The Hidden Grave (Harriet Harper Thriller Book 2)

by Dominika Best

  Special Agent McNarin didn’t respond.

  “Are you assisting Eugene’s investigation or taking it over?” Jake continued.

  “How long do the two of you plan to be in town?” Special Agent McNarin asked in the same nonchalant manner.

  “I’m no longer working on the Atticus Menlo case,” Jake said. “My partnership with the Eugene PD dissolved several days ago. We’re here as private citizens.”

  “Why did you find Chris Becker then? What did you want from him?” Special Agent McNarin asked.

  “We’ve been helping the parents of a missing boy. He disappeared around the same time that Atticus Menlo’s body was found. His case slipped through the cracks.” Harri said.

  “Detective French mentioned his name to me. I pulled up the case file and the first thing I saw is that he’s a heroin addict. What makes you so sure he isn’t dead somewhere of an overdose?” the Special Agent asked.

  Harri shook her head. “Attitudes like yours are why we’re here helping his parents. He deserves to be found.”

  “We’re private citizens,” Jake said. “And we don't take orders from you.” His testiness was back.

  “It wasn’t an order as much as a friendly warning. You’ve both been at two crime scenes in one week,” Special Agent McNarin replied. “We’re working on a connection between both cases in conjunction with the Eugene PD. We don’t need your interference in either investigation.”

  "We’re not leaving until we find Dan Ledeyen,” Harri said. "You can let Detective Robinson know that when you talk to him next. We made a promise to his parents and seeing as we’re both law enforcement officers, we can use our skills to help someone everybody else seems to think is a lost cause."

  “Is that all? Can we go?” Jake asked, rising from his seat.

  "Look, no one wants to see either of your careers damaged in any way by obstructing our investigation," the Special Agent said.

  There was no menace in his voice but Harri got the message loud and clear.

  “Well, that’s just great,” Jake said with a smile. “Neither do we.”

  “We’ll follow Dan Ledeyen’s disappearance until we find him,” Harri said.

  “I spoke with your Lieutenant, a Violet Howard,” McNarin said.

  Harri's stomach dropped but she kept her composure. “I'm on vacation from the department. Why would you call my boss?”

  “I like to get all the information I can when I’m working a case,” Special Agent McNarin replied, his beady eyes locking on hers.

  “We aren’t on the case, though,” Harri countered. “Nor are we suspects.”

  “Not yet,” Special Agent McNarin replied.

  The room fell silent.

  “I trust you know how to conduct yourselves in a different city during an ongoing investigation,” Special Agent McNarin remarked.

  Harri got to her feet. Jake was already headed towards the office door.

  “We’ll take your warnings under advisement. Have a good day,” Harri said.

  Jake's jaw set, but he kept his mouth shut. Harri had a feeling that if he did say something, they'd be in a lot more trouble than they were already in. She was grateful for his amazing ability to stay silent when necessary.

  Neither of them spoke until they were back in their rental car.

  "Do you think they’ll put a tail on us?" Harri asked.

  “Not yet.”

  “Give them time. I’m not entirely sure we aren’t suspects,” Harri said. “I wonder if Detective Robinson called in the FBI?”

  “Does it matter?” Jake asked.

  Jake pulled the car out of the federal lot and headed back to the Inn.

  “I guess not. The photos on Chris Becker’s computer must have tipped them off to a bigger operation.”

  “Spanning different states, I’m sure.”

  “McNarin didn’t inspire much confidence in me to uncover a conspiracy like this,” Harri said.

  “He’s the lead in Eugene but the officers reporting to him will be solid. They’ll team up with a computer crimes unit.” Jake flashed her a smile “There are good people in the FBI.”

  “He mentioned nothing about the significance of that photo,” Harri argued.

  “That one photo loses significance when a huge cache of child porn was uncovered at the same crime scene,” Jake said.

  “Wouldn’t you think Gavin would debrief the FBI on my sister’s disappearance and the relevant photo we uncovered?”

  “The photo wasn’t relevant to the investigation. He might have kept it back.”

  “If he did, that might have bought us more time.”

  “Exactly,” Jake said.

  Harri’s anger lifted somewhat and she thanked Gavin silently. Jake pulled onto the freeway and headed towards the Inn.

  The sun was still low, and the surrounding forest looked fresh and new. She rolled down the window and the smell of evergreen blasted her nose. She inhaled deeply and imagined once again how much Lauren must have enjoyed these surroundings.

  Jake interrupted her reverie. “I wanted to give you an option,” he began.

  “I have an idea of what you're going to say, and the answer is no,” Harri said. She was not giving up on bringing her sister home.

  “Harri, your job is in jeopardy. Your boss being called doesn’t bode well for job security.”

  “Are you seriously asking me to go back to Los Angeles?”

  “You need to carefully consider what continuing up here will mean,” Jake said.

  “I have considered it.”

  “I don’t like the amount of heat our being here has generated,” he said.

  “Are you saying there’s a bigger case here?” Harri asked.

  “Bigger, but obviously not more important than finding out what really happened to Lauren,” Jake said. He sighed deeply. “I’m saying that there are powerful people behind this.”

  “I can only imagine that’s why Detective Robinson called my lieutenant.”

  “FBI and local police are both all over this. We don’t know what their positions are. They’re both pursuing their cases, and once it all connects, we could lose track of Lauren again, not to mention Dan Ledeyen.” Jake said.

  They drove in silence for a moment as Harri took in what Jake was saying.

  “Since we’re talking about this, I need to say that I don’t believe Chris Becker killed himself,” Harri said.

  “Why?”

  “The scene didn’t look right.”

  “What about it didn’t look right?” Jake asked.

  “I haven’t put my finger on it yet. But I keep going back to the way the gun was placed near his hand. I don’t know. Also, the timing. Was someone watching us at lunch? Did they know where we were headed?”

  Jake nodded. “I don’t know about that, but why leave the computer with all the evidence behind? If Becker’s killer wanted his activities exposed, why not just take the computer and turn it over to the authorities?”

  “Are we seeing conspiracies in everything now?” Harri asked.

  “If someone killed him, why didn’t they take the computer?” Jake said again.

  “Either they wanted those photos found, or this had nothing to do with the porn ring,” Harri said as Jake pulled into the drive of the Daniels Inn.

  Harri didn't want her job to be in jeopardy. She already had enough problems with the LAPD as it was. This situation would only make her life worse.

  But the truth mattered.

  The truth needed to be brought into the light and this was the closest that she'd ever been to discovering what happened to her sister. If that meant losing her entire career over it, was she going to take the risk? With her stomach roiling, Harri knew the answer to that.

  “You won’t stay away from this?” Jake asked.

  She turned towards him and found him carefully observing her.

  “For the last ten years, I’ve come here banging my head against every door and lost the trail. There was never an i
nkling of what happened to her. Now, we have something to go on. If we lose this thread, it could be lost forever. Especially with who Chris Becker really was.”

  “I feel the same way,” Jake nodded with a smile. “Career be damned. We have to find out what really happened.”

  “And Dan Ledeyen. Besides his parents, you and I are the only ones looking for him. We’re the only ones who care.”

  “What about this,” Jake said. “I’ll keep following the lead on the camp and Chris Becker. I can be the point person for Dr. Brand, and you focus on Dan’s disappearance. That way I can give you some cover from the Eugene PD and the FBI. Dan's disappearance doesn't seem to be concerning them much.”

  Harri wasn’t sure she wanted to do that. She enjoyed working with Jake and there was a certain amount of protection in having a working partner. It was the reason detectives worked in pairs. Your partner had your back.

  At the same time, she understood what he was getting at. Calling Violet was a threat she had received loud and clear.

  “Are you sure you're willing to take the heat like that?” she asked.

  Jake’s lips pursed into a thin line. He reached over and squeezed her hand.

  “I can take it. Don’t worry about me,” he said.

  20

  Day 6 - Afternoon

  Richard Miller tried to look nonchalant as he took another lap by the Cochran Youth Shelter off 11th. The last time Richard had seen Bobby was in this general vicinity. The shelter had been the local YMCA back then.

  A kid with blond hair over his eyes came up to him. “Hey, my name’s Bobby.”

  Rich smiled. He’d worried that he didn’t know anyone here at the Y and was grateful for Bobby’s friendliness. Rich had just moved in with his eighth set of foster parents and these ones were decent enough to send him to the Y for the summer. Rich typically kept to himself, but he was tired of not having any friends. He would try harder to be friendlier.

  “Hi. My name’s Rich. Is this your first day?”

  “Yeah. We missed a week though. It looks like everyone’s paired off already,” he said. They walked into the gym together and saw the different groups of kids already at play.

  “We can play together. Do you play hoops?” Rich asked. Bobby smiled grew wide.

  “I do now.”

  Bobby had been so open and eager to make friends back then. That all changed after some bullies targeted Rich and Bobby and they fought back. Bobby had been kicked out for throwing a punch at one of the older boys.

  Richard remembered that it was Bobby who’d told him about the camp in the woods. Richard begged his foster mother to let him go with his new best friend. How wrong he’d been. How stupid were they to have been so hopeful about a free camp deep in the woods?

  Nothing was free for the dregs of the earth like them.

  The unwanted boys.

  Richard returned to the coffeeshop where he and Bobby had met up about a year ago, hoping he might turn up. It was a long shot, but Bobby always seemed so comfortable there that Richard figured he was a regular. He approached the cashier.

  “Hi there. I was wondering if you knew Bobby Payton?” he asked. “He's a friend of mine and I seem to have lost his number.”

  “Bobby? Bobby the schoolteacher?” the cashier asked. Richard was surprised to hear that. After all that happened, he didn't think Bobby should ever be around any kids.

  “Yeah, that one. You wouldn't by any chance know what school he works at?”

  “Sure, it's the one in the Cal Young neighborhood,” the cashier said. “I don't know exactly what the school’s called, but I think he lives around there. He told me he likes walking to work.”

  “Oh, cool. Has he been in today?” Richard tried to keep the stress out of his voice.

  “Not yet,” she said. “He usually comes in about two hours from now. Want a coffee while you sit and wait?”

  Richard observed the cashier. She was young, no older than eighteen, and naive to give out so much information on a customer. She'd been lucky she hadn't seen the darkness that some people dwelled in.

  “Perfect. I’ll take a latte then,” Richard said.

  “That’ll be three twenty-five,” she said, and Richard gave her cash.

  He grabbed a seat at the window looking out on the street. After his name was called for the latte, he opened an app on his phone and pretended to be reading. He’d told his wife he’d be home late from work even though he'd taken another two weeks of vacation.

  His boss hadn't been happy about it, but Richard had six weeks of vacation saved up and his boss couldn't stop him from taking it.

  He had to find Bobby.

  He had to find out what Bobby was up to.

  Richard waited an hour and a half for Bobby to show. He never did. His hands shook from too much caffeine and he’d switched to decaf on his fourth cup. Between his lack of sleep in the last couple of nights and the stress of everything happening, Richard felt he was walking a razor’s edge.

  He needed to find Bobby. He needed to look into his eyes to know if he was really trying to kill him or if something else had happened that was connected to that camp all those years ago.

  He’d seen in the papers that Chris Becker had died. He’d also been one of the boys at the camp. He had been one of the favorite ones.

  Richard remembered how surprised he was when he discovered that Chris had a family. An extremely wealthy family.

  The boys later found out Chris Becker’s father was an abusive tyrant, and his mother had given up almost everything to get out of the marriage and keep her son away from him. That’s how Chris ended up being one of the lost boys.

  He checked his watch for the thousandth time. Bobby wasn't coming here today. Today had been almost a wasted day. Luckily, the cashier had given him a piece of information he hadn’t known.

  Bobby Payton was a teacher. If he could find out which school he worked at, he could track and corner Bobby there. This new angle might work. The plan made Richard feel like some of his control was coming back.

  He stared out of the coffee shop window at the Cochran Youth Shelter across the street.

  Bobby’s smiling face. The fun they had even though they were both terrible at basketball. Rich finally having a friend. The memories sent Richard to his feet.

  Those memories were way too painful now. It was time for him to go.

  The friendly cashier waved as he walked by. He smiled and waved back.

  “Thank you for telling me about Bobby,” he said.

  “Welcome,” she said.

  “If you see him again, could you tell him that his friend Richard stopped by? I really need to talk to him,” Richard said.

  “I’ll do that. Have a great day,” she said.

  Richard stepped out on the street and looked at the bright blue sky. The cashier was so young. So clean, and sweet, and full of hope.

  Richard wished he could have a small piece of that hope, but he knew deep in his heart that all his hope had been left in those dirty bunks during that summer all those years ago.

  21

  Day 6 - Afternoon

  Harri pulled into the driveway of the Daniels Inn and parked.

  “We should get you that rental car,” she said.

  “I was thinking of that. I’ll take a ride-share over to the Hertz in town,” he said.

  “You’ll miss having me as your personal driver,” Harri said with a smile.

  “You bet,” Jake said. “What are your next moves on Thomas James?”

  “People search,” she said. “He mentioned he was a foster care kid. If I can track down some of his old addresses, I might be able to speak to his foster parents. Get a bead on the guy,” Harri said.

  “You can run those on your computer, right?”

  “Yeah, I’ll do it here. In my room. I need to find out about his guy. Something about Dan’s disappearance really must’ve spooked him.”

  She turned off the car and opened her door. The cool air invigo
rated her. Harri locked the car behind her and they walked to the entrance of the Inn.

  “How serious are they about keeping us away from this?” she asked.

  She’d dealt with the FBI before but in a more collaborative capacity.

  “It really depends on the agent and how much heat he's getting from upstairs,” Jake explained. “It's always about somebody trying to protect their case in this sort of situation. I'm also sure he got crap from Eugene PD asking them to take care of us. PD isn’t happy with you and me.”

  Harri shook her head. It should be about getting results, not about getting the glory. She knew every investigator had to protect their case, but law enforcement across the board should be able to work together.

  “If you give me a few minutes, I’ll do the search in my room, and then I can drive you back into Eugene for your rental car.”

  “Good idea,” Jake said.

  “Give me twenty minutes?”

  “I have to go to my room anyway,” Jake said.

  They parted ways at the top of the stairs. The Inn was quiet. Harri didn’t think anyone was staying there besides themselves.

  Harri opened the door to her room and knew immediately something was wrong. Shreds of fabric peeked out from below her closet door. Harri pulled her gun out and cleared the room.

  Whoever had been in the room was long gone.

  She put her latex gloves on before she opened the closet door. All the clothes she’d brought with her had been shredded to ribbons. Dammit! She liked those clothes.

  Harri left the room and knocked on Jake’s door.

  Jake knew something was up from the look on her face.

  “What happened?" he asked.

  “Somebody's been in my room," Harri finally told him.

  "What do you mean?” he asked.

  “Someone left Lauren’s favorite pin attached to human hair in my bathtub.”

  “Just now?”

  Harri sighed heavily. She would have to tell him everything.

  “Can I come in?” she asked.

  “Of course,” Jake said as he pulled her into his room.