The Dead Student (55 page)

“Thanks,” she said to the clerk. “I got what I need.”

The gun, she knew, was the only real piece of hard evidence that could tie Moth to the killing on Angela Street. She never underestimated ballistics scientists.

She would keep the convenience store gun for six months, then swap it out with yet another, in another case. One more switch—that would effectively destroy any connections that even the most dogged investigator could follow.

Susan smiled.
Goodbye, last key bit of evidence
. She had already had the
laptop hard drive wiped clean at a local Apple store, and then had dumped it, wrapped in smelly garbage, in the Dade County landfill. The only other elements that might put Moth in that room with the killer were his DNA and Andy Candy. She had warned Moth about the first—
“Don’t ever get arrested and put in some data bank”—
and the second wasn’t likely to ever say an incriminating word.

She guessed she would see Moth later that night at Redeemer One, but she wouldn’t tell him anything about what she had done. Her sobriety was all he needed to know about.
One hundred eighty-three days and counting,
Susan proudly reminded herself.