by Rebecca Rane
“Tell him it’s going to be a blockbuster, that much I can promise.”
“But when?”
“Uh, well, tell him we’ll make the deadline. I have no idea if we will, but we’ll apologize later.”
“Oh great,” Shoop said and sat at her computer as Kendra flew out the door.
Apples, Bananas, and Oranges remembered Kendra. So did Naomi Sadler.
“I’m famous in my Bunko club, so I owe you,” Naomi said as she led Kendra to the kitchen table.
“I’m going to record this, okay? You’ll be double famous?”
“Sure, sure, can I get you anything?”
“No, I’m—well, sometimes, at this point of the season, I get single-minded. Eating, drinking, sleeping can wait,” Kendra admitted to Naomi.
Kendra had driven hard all day since the moment Howard Meriwether had called with the DNA match to Sherry. The sun was setting now, and Kendra didn’t care.
“I can’t say that I ever forgot to eat,” Naomi said, and they both sat at the table.
Kendra got out her digital recorder and set it up.
“Okay, here’s the thing, I have gotten closer to something. I’m not sure what, exactly, but I need you to look at a photograph.”
“Easy enough.”
Kendra took the file out of her bag and put it on the table. She rifled through her stack and found the picture of Tim and Josh on Doughnuts with Dad Day.
Naomi looked at it.
“Have you ever seen this man before?”
Naomi studied it but said nothing.
“I’m sorry, never saw that guy that I can recall.”
Kendra didn’t know where to go next. She was deflated.
She’d hoped that it was the key. That Naomi would identify Tim as the one she’d heard talking in the restaurant.
“It’s okay. I guess it was a long shot.”
“I, just well, he doesn’t ring a bell.”
“Don’t worry, that’s how this goes, hot and cold and a lot more cold,” Kendra said, at a loss.
She stood up and moved across the table to remove the mic.
Before she could reach it, Bananas padded across the kitchen table.
“What a bad girl!” Naomi cried. The file slid across the surface and splayed onto the carpet. “Bananas! Bad girl. Tell Kendra you’re sorry.”
The cat skirted around the photos and artifacts of Josh’s life, now strewn all over. Naomi bent down to help pick up the mess.
“It’s okay, Bananas. I forgive you,” Kendra said. And she joined Naomi to gather the flotsam.
“Here,” Naomi said as she picked up a piece of paper and began to hand it to Kendra. “Wait, oh my God.”
Naomi jerked the photo back. Kendra crawled out from under the table.
“What?”
“This, this!” Naomi’s voice was high pitched. She had a pamphlet in her hand.
“Oh, that’s uh, an old marketing pamphlet from Rising Wings,” Kendra said.
“This, this is the man!” She turned the pamphlet toward Kendra.
The back page of the pamphlet included a photo of a younger Frank Drager.
“Are you sure?”
“This is the man that was facing the hostess stand. The one who said that awful stuff. I know it.”
“Let me get this straight. You don’t recognize the first photo, but this you do?”
“I only got a good look at the worst of the two men, and this is him! I am one hundred percent sure. This man kidnapped Ethan Peltz, I know it, and he sat there and talked about it in the restaurant!”
Kendra’s eyes darted to her recorder. It was still rolling. She had it all on tape.
Naomi’s hand was now shaking as she handed Kendra back the pamphlet. It was a pamphlet Frank Drager had provided her when she’d interviewed him. They’d barely even looked at all that stuff.
But now, it could be the sledgehammer that broke the Ethan Peltz case wide open.
Chapter 37
“I’m sorry it’s so late. I’m just pushing a deadline here.”
“I get it. It’s cool.”
Dakota Buck had agreed to meet her. It was after eight, and he probably had plans, but he agreed to meet Kendra at WPLE.
If it went the way she thought it would, she’d need it all. Every syllable recorded.
Shoop came too, and so did Miles. Less than an hour after her talk with Naomi, her crew was there, ready to do what it took for the Ethan Peltz story.
Though, Miles had a bit to say about the timing.
“This better be good. I have disappointed a very beautiful date for your crazy ideas.” Miles said as they walked to the studio.
Kendra nodded, distractedly. What they had could be explosive.
Shoop had set up the studio mics and was chatting with Dakota. Everything was in place.
“I always wanted to see your studio set up. This is so cool.”
“Well, we do okay. I’m glad you could come.”
“For sure, showered and everything.” Dakota showed her his pristine hands. It made her smile. But it was time for the rubber to meet the road. Kendra got the files out.
“I need you to look at a few photos, tell me if they look familiar.”
Kendra had selected several photos in preparation. She handed them to Dakota.
He flipped through them and then stopped.
“This is him.”
“Him who?”
“The one who was going to kill me. And this, this is the one who was nice.”
Kendra looked at the photos. Dakota had identified Frank Drager as a possible murderer and Tim Wagy as the nice one.
“Tell me again, what this man did.”
Dakota recounted the look in Frank Drager’s eyes. He explained that the nicer of the two, the one they knew as Tim Wagy, took care of him for several days.
Dakota Buck seemed to have no doubt that the two men were the same two he knew, all those years ago. He remembered as much as he could. Though Kendra also knew, he’d been a little boy. One who’d lied. Would this stand up with real law enforcement? Kendra didn’t know.
“So, what comes next?” Dakota asked her.
She decided to be honest with Dakota about the prospects of an arrest. “I can’t say for sure. I’m hoping that, after this episode hits the air, the pressure will be enough for police to take over but there are no guarantees.”
“Do you think they kidnapped that Peltz kid too?”
Kendra was honest again. “I do. I think they kidnapped Ethan Peltz.”
She would leave that comment out of episode six.
But Kendra felt it in her bones.
It was late. They all went home, and at Kendra’s request, Miles set up a few insurance policies for them. The interviews Kendra had done today were all uploaded to the station’s servers.
“In case… well, just in case,” Kendra said.
“In case a crazed child murderer gets wind of us? Great, that’s just great,” Miles remarked, but he did as she asked.
Kendra and Shoop walked to their cars together. They were being cautious, considering what they now believed they had.
“I’m going to write the episode from home,” Kendra told Shoop.
“I feel like collapsing. How are you not?” Shoop asked.
“Just get some rest. Tomorrow is going to be worse than today,” Kendra said.
They knew that they had some tough calls to make and evil monsters to confront.
Kendra logged each word of every interview all night. She rechecked timelines. She fell asleep in her clothes.
At 6 a.m., she was showered and back in the office.
Shoop was right behind her.
They called Josh, they called Tim Wagy, and got nothing from either.
She didn’t want to wake Olive, but by 6:30 a.m., she was on the phone with Howard Meriwether. He was the only one to answer.
“That’s a home run, Kendra.”
“I think so. I think we have enough.”
“It’s good. It’s a huge step forward. I’ll admit though, that waitress, that’s going to haunt me,” Sheriff Meriwether said.
“You can’t let it.”
“I let it go. I let that waitress slip through my fingers. She could have cracked it wide open back then.”
It sounded like the years were weighing heavily on Howard Meriwether right now. Kendra understood it was because he cared about this case, about the Peltz family. She wanted him to be happy that they’d had a break, but she also understood.
“Naomi bolted. You had a million other tips to follow up on.”
“Yeah, well, that’s my own hell to worry about. We need to make sure that Drager guy doesn’t bolt now.”
“He has no reason to. We haven’t said a word about him on our shows. We’re going to record an episode with Josh’s mom, Naomi, and Dakota.”
“I suggest you not name him.”
“He’s already been on the show.”
“Yeah, but not as a suspect. Just be aware, and be careful, kiddo.”
“I will be. The entire thing will be vetted by legal, my boss; it’s all too explosive not to.”
“Good.”
“My question is Margie.”
“She asked you to leave her alone. I’d respect that. You don’t have her son. You never did.”
Kendra felt sick hearing that fact, that truth.
“But do I owe her an update before this thing airs?”
“She’s not listening.”
“How do you know?”
“I checked in on her, dropped her a phone call after it all went south with Josh’s DNA test.”
“I’m glad she’s getting support, and obviously, I’m not the one to give it to her.”
“Yeah, we have a long connection. I’m surprised every day that she’s survived this long.”
“Can you call her, tell her what I found?”
“I am going to, yes. I’ve always updated her on anything new in the case. This qualifies. We have two new leads. They’re not witnesses to Ethan’s disappearance, and neither know where her son is, but both point to a suspect that was never on our radar. She’ll want to know that.”
“I’m going to lay out the things we found and hope that it’s enough.”
“I hope so too, and good job. This is forward progress, big progress.”
“I still don’t have Ethan.”
“We may never have Ethan.”
It was as good a line as any to open Episode Six. So, Kendra pushed the sheriff, now her friend, to help her start episode six.
“Can I get you to give me a quote, that quote, and a reaction to what I told you for this episode?”
“Yep, fire it up.”
Kendra opened the RiNGR app on her phone. It allowed her to record conversations for the podcast.
She asked Howard Meriwether questions related to what they’d learned. He gave her official-sounding answers. They stayed away from discussions about Margie. She’d been exposed enough.
This episode would be about the investigation, not about its potential impact on Margie.
Kendra and Shoop processed all they had. The fuzzy facts of the past, the untraceable things, got clearer as they outlined what Kendra had learned from Sherry.
Things lined up, and the identification from the two tipsters at least appeared plausible after they verified everything they could.
In the end, it was so much material that they split it into two episodes.
As the sun was setting again, they laid out the facts they had, the facts that pointed to Frank Drager as a monster with Tim Wagy as his lapdog.
It was mind-blowing.
But Kendra would deliver her voiceover quietly, without drama. The drama was in the interviews.
Kendra leaned into the mic, Miles gave her a thumbs-up, and she read the words that she and Shoop had crafted.
Episode 6
“We may never have Ethan.”
That’s retired, Sheriff Howard Meriwether. You’ve heard him quite a few times this season. And he’s right. We may never have Ethan.
It’s a stark reality. He’s grappled with it his entire career, Margie Peltz lives with it today, and Doug Peltz went to his grave with it.
We may never have Ethan.
But we do have Josh, and this week, we uncovered lies from his father, Tim, and ties from Wagy to Sand Point to possibly Ethan Peltz.
A lot broke open.
A few tips that were in the Ethan Peltz files helped bring things to light. Is it enough to say what happened to the little boy, last seen playing at Sand Point Amusement Park?
Maybe.
Is there enough here for law enforcement to take a look at a new suspect or two?
We think so.
This story begins with DNA, but not the match we were expecting.
Josh Wagy is not the son of Margie Peltz, but we learned, thanks to the DNA test, that he is the son of a woman named Sherilyn Marie Inkster.
It’s Sherry, as she likes to be called, that provides a twist in this story we weren’t expecting.
Josh Wagy grew up without a mother. That much has always been true.
But he has a mother, and we know who she is.
Sherry Inkster has had a lot of jobs and a lot of hard knocks in life. And to borrow a cliché, her rap sheet is a mile long.
She was in a jam. A single mother.
“I did what I could then, you know, to pay for my habits. I got pregnant, no way in hell to take care of it, and Tim had money.”
That’s when the idea that Tim Wagy could better care for her little boy took hold. And it didn’t take much convincing.
“He was rich?”
“Uh, he had five thousand dollars, so yeah, very.”
Sherry Inkster sold her son, Josh, to Tim Wagy.
With that admission, one mystery has been solved.
Josh Wagy isn’t the son of Margie Peltz. He is the son of Sherilyn Marie Inkster.
In this episode, you’ll hear how Tim Wagy and Sherry have a link to Sand Point that puts them in the right place at a very suspicious time.
This is The Cold Trail. I’m Kendra Dillon.
“Whoa, she’s a piece of work,” Miles said after hearing the Sherry Inkster interview.
“Yeah, right?” Shoop replied.
“How long, do you think?”
“Well, you laid two. It’s going to take a minute. But I’ll have it edited by around one, ready for Art and all.”
“Great. Yeah, we’ve got a bombshell again so he’s going to need to listen and run it by legal, I think,” Kendra said as they left Miles to edit the clips they’d selected and lay in the music, the opens and closes.
“That was our best episode yet. I was riveted, and I wrote half of it!” Shoop quipped.
Kendra knew it was a huge breakthrough for the story of Joshua Wagy, but what did it mean for Ethan Peltz?
Kendra had given Shoop her phone when she recorded the podcast, on Miles’ orders.
“Anything from Tim or Josh?” she asked now.
She’d called, driven to their house, and had heard nothing since they’d gotten the DNA match. They had a million questions to answer for, things to explain, in light of all Kendra had uncovered.
“Nothing,” Shoop said, handing back her phone.
“Let’s break for lunch, meet back here, and wait for Art’s verdict on when these episodes air.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Kendra got in her Jeep. She didn’t tell Shoop or anyone, but she had to try again, in person.
She needed Josh. The entire thing was busting open.
His life would be upside down.
It was probably foolhardy, but she had to knock on the door again. She had to try to get them before this all hit the fan. She didn’t owe a thing to Tim but did feel for Josh.
She dialed him on her way, and finally, after days of no answer, he picked up his cell.
“We have a lot to talk about,” Kendra said to
Josh and wasn’t sure where to begin.
“Yeah,” Josh answered.
Kendra had to tell Josh the awful truth. She did it quickly, but as softly as she could. “Your mom, we found her. It’s not—well, it’s not pretty.”
“I got the alert, the DNA alert, and confronted Tim about it.”
“You did?”
“Yeah, Tim told me,” Josh said.
His voice was guarded. Kendra wasn’t sure how he was taking the news.
“It doesn’t explain the Ethan stuff, but well, it does connect your Dad to Sand Point. He worked there, at the same time as Sherry Inkster, your biological mom.”
“Yeah, and lied and lied and lied about it,” Josh said.
Kendra felt Josh’s pain across the phone conversation. She didn’t know what to say, how to say, the next part, but she pushed on. “Look, I know you believed you’re Ethan, but it’s clear something else is at play here. And well, it’s a lot to process. I want to be sure you’re getting help with all this.”
Kendra was worried that even though Josh had come to her, what they’d unraveled was more than he could handle. And so different from what he’d believed when he’d entered her office.
“I know who the bad guys are now. I know.”
“What does that mean? What are you thinking?”
“My dad, Tim, he’s all sorry. But Tim left, he’s running away. He left me here to deal with this. What kind of person does that?”
“Wait, Tim’s AWOL?”
“Well yeah, wouldn’t you be? He’s a criminal. He bought a person, that’s sickening. He says he saved my life. That’s what he thinks.”
“Yes, it’s all bad. There’s no good answer here. I’m so sorry this is where this leads. But there’s something else, something worse.”
Kendra did not want to be having this conversation on the phone while driving, but it was happening.
“The worst part is Frank Drager,” Josh said, before Kendra could go on. “He’s a murdering scum.”
“How do you know about that?”
Kendra’s episode hadn’t aired. They hadn’t told anyone but Howard Meriwether about what they’d found.
“Kendra, Tim admitted to buying me, but he pointed the finger somewhere else when it came to murder. He wanted to make himself look like the good guy and Frank Drager the bad guy.”
