking about you,” he had reminded her.  “Are you absolutely sure you don’t know him?”
    Kristy had given the picture back again after a cursory look.  “I’m sure.  Absolutely sure.”  Joyner had watched with interest while a muscle at the corner of Kristy’s eye started to tic.
    “Is there something you aren’t telling me, Ms. Castle?” he’d asked, his voice taking on a sterner tone.
    Her mouth had opened to speak, then shut and she shook her head.  He’d asked the name of the person she’d thought the man resembled but she’d refused to tell him.  “It isn’t him,” she’d explained.  “The man I was thinking of is dead.”
    Joyner returned to his office disappointed but thoughtful.  The focus of the crowd had been the parade.  The men had enjoyed every expectation that their conversation would be lost in the general noise and chaos of the day.  It had been their bad luck to have caught Emma’s attention.
    While he’d assumed the taller man had been shielding his face from the security cameras, Ms. Castle’s reaction to his picture gave Joyner another idea.  Perhaps he had been shielding his face from her, not the camera.  She claimed the man she’d known was dead, but was he?  Clearly, Joyner needed to learn more about Kristy Castle’s history prior to her move to Wyoming.
    He unlocked a drawer in his desk and unhooked his holster from his belt.  Placing the holster and his service revolver in the drawer, he slid it closed and turned the key.  Dropping the key in his pocket, Joyner picked up the coffee cup he had left half-empty that morning and headed down the hall to the break room.
    He poured out the stale coffee and rinsed the mug, drying it with a paper towel.  Picking a bottled water from the department fridge, he returned to his office.  He