Blue as Sapphires

by Constance Bretes

  He handed her key to her. “I’ll call it in and contact you when I get the part.”

  That evening she went home and changed her clothes then headed out to the dig site. She grabbed a sandwich to eat on the way. When she arrived at the site, she was surprised that Campbell wasn’t there. She drove over to his site and he wasn’t there either. Where is he?

  She sat on a boulder for a few minutes and decided to wait for him. Something was wrong. The hair on the back of her neck stood up. She scanned the area to see if he was coming. She pulled her cellphone out and tried to call him several times, but he didn’t answer. She decided if he didn’t show up shortly she’d head to Motel Six, where he was staying, to check on him. This wasn’t like him. He would call her if he wasn’t going to show up. It just didn’t seem right.

  She heard a gun go off. She looked and saw legs standing behind the trommel machine in the land next to Campbell’s. She stood up and looked around when another shot rang out. The bullet skipped off a rock near her, and she realized that they were shooting at her.

  She ran to her car, backed it around, and took off. She drove to Motel Six and pulled up in the parking lot. His truck is here, that’s not good. She didn’t know which room was his, so she went to the office.

  “Can I help you?” the front desk clerk asked.

  “Yes, I was wondering if you could tell me which room Campbell is in.”

  “He’s in room nine.”

  “Okay. Um, have you seen him come out of his room today?”

  “I don’t recall seeing him leave today. He did have visitors earlier though.”

  “I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Would you walk with me to his room and bring the key? Something’s not right here.”

  The clerk looked blankly at her, and then said, “Yeah, sure.”

  The woman grabbed a key and came around the counter, and they walked down to room nine. Marissa knocked at the door, but there was no answer.

  “Campbell, are you in there?” Marissa called. She knocked again, but still there was no answer. She turned to clerk. “Can you unlock the door?”

  The woman hesitated. “I’m not sure I should be doing this.”

  “If he’s not here or if he’s sleeping or something, no foul, but if he’s hurt, we owe it to him to call the appropriate parties.”

  “Okay.” The desk clerk unlocked the door and opened it. As they entered the room, the woman gasped. “Oh my God.”

  Marissa took one look at the scene before her and immediately grabbed her cellphone from her pocket and dialed 911.

  “What is your emergency?”

  “We are at Motel Six, and a man named Campbell has been hurt. He’s face down on the floor and there’s blood all over his room. He’s in room number nine. Please send help and let Sheriff McCade know.”

  “Is the individual breathing?” the dispatcher asked.

  “Um, let me see.” Marissa got down on her knees beside him and put her finger to his neck to check for a pulse. She felt a slight beating beneath her fingertips and let out a sigh of relief. “He has a pulse, he’s still alive. Please hurry.”

  “We’ll be there right away. Are you safe? Do you think there is anyone in the room with you?”

  Marissa looked around the room and saw it was ransacked and the safe was open. She glanced toward the bathroom. The door was wide open and the shower curtain was pushed back. The room as empty. “No, I don’t think there’s anyone here.” She looked over at the desk clerk. “You stay on the lookout for the ambulance and sheriff.”

  “Oh, okay.” She stepped outside the room to watch for them.

  Marissa tilted her head to one side to hold the cellphone between her head and shoulder. She carefully turned his head and saw the bleeding hole.

  “I found the wound. It looks like a bullet is in his head, and his face had been beaten. I’m going to apply pressure to it to stop the bleeding.”

  “Can you tell if there is more than one bullet wound?” the dispatcher asked.

  She grabbed his jacket that was laying next to the bed and applied pressure to the area that was bleeding. “It doesn’t look like it.”

  Marissa heard the sirens outside, and the emergency medical technicians entered the room and took over.

  “The ambulance has arrived. I’m going to hang up now.”

  “Okay. Thank you,” the dispatcher said.

  Marissa disconnected the call and walked outside.

  * * * *

  “Marissa? What the hell happened?” Riley raced up to her.

  “I don’t know. I went to the dig site where I was supposed to meet Campbell, and he didn’t show up. I became concerned and came here and had her,” she said, pointing at the front desk clerk, “grab her key so we could go in and see if he was here and okay. We opened the door, and we found him like this.”

  “Okay, you two stick around while we investigate,” Riley said and entered the room.

  Soon, the emergency medical technicians brought Campbell out on a stretcher. Riley exited the room behind them.

  Marissa ran up to the EMT and asked, “Is he going to be okay?”

  “He’s still alive, but we don’t know the extent of his injuries. We’ll be taking him to Quartz Medical Center.” They put the stretcher in the ambulance and sped off.

  “Judy, did you notice anything suspicious going on around here today?” Riley asked the desk clerk.

  “Yes, he had two visitors. They were in an older model white truck that had dents along the side of it. I didn’t pay much attention to them, because at the time I didn’t think they were dangerous,” she answered.

  “Did you or anyone else hear a gun go off?”

  “No, I didn’t hear anything,” Judy answered sadly.

  Riley went back into the room. Two of his deputies were dusting the motel safe for fingerprints so they could try to match them up with the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Automated Fingerprint Identification System, while Riley and another deputy looked through everything in the room for evidence. His cellphone rang, and he looked at the screen. It said Verdinstradt.

  “McCade.”

  “Riley, this is Verdinstradt. I’m at the hospital with Campbell and just spoke to the doctor. Campbell is stable, and the x-ray shows only one bullet, which didn’t penetrate into his brain. He has several broken bones and a hairline fracture. They’re taking him to the operating room now to remove the bullet, set the broken bones, and stitch his face up.”

  “I want the bullet once they remove it so we can do a ballistic test on it.”

  “I’ll be sure to get it.”

  “Okay, thank you.” Riley disconnected the call and walked out to where Marissa and Judy stood. “I just got word from the hospital that Campbell’s in stable condition. He’s got a bullet wound to the head, but it didn’t penetrate his skull. He was beaten though, and he has some broken bones. They’re taking him into surgery now.”

  “Hey, boss,” Zak Perlos, one of his officers, called out to him.

  Riley walked a few steps away from Marissa and Judy to talk with Perlos. “Yeah?”

  “The description of the vehicle that she gave, we can’t say for sure, but I do know the Ferguson boys drive an older model Ford F150 that is white and banged up on the side.”

  “Okay, thanks.”

  Riley turned back toward Marissa.

  “Riley, is it okay if I go visit Campbell at the hospital now?” Marissa asked.

  “Yeah, sure. If I have any additional questions, I’ll stop by and see you there.”

  “Okay.” Marissa got into her car and drove away, and Judy walked back to her office.

  Jack came out of the room. “It looks like they came after him intending to rob him. There is nothing in the safe,” Jack said.

  “I’m not sure, but I think he probably kept his sapphires and gold in the safe,” Riley said thoughtfully. “Let’s get a time sequence of everything that happened starting with the Ferguson boys. I want to know what they we
re doing and where they were.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’ll be right back. I’m going to go talk to Judy. Maybe she has more information to share.” Riley turned and walked to the office.

  He entered the office, and Judy looked up from behind her counter.

  “Judy, can you tell me what time that truck showed up at Campbell’s room?”

  “It was three PM. I remember because I watched them as they sped into the parking lot and parked next to his truck, I looked up at that clock.” She pointed to the clock on the wall.

  “Okay. Now think about this. Do you remember what they looked like, what they were wearing, anything that could help us in nabbing the perpetrator?”

  “I couldn’t make out their faces, so I can’t tell you what they looked like, but the driver had on a red and black checkered flannel shirt and jeans. I didn’t see the other guy.”

  “Did you see them leave?”

  “Yes. They ran out of the room and jumped in the truck and took off that way.” She pointed to the road going south.

  “Okay. If you think of anything at all, no matter how small or insignificant you may think it is, call me, okay?”

  “Yes, Sheriff, I will.”

  Riley and Jack left the motel and went to the hospital to talk to Marissa. When they arrived, they walked into the emergency room and saw her standing in the waiting room, looking out the window.

  “Hey, Marissa,” Riley said as he approached her. “How are you doing?”

  “I’m okay. He’s still in surgery. They said he would be okay. But his face took a beating.”

  “We need to ask you some questions. Do you think you can concentrate for a few minutes and help us out?” Riley asked.

  Marissa nodded. “Yes, I can do that.”

  They sat down in the chairs in the waiting room.

  “What time did you get home from work?” Riley asked.

  “I left work at four-thirty and I got home about five minutes later.” She folded her hands in her lap.

  “Okay, what did you do and when did you leave to go to the dig site?”

  “I changed my clothes and grabbed a sandwich out of the refrigerator and went to the dig site. All that took about fifteen minutes, so I got there about four-fifty.”

  “What did you do while you were there?”

  “I pulled up at where my claim is, and I was surprised that Campbell wasn’t there. After waiting a few minutes, I drove over to his site. I looked around and didn’t notice anything odd. I sat on a boulder and waited for him. I tried to reach him several times by cellphone, but he didn’t pick up. Then I heard a gun go off. I looked around, and I saw four legs standing behind the trommel next to Campbell’s lot. I thought nothing of it at the time. I heard more gunfire and one hit a stone next to me and I realized they were shooting at me. I ran to my car and drove to Motel Six to check on Campbell.”

  “What time did you leave his site?” Jack asked, as he wrote in a small notebook.

  “I think it was around five-twenty. Then it only took me about five minutes to arrive at Motel Six.”

  “Did you see who was shooting at you?” Riley asked.

  “No. I didn’t realize they were shooting at me until a bullet hit the rock next to me.”

  “So you don’t know if it was the Ferguson brothers or someone else shooting at you.” Jack stopped writing and looked up at her.

  “No, sorry, I don’t.” She bowed her head.

  “Don’t be sorry. I’m glad you didn’t get hurt,” Riley said.

  “Do you think that shooting at the site had anything to do with Campbell getting shot?” Marissa twirled her hair.

  “I believe there’s a strong connection between the two, but won’t know all the facts until I get everything together. Hopefully, Campbell will tell us what happened when he wakes up.”

  Riley and Jack left the hospital and got into the cruiser. “I think the next visit should be the dig site,” Jack said.

  “I agree.”

  They drove out to the dig site. The first place they stopped was at the Fergusons’ location. They drove up near the trommel and got out. Riley noticed spent shells on the ground behind the trommel. Jack pulled out a plastic bag and put the spent casings in them.

  They drove over to Campbell’s property and parked where Campbell and Marissa usually parked when they went there to dig.

  “It may be hard finding anything in this tall grass,” Riley noted.

  “Yeah, if we find nothing, then we’ll have to have Marissa come out and show us where she was sitting. I’m assuming it was that big boulder over there.” Jack pointed toward the rock.

  Riley and Jack looked around in the tall grass for bullets. They found six bullets; two of them had hit the rocks and ricocheted into the ground.

  “It looks like they’re doing the same thing here that they did back in Rives Junction, Colorado—trying to intimidate and scare people away,” Jack commented.

  “Yeah, it looks that way,” Riley replied.

  Jack got the camera out of the cruiser, and they placed markers at each location they found bullets and numbered them. After they got the pictures taken, Riley dug one of the bullets out of the ground, and a few other bullets, and placed them in a plastic bag so they could be compared with the bullet that was removed from Campbell’s head.

  They stopped at the hospital to pick up the bullet the surgeon removed from Campbell’s head. The nurse came over and handed Riley a plastic bag with the bullet in it.

  Riley asked, “How is Campbell doing?”

  “So far he’s in stable condition, but they’re still operating on him.”

  “Thanks.”

  They returned to the station and Riley took the evidence he’d collected to the officer who did bullet match-ups.

  “Compare these spent bullets, and cells, with this bullet here.” He handed him the mangled bullet. “This one was removed from Campbell’s skull. Tell me what you found as soon as you compare everything.”

  “Yes, sir,” the deputy said.

  Riley went back to his office and sat down in his chair. He leaned back in it and stretched as he thought about the incident. He was willing to bet money that the Ferguson boys attempted to murder Campbell and robbed him of his gems, gold, and cash, and then went to the dig site and fired off shots at Marissa. He needed the evidence to tie them to it.

  As he sat reflecting on what he knew so far his office phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and it was his desk sergeant, Jamie Parker. “Yeah, Jamie?”

  “You have a call from Marissa Simpson on line one.”

  “Okay.” He pushed the line in on the phone and said, “Hi, Marissa.”

  “Hi, Riley. Campbell came through the surgery fine and is in recovery now. They said he could have visitors tomorrow.”

  “That’s good. Maybe I can get some information from him tomorrow. I’d like you to do something for me. I’d like you to stay away from the dig site until we get this wrapped up. It’s just too dangerous for you to be hanging around there. Will you do that for me?”

  “Yeah, Riley. I’ll stay away until you get to the bottom of this.”

  “Great. Thanks, I appreciate it, and thank you for letting me know how Campbell’s doing.” Riley ended the call.

  A little while later, his deputy came back. “Most of the bullets match the mangled one that was removed from the victim’s head.”

  “Most of them?”

  “Yes, there were two guns. When I looked at the bullets and location in the pictures you and Jack took, the bullets that were fired over by the boulder on Campbell’s claim matches the one from his head.”

  “Good.” Evidence is starting to come in.

  Jack came into the office after the deputy left. “Do you think we have enough to arrest Ferguson?”

  “Which one? I think I know who did it, but I’d like to be able to prove beyond reasonable doubt. Let’s wait until we can talk to Campbell tomorrow and hear what he’s got to say. Have
they found any usable prints on the safe at the motel room that can be matched against AFIS?”

  “Yes, we’re running the AFIS now. Sometimes it takes a little while.”

  “Good. I want to see Sergeant Miller. I have a feeling there may be some blabbermouths running around town tonight.”

  “I’ll let him know.”

  Jack left, and a few minutes later Sergeant Miller walked in. “You wanted to see me?”

  “Yeah, Don. I’d like you and the deputies to keep an eye on the bar scene tonight at the Coyote Bar. We’re interested in what the Ferguson boys have to say. They may be gloating about their day.”

  “Think they had something to do with Campbell being shot?” Sergeant Miller asked.

  “Yes, I think they had a lot to do with it.”

  “Okay, sir. I’ll have the guys out keeping an eye on things and listening.”

  Riley was ready to leave for the day when Jack came back into his office. “The prints on the safe in Campbell’s room belong to Joe and Ryan Ferguson.”

  “What a surprise. Now we have to figure out which one fired the gun and smashed Campbell’s face in.” As Riley walked out the door, his cellphone rang. “McCade,” he answered.

  “Hello, Riley. I have some information to share with you,” Len said.

  “You do? Okay. Why don’t we meet at the Mill Creek Restaurant for dinner and you can tell me what you found out?”

  A few minutes later, Riley pulled into the parking lot at the restaurant, got out, and walked inside. He looked around and located Len sitting off in a corner by himself. Riley walked up to the table and sat across from him.

  “How’s it going, Riley?” Len asked.

  “Hell of a day today,” Riley said.

  “Yeah, I heard someone got shot. Have you made an arrest yet?”

  “I’m working on it. The evidence is piling up on two individuals, but I want to talk to the victim first.”

  “Good luck with it.”

  The waitress came and took Riley’s drink order and their food order and walked away.

  Riley shifted gears. “So, what did you find out for me?”

  “Marissa Simpson was a victim of spousal abuse. Pretty bad one too. He’d get drunk and then go after her. The last time he did it, he hit her with a two-by-four board with a nail on it, ripped her skin, almost cut her in half. When she was in the hospital, Protective Services intervened and they put her in a home for abused women. When Simpson found out she was going to file for a divorce, he filed first, and manipulated it so she got nothing but a few personal things. She managed to get on the state’s welfare program, and one day, she got a check and she took it and the car that was donated to her and left the state and came here. Another thing—her ex-husband was the son of the owner of Heartland Diamonds.”