Sam Kincaid 01 - The Commission

caseworker described him as a model inmate. He worked part-time as a food handler in one of the prison dining facilities, finished his GED, and completed a substance abuse treatment program. His prison jacket was full of accolades from staff, and he had no record of disciplinary problems. After his release, the parole department supervised him for nearly three years without incident.
    Seldom one to make the politically correct move, I decided, with a slight nudge from Burnham, to check in with Norm Sloan as previously directed. As much as it pained me, I first called Brad Ford, hoping he might be gone for the day or away from his phone. My good fortune held. He didn’t pick up and the call kicked into his voice mail.
    “Brad, this is Sam. I was just trying to touch base and let you know where things stand. I’ll try the old man on his cell.”
    Sloan answered on the second ring. “I’ve got good news and bad. Which would you like first?”
    “Let’s start with the bad. Then it can only get better.”
    “Salt Lake P.D. eliminated Merchant as a suspect. His alibi checked out. He’s an asshole, but in this case, he’s the wrong asshole.”
    “And the good news?”
    “We may have another suspect.” I then told him about the information provided by Baxter Shaw and the subsequent identification of Charles Watts as a possible perp.
    “You consider that good news, Kincaid. Can’t you help Salt Lake P.D. find a homicide suspect outside our offender population?”
    “Sorry about that, boss. It’s possible that this may turn out to be another dead end like John Merchant.”
    “Where do you go from here?”
    “I need to inform Salt Lake City P.D. Homicide. I haven’t said anything to them yet. As for Watts, I think we start digging into his whereabouts at the time of the murder, and see where that takes us. So far, we don’t have anybody who can place him near the scene.”
    “All right. Let me know what develops. If you can’t reach me, get hold of Ford. Make sure I have a complete copy of Watts’ file on my desk first thing in the morning. And Sam, I’m sure you haven’t forgotten your appointment tomorrow morning with Marilyn Hastings from the Employee Assistance Program. She’s expecting you.”
    “I can hardly wait.
    “I’ll keep you informed as things develop with Watts.”
    “See that you do,” he said, and the line went dead.
    ***
    Burnham and I took the department’s last known address for Watts and drove to the residence. It was a new apartment complex located in an older part of Salt Lake City. The apartment manager told us that Watts had vacated the place one month prior and had left no forwarding address.
    From there, we tried his last known place of employment, an all-night restaurant chain near downtown. We learned that he’d quit that job about the same time he moved out of the apartment. He had worked as a cook on the swing shift. The restaurant manager described him as a reliable employee who kept to himself. She didn’t have a forwarding address, but she gave us a home telephone number that turned out to be disconnected.
    Burnham telephoned an old friend employed by Utah Power. Within minutes, we were rewarded with a return call that provided us with an address in West Valley City where Watts was listed as the individual paying the utility bill.
    Watts lived on one side of a brown brick duplex located on a street filled with identical brown brick duplexes. The home looked empty. There were no vehicles parked in the driveway and no lights were on. I walked quietly onto the front porch, opened the mail box, and found several pieces of junk mail and a utility bill addressed to Watts.
    After returning to the office, I was about to call Kate and tell her about Watts when my phone rang. It was McConnell calling to report a major breakthrough in the case.

Chapter Seventeen
    We had just gotten lucky. Kate received a phone call from the crime laboratory. While processing the cigarette butts found at Vogue’s home, a lab technician concluded that neither contained a DNA sample; however, one of them yielded a comparable right-index-finger latent print. A subsequent search through the Automated Fingerprint Identification System, AFIS, for short, produced a list of six possible matches.
    “In order to narrow this down, we’ve got to get our hands on all six original fingerprint cards, and then have a certified examiner make the match,” said Kate. “As it stands, three of the