After the meeting, Mike went to Sheriff Taylor’s office and gave him an update.
“Mike, another great job. You solved two cases that seemed almost impossible at first glance, but the DNA evidence has tied everything together. I think we’ll get a conviction on Biggs and Waldrop, but I doubt we’ll find Aryan or whatever his current name is. He has potential allies among other militia groups. Those people might help him hideout indefinitely or get him across the border into Mexico. Almost all of our border defenses are designed to prevent illegal entry into the US; they don’t work nearly as well at preventing people from leaving the US and getting into Mexico. You know there are still hundreds of miles of the Arizona border that have no strong physical barrier.”
After he got back to his office, Mike called Linda Surrett to thank her for her help and to update her on the case.
“Mike, the FBI has issued that drawing of Donald Aryan to every field office. Homeland Security, especially their border patrol officers also have the drawing. I admit that Aryan might have merely walked across the border in some remote spot in Arizona or New Mexico, but the Mexican government is not anxious to have him in their country either. Unless he gets to a country with no extradition, eventually we’ll find him.”
Mike had four other cases that had been somewhat neglected while he focused on the two homicides in his jurisdiction. He spent the rest of the day following up leads on his other cases, doing some paperwork, and reconciling his department’s budget against his actual expenses. His overtime expenses were above plan because of the homicides, but there was a lot of time before year-end. Near the end of the day, he received a call from Sean who had gone with Dr. Whittier to examine Dohi’s storage locker.
“Mike, we think we’ve found several items from the Kinnickinick Pueblo site as well as twenty-two artifacts that were probably looted from other Sinagua sites in northern Arizona. Dr. Whittier will have DNA information by tomorrow afternoon, but she seems certain that they’ll have the shaman’s DNA signature because they exactly match molds Jimmy made at the site.”
That evening Mike and Margaret talked about the case after a light dinner of skinless chicken breast in lemon basil sauce, broccoli and kale salad, and baked sweet potato fries. There was still no dessert, but only five more days of lent.
“Mike, you solved both homicides, but you’re not displaying your normal post case exhilaration.”
“Yes, we did solve the murders of Paul McFarlane and Jarod Baldwin. Especially now that I’m almost positive that Robert Dohi drove the van.”
“But?”
“But, the way Robert Dohi was killed, does not fit with my mental picture of Donald Aryan. It would be really stupid to stay in the Phoenix area and take the risk of abducting him in a busy city and driving him in the trunk of a vehicle all the way through Scottsdale to the north edge of town. Why torture him if not for money, and the Scottsdale police found no evidence that money was involved in the murder. The killer didn’t even take the money from his wallet.”
“It’s not your case, but you could request more information from the Scottsdale PD. They know that their case is connected to your homicides.”
“Good idea, Sweetie, I’ll do that tomorrow.”
The following day, Mike requested Sergeant Greco send him a copy of the Robert Dohi autopsy. It came by email only fifteen minutes later. He set a printed copy next to his copy of the autopsy of Jarod Baldwin. Although there had been no effort to obscure the identity by cutting finger tips in the Dohi case, there were many other similarities: burns in many sensitive places, fingers broken with a metal implement, and other sadistic flourishes like the pulling of many teeth. The torture methods were too similar to have been a coincidence.
Both murders would have been noisy, with hideous screams piercing the night and a very prolonged death ordeal, maybe four or more hours of screams. Perhaps the victims had been gagged to suppress the screams, but no forensic evidence of that had been found. Jarod was tortured in a remote forest campsite where there was no one to hear his screams. Mike had not been to the crime scene in the Dohi case, but he knew that the Scottsdale police were interviewing everyone in that rural area of the city. The murder of Dohi seemed like a far greater risk than Aryan should have taken, especially since as far as they knew, Aryan hadn’t extorted money or information from his victim. Mike was willing to accept that Aryan simple prolonged the deaths because he enjoyed it, but the difference in personal risk seemed greater than he expected.
Later that afternoon, the analysis from Dr. Amber Whittier confirmed the shaman DNA on two of the object found in Dohi’s storage unit in Scottsdale. Mike would send them to the state crime lab and the FBI for confirmation, but it was the result he expected. Everyone on his team agreed that the two homicides in Coconino County had been solved and that all that remained was the manhunt for Donald Aryan and the trials of Matt Waldrop and Andy Biggs. Dohi was not their case, and Mike felt that he needed to let it go.
On Wednesday morning Mike got to work and found a note suggesting that he look at a video obtained by the Bank of America’s ATM in downtown Flagstaff. It showed the driver’s side of a 2015 Blue Ford Transit van briefly passing in the background of the shot of the bank customer’s face. Jimmy Hendrix had digitally enhanced the van’s image and enlarged it to fit the whole computer monitor. Robert Dohi was driving the van. The passenger was not clearly visible, but the screen shot showed a muscular and tattooed shoulder and a profile that could have been Aryan. It was further proof that Robert Dohi had been one of the murderers of Jarod Baldwin. Mike considered calling Jarod’s mother in Cottonwood and his father in Fairbanks, but he decided to wait a few days to see if there was any sign of Donald Aryan. The case was not complete as long as he was still on the run.
Chapter 32
It was Easter Sunday. Mike and Margaret had been to early mass because they planned an eleven-mile round trip hike to a spectacular picnic spot overlooking Sedona from the top of Wilson Mountain. It was a difficult hike that they had done together every spring since they moved to Sedona. They had deliberately skipped the second mass with its Easter pageant directed by Frieda Biggs. Father Howard had focused his sermon on the Judas story and of course, on the resurrection. Mike wasn’t sure if he or Andy Biggs was the actual target of the Judas comments, but they had merely shaken hands with the conservative priest after the service while wishing him a happy Easter. Mike didn’t want any discussion of his role in arresting Mr. and Mrs. Biggs.
Mike and Margaret were both breathing hard having just completed the steep climb to the top of Wilson Mountain. Mike was wondering what Margaret had packed for their lunch. She’d been very secretive about what she was making for this special Easter picnic, but he knew it included four almond croissants and perhaps some other French pastries. The time difference between Sedona and New York meant that their granddaughters had already been to Easter service. They were looking forward to seeing the photos, but there had been areas with no cell phone reception during their hike. They were in an official wilderness area where cell towers were not permitted. When they reached the overlook, they would have service again from the cell towers in Sedona.
As Margaret laid out the picnic lunch, both of their phones beeped with incoming text messages. They stopped to look at the four photos attached to the text from their daughter-in-law, Sue. The twins looked lovely in their identical periwinkle dresses. John was in a business suit, but had found a tie to match the girls’ dresses. The two photos taken by John showed Sue had found a periwinkle and white dress to match the girls. The photos were all taken on the steps of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. Margaret took a photo of their picnic lunch with the town of Sedona, 2,500 feet below their picnic spot, in the background.
Mike’s phone beeped again with another text.
“I have some information about your cases. Sorry to bother you on a holiday, but you might want to call me on my personal cell phone when you get a chance. There is no rush.” It was from L
inda Surrett. Mike didn’t mention the text to Margaret because he didn’t want work to interrupt their picnic.
Five hours later they were home, and Mike decided to call Linda Surrett.
“Are you working on Easter Sunday, Linda? I thought even the FBI would take today off.”
“I volunteered to have duty today and let my coworkers with families have the day at home. Don’t be surprised; I actually am nice at least on rare occasions. Anyway, I called about a body found in the Gila National Forest in Catron County, New Mexico eight days ago. The county is very rural, seven thousand square miles and only 3,700 people. It’s a bit of a hotbed for the sovereign citizens movement. There are three ranches that seem to be the centers of a group called the New Mexico Border Posse that began by patrolling the border with Mexico. Now they’ve morphed into a group that wants the county government to take over the Gila National Forest and distribute the land to local residents. Sort of a new version of the Homestead Act.”
Mike paused recalling that Jesse Baldwin had once been a member of the Arizona Border Posse. “Was the victim drug to death?”
“Damn Mike, that’s a good guess. The victim was tortured and killed in almost the same manner as one of your cases. That case got a lot of TV coverage, so the Albuquerque FBI office has assumed it was a copycat until this morning. We’re handling it because the county has a very small sheriff’s department, and they asked our office for help when they realized the manner of death was similar to the recent Arizona homicides in your county and in Scottsdale. The victim’s fingertips had been cut off and burned in a campfire to cauterize the wounds. I’ll send the full autopsy to your office.”
“It might mean that Donald Aryan was hiding out in western New Mexico and for some reason killed again.”
“No Mike. The DNA evidence is conclusive. Donald Aryan is the victim of this homicide. He died nine days ago after being tortured and drug for five miles along a gravel road. Aryan was already dead when Robert Dohi was murdered in north Scottsdale.”
Mike was speechless for a moment.
“Mike, are you still there?”
“Yes, thank you for the update. I’ll review the case and call you tomorrow after I review the New Mexico autopsy report. Thanks.”
Margaret could tell by Mike’s expression that the news had been shocking. “Sweetie, you just got some very disconcerting news. Do you want to tell me about it?”
“Donald Aryan is dead. He was killed across the New Mexico border in a rural area of Catron County nine days ago.”
“Well, I can’t say I grieve for that sadistic murderer. I’m sure you’d rather have seen him face justice in court in Flagstaff, but you will still have trials for Andy Biggs and Matthew Waldrop.”
“Margaret, he was killed by being towed behind a vehicle two days before Robert Dohi was murdered in a similar manner in Scottsdale.”
“Jesse Baldwin?”
“I’m afraid that’s who I suspect. He claimed there would be no need of a trial if he found Donald Aryan first. He was a member of the Arizona Border Posse, which must have had a connection to the New Mexico Border Posse in Catron County. I assume Aryan gave up the name of Robert Dohi before he was allowed to die. I showed him the full autopsy on his son including the photos. He knew details that almost no one else knew about what his son suffered. He reproduced that torture with both Aryan and Dohi ”
Margaret asked, “What will you do?”
“I’ll compare Jarod Baldwin’s report to the Donald Aryan report. It’s still possible that it was a copycat who was merely going by what they learned from the news.”
Margaret’s eyes were misty with tears. “I hope it wasn’t a father’s revenge. I understand his fury at Jarod’s brutal murder, but ‘vengeance is mine; I will repay, says the Lord’.”
Two months later, on a Friday afternoon, Mike closed his active case file on the Jarod Baldwin and Paul McFarlane homicides. They were ready for trial. There had been an investigation of Jesse Baldwin in the possible homicides of Andy Biggs and Donald Aryan. Four witnesses had made formal statements insisting that Jesse Baldwin was in his hometown of Douglas, Arizona when the two homicides occurred. All four were childhood friends of Jesse who had once been fellow members of the Arizona Border Posse unit he had led. Mike didn’t believe a word of their statements; however, there was no physical evidence or eyewitness testimony that linked Jesse to either homicide. Mike had worked out the timeline that allowed Mr. Baldwin to leave his son’s funeral and kill both men. He had compared all three autopsies and decided that only someone with access to the written autopsy report on Jarod Baldwin could have reproduced the crime so exactly.
Neither case was in Mike’s jurisdiction. He had provided all the details he knew to the FBI, the Catron County Sheriff, and the Scottsdale police. Jesse Baldwin had returned to Alaska since there were no grounds for holding him or restricting his travel. This ambiguous result had happened many times in Mike’s long career. Sometimes you knew in your gut exactly who was guilty, but there was insufficient evidence for a conviction. Mike was a seeker of justice, but justice in this world was not guaranteed.
The End
Aguilar, Pete – Mike Damson’s former partner at the LAPD, now Chief of the Santa Fe Police Department
Aryan, Donald – Also known as Harold White, the leader of the Verde Valley Pure Blood Militia
Baldwin, Jarod – Young employee at Poole Vineyards who recognizes the photo of Donald Aryan
Baldwin, Jesse – Jarod Baldwin’s father, a resident of Fairbanks, Alaska
Biggs, Andy – Owner of Sedona Premium ATV Rentals
Cooper, Neil – Chief law enforcement for the Forest Service for the Coconino National Forest
Damson, Margaret – Mike’s wife of thirty years who works at a Sedona bank and enjoys helping Mike with his cases
Damson, Mike – Chief of the Criminal Investigation Unit of the Coconino County, Arizona Sheriff’s department
Dohi, Robert – owner of Scottsdale based Turquoise Roadrunner store
Donne, Gregory, PhD, a retired NAU professor who witnessed a murder while fishing at Kinnickinick Lake.
Graham, Susan – fiancé of Paul McFarlane
Hendrix, Jimmy – crime scene technician for Coconino County, Arizona
Jenson, Richard – owner of Santa Fe Native Artifacts
Mark, Sean – newest member of the Criminal Investigations Unit who works with Mike on the McFarlane homicide case
McFarlane, Meredith – mother of Paul McFarlane
McFarlane, Paul – a recently discharged marine who is murdered while backpacking at the Kinnickinick Pueblo ruin near Anderson Mesa in the Coconino National Forest
McFarlane, Seth – father of Paul McFarlane
Poole, Jim – owner of Poole Vineyards near Page Springs, Arizona as well as the business manager for his family’s large holdings of ranchlands in Arizona, New Mexico, and California
Rosetta, June – research assistant for the Coconino County Sheriff’s Department
Songbird, Barbara – the Anglicized name of the Hopi Tribe’s liaison with law enforcement
Sordi, Giuseppe – Wine master at Poole Vineyards near Page Springs, AZ
Sumter, Kay, MD – Medical Examiner for Coconino County, Arizona
Surrett, Linda – Senior Special FBI agent in charge of a domestic anti-terrorism unit
Taylor, Greg – the elected Sheriff of Coconino County, Arizona
Waldrop, Matt - Yavapai County Sheriff’s Department deputy assigned to the investigation of the looting of ancient artifacts in that Arizona county
Weaver, Helen – the Anglicized name of a Hopi Tribal Elder.
Whittier, Amber, PHD – Dr. Whittier, an expert with DNA analysis of ancient inhabitants of northern Arizona who works for the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff
Books by Charles Williamson on Kindle https://www.amazon.com/author/c.d.williamson
Mysteries:
The Dead Priest of Sedona: Book
One of the Mike Damson Mysteries The Dead Chef of Santa Fe: Book Two of the Mike Damson Mysteries The Murders at El Tovar: Book Three of the Mike Damson Mysteries The Victim at Vultee Arch: Book Four of the Mike Damson Mysteries The Arson at Happy Jack: Book Five of the Mike Damson Mysteries The Dead Man at Doyle Saddle: Book Six of the Mike Damson Mysteries The Mauling at Kinnickinick Pueblo: Book Seven of the Mike Damson Mysteries Oil Town: Book One of the Howard McAlester Mysteries Time Travel:
Temporal Foam: A Novel of Accidental Time Travel The Argonauts of Phoenix: The Second Adventure in the Temporal Foam The Peaceful Pillage of Pompeii: The Third Adventure in the Temporal Foam Science Fiction: Black Dot: Jack Dunn, Cyber-Detective Volume One Green Glow: Jack Dunn, Cyber-Detective Volume Two Blue Haze: Jack Dunn, Cyber-Detective Volume Three Fantasy:
The Pogrom of Mages: The Healers of Glastamear, Volume One The Mages’ Winter of Death: The Healers of Glastamear, Volume Two The WAR OF THE FIRE MAGES:The Healers of Glastamear, Volume Three The Conclave of Lords and Mages:The Healers of Glastamear, Volume Four
The Mauling at Kinnickinick Pueblo Page 23
