Raked Over

by Linda Seals

After talking with Perry and Denise I realized that I felt a responsibility to Shannon to tell somebody these things that I knew. Maybe it was all coincidence. Maybe Barry Correda was telling the truth when he told of Shannon’s drinking problems. Maybe she had messed up her accounts. Maybe she did, all alone in her house, decide to kill herself, and drove to a lonely spot to do it. Maybe, but I didn’t think so. Now I thought that I had some pieces to Shannon’s story that may provide the cohesion to bring the truth to light.

  I needn’t have thought myself so important.

  There was no case. I called the Gilcrest police station and talked to the part-time administrative employee. Yes, the Shannon Parkhurst case had been investigated by Officer Highsell. No, Officer Highsell was no longer on the case. Because of budget cuts, Gilcrest had had to contract out its investigations and emergency calls, and all cases had been transferred to the county sheriff’s office. No, Officer Highsell no longer worked for the Gilcrest police either, as apparently no one really did any more because of the budget cuts. Officer Highsell had moved to Tennessee for a job in security with the Titans football team.

  So I called the name I’d been given at the Weld County Sheriff’s Department and talked to a polite but terse-sounding detective, John Boyer. He said he did remember Shannon’s case because it was the only one out of Gilcrest but no, he’d seen no reason to reopen it. He sensed my frustration and asked me if I had additional information, and said that he’d be glad to talk to me.

  I went down the list with him, starting with the trunk and Nephew/Daryl and Bernice Thorton; the attempted break-ins; ThaunderX and the handwritten list; and Barry Correda’s overheard conversation—without repeating all the f-words, it sounded insubstantial and petty, just like punks bragging how tough they were. But I think I lost John Boyer at the ThaunderX stuff; I heard him sigh. I realized how empty it sounded, and how tired I was of repeating the story. Something kept jabbing me to keep going, but, was it time to let it go? I wondered to myself.

  Weld County Detective John Boyer took my information, thanked me, and that was that.