by L A Dobbs
Chapter Twenty-One
"I could’ve taken care of Ed myself," Sam said as he peeled the buns off the burger he’d ordered at the bar. He squinted at the bare patty. Ketchup and mayonnaise were smeared all over the surface. He looked over at Mick. "Are ketchup and mayo bad for dogs?"
Mick shrugged.
Lucy whined, and Sam looked down at her. "You like ketchup?"
He scraped it off anyway. It didn’t seem like something a dog should be eating. Then he threw the burger into a bowl and set it on the floor. Lucy sniffed it cautiously.
"Beggars can’t be choosers there, buddy." Sam pressed his fingers against his bottom lip. It was sore where one of the punches had cut the inside of his mouth. He could still taste the coppery tang of his blood.
Mick leaned back in the kitchen chair. He was still wearing his leather jacket, and the deep pockets bulged out, the right one more so than the left. The amber-colored beer bottle in his hand tilted slightly as he leaned.
"I figured you could’ve taken care of him, but it looked like that might have taken a while. I didn’t want to wait around. Got important information." His gaze flicked from Sam to the dog. "When did you get a dog?"
Sam joined him at the table with his own beer. He glanced at Lucy, who was licking the sides of the bowl. "She’s a stray."
"You keeping her?"
Sam’s heart pinched. "Nah. Got no time. I had picked her up on another call and happened to have her in the truck when I was called to the fight. Figured the shelter would be closed by the time we were done, so I brought her here."
"Maybe you should let her stay. She’d be a lot better female companionship than either one of your ex-wives."
Sam laughed. Mick’s words had a ring of truth. Because Sam and Mick had been friends since they were young boys, Mick had known both of Sam’s wives well. He hadn’t approved of either of them. Maybe Sam should have listened to him.
"Jo would be good female companionship too," Mick continued.
"Jo and I work together. She’s off-limits."
Sam hadn’t really considered Jo as female companionship in that way. He liked her and respected her. He couldn’t imagine not having her in his life every day. But as a fellow officer. Not a girlfriend. She was attractive enough, but Sam didn’t have a place in his life for a woman, and especially not one where the relationship was going to screw up the workings of his whole police department.
Mick just sipped his beer and shrugged.
Sam’s eyes narrowed. Maybe Mick wasn’t speaking about Jo being company for Sam.
"She’s off limits to you, too." With Mick’s black hair, steely blue eyes, and linebacker build, he never had trouble getting women, even now when he was pushing forty. The way Mick ran through women, he didn’t want to subject Jo to him.
"Ed sure was mad," Mick said, changing the subject.
"Yep. Always the same thing."
"That’s what women will do to you."
"Can’t argue with that." Sam swigged his beer. "Good thing he didn’t press charges against you."
Mick smirked. "Right. Good thing he came to his senses and realized pressing charges against me might result in you pressing charges against him. Apparently, assaulting a police officer wasn’t something he wanted on his record."
Lucy finished licking the bowl and lay down next to Sam’s chair.
Mick got up and paced around the kitchen. It wasn’t a big room, so the pacing didn’t last long.
He stopped at the low wall divider that separated the kitchen from the living room. Gram had made Gramps widen the doorway and put that in when Sam was in his teens. The top of the divider was table-height, and it had bookshelves underneath on either side. Gram had used the surface as a buffet area to spread the desserts out on during holidays.
Mick picked up a birchwood-framed photograph of Sam’s girls that was sitting on top. It was Sam’s favorite picture, both girls in bright ski jackets with a snowy mountain behind them. Mick’s lips quirked in a smile as he looked at it. He had a special place in his heart for Hayley and Marla, and the girls felt the same way about their "Uncle" Mick. Mick had never married or had kids. Sam figured the girls were like a surrogate family.
"You heard from them?" Mick asked.
"Yep. Hayley just got done with finals. And Marla is finishing up her internship. They’re planning a visit soon." Thoughts of the impending visit brought on a pang of emptiness. He missed his daughters, but they were grown women now with their own lives in towns far away. He couldn’t expect them to hang around here.
"I can’t wait to see them." Mick put the picture down and leaned his hip against the bookcase. Sam was glad Gram had made Gramps secure it to the floor.
"So, what were you in such a hurry to see me about?" Sam asked.
"I got something for you." Mick tossed his beer into the trash next to Sam, opened the fridge, and pulled out another one.
Sam leaned over and retrieved the bottle from the trash and threw it in the blue recycling bin by the door. The glass clanked against the other bottles. Mick twisted off the top of his beer, flicked it into the bin, and came back to sit at the table.
"I did some research on that lady who had the car stolen. Barbara Bartles. Turns out she has a grandson that isn’t exactly an upstanding citizen." Mick took a slow sip of the beer. "Got to thinking that maybe the car theft wasn’t so random."
"He into drugs?" Sam thought about the trace of cocaine and partial fingerprint in the ashtray.
"Yep. Nothing on his record, but I have an in with the police down there, and he’s been taken in on suspicion a few times. They went easy on him, hoping he’ll eventually inform on the next guy up the chain."
Sam nodded. It was the same thing Sam was hoping to do with Jesse. "Think it has anything to do with Thorne?"
Mick shrugged. "He lives in Preston, but we don’t know how far Thorne’s influence reaches. Or even if Thorne is the source of these drugs."
Sam knew he was. Even though they didn’t have any proof, it wasn’t just wishful thinking. Thorne was up to more than just raping the land to build his resort. But this wasn’t about Thorne—this was about Tyler and catching the guy who had killed him.
Sam felt a spark of excitement. This kid could know something about what happened that night. Possibly even be Tyler’s killer himself. "What’s this kid’s name? Maybe we should go talk to him. You know, off the record. See if he knows anything."
Mick reached into his pocket, the grin spreading across his face. He pulled out a plastic bag with a shot glass in it. Sam had been wondering when he was going to show him what he had in there.
"I can do you one better," Mick said. "You know how you got that partial print from the car? I happen to have had a few drinks with Danny Bartles. He drinks shots of Sambuca. And it just so happens that I know the bartender at the bar he hangs out at. She’s a pretty blond thing. Anyway, I persuaded her to give me the glass Danny drank from. Might be a print on there you could use."
Chapter Twenty-Two
Since everyone had touched base as instructed on the previous night’s calls, no one was surprised when Sam showed up with Lucy and the remains of Lynn’s cell phone the next morning.
Reese found a charger that fit the phone, and now it was sitting on Kevin’s desk, and they were all standing around the desk, looking down at it. The screen was loaded with spiderweb cracks, and the back of the case had two chunks of plastic missing. It should have been fully charged, but wouldn’t turn on. No surprise, given the shape of the device.
"So the killer probably tossed the phone in after Lynn," Jo said.
"Must have figured something on there might implicate them. Probably hoped it would never be found," Sam added.
"But the killer didn’t know we had our secret weapon, right, girl?" Reese leaned down and rubbed Lucy’s head. The dog thumped her tail on the floor and glanced from Sam to Reese. Sam swore the darn thing was smiling.
Sam scrubbed his fingers through his short
hair. "Too bad we can’t get anything off it. It’s going to take forever to get the information from Verizon, and meanwhile, the killer has time to cover his tracks."
"Can I try?" Reese reached a tentative hand toward the phone.
"You think you can get it to work?" Sam was dubious. Then again, Reese did have a talent for computers. What the heck? The thing was dead as a doornail—it certainly couldn’t hurt to have her try.
"Maybe. If not, I might be able take it to the academy and get someone to work on it." She looked up at Sam hopefully. "It could be quicker than waiting on the carrier to hand over the records."
"Okay, sure."
Reese smiled then cocked her head. "Did something happen to your lip?"
"Nope." Sam knew they’d all heard he went to break up the fight. They didn’t need to know the details.
Reese shrugged then took the phone to her desk. Lucy trotted along behind her.
Kevin’s eyes followed the dog. "What happens if Dupont comes in and sees the dog here?"
Sam got the impression Kevin wasn’t exactly a dog lover. He skirted around Lucy as if she would bite. From the sideways glances Lucy gave Kevin, the feeling was mutual. And it was obvious Kevin didn’t want to get on Dupont’s bad side, which was somewhat of a mystery considering he didn’t seem to care too much about his job.
"Maybe we should keep her in my office. That way if Dupont comes in, I’ll come out to talk to him and leave her in there. He won’t know she’s here," Sam said.
"We can’t just hide her in the police station," Kevin said.
"It’s just temporary. She has to go back to the shelter. But she helped find the phone, and I’d like to reward her with some free time before she has to go sit in a lonely kennel over there."
"How is she going to get adopted if she’s not over there?" Kevin asked.
Sam looked at Lucy, her eyes reflecting all the trust in the world. He wasn’t keen on the idea of someone else adopting her, but he knew it was the best thing for her.
"She might not get adopted," Reese said in a low voice.
Jo’s brow furrowed. "Why not?"
"She’s a runner. She’s already run away twice. Not too many people want to adopt a dog like that."
"What do you mean? What will they do with her, then?" Sam asked.
Reese glanced at Lucy, who was now lying beside her desk, and lowered her voice. "Eric said they might swap her with another shelter, but if nobody adopts her after a while, she could be euthanized."
As if she knew what they were talking about, Lucy whined. She put her chin on her front paws. Her eyes looked up, her brows twitching as she switched her attention from Reese to Sam to Jo.
"We can’t let that happen. She’s already helped us out twice. She’s practically an officer." Jo looked at Sam. Her gray eyes sparked with alarm.
Sam rubbed his hand over his chin, rough with stubble even at this early time in the morning. Had he forgotten to shave? The glass Mick had given him was burning a hole in the pocket of his windbreaker. He couldn’t wait to tell Jo about it. "I don’t know what we can do. I wish we could work something out, but…"
"There might be something…" Reese chewed her bottom lip. "Maybe for now we could just try to keep her with us for a little while. I’ll see if Eric can reset her time at the shelter so she has more time to get adopted before they trade her out."
"And if she doesn’t?" Jo asked.
"Let’s just buy her a few days," Reese said. "The shelter only gives them so many days, but if we can make it look like she’s a new surrender, then she’ll have that much more of a chance. If that doesn’t work, I might have something else I can try."
"Okay." Jo looked dubious. "I guess that’s all we can do."
Sam nodded. "Fine by me. In the meantime, let’s just make sure Dupont doesn’t find out we have her."
Chapter Twenty-Three
It was a light crime day, and no calls had come in. Sam assigned Kevin to any new disruptions so that he and Jo could focus on interviewing the rest of the campers. He owed it to the Palmers to solve this as quickly as he could.
Sam gave Reese orders to call the other campers in. Hopefully, with Kevin on the call-outs, he and Jo would have enough time to get through the rest of the interviews that afternoon.
He retired to his office with Lucy and called Jo in after him. Kevin looked a little put out that he wasn’t in on the interviews, but Jo was a sergeant. Kevin was an officer—a lower rank. With no official detectives on the force, it made sense that Sam and Jo would take on the detective work. If Kevin wanted the better work, he’d have to earn it. Turning down the full-time job wouldn’t help.
Jo sat in the chair. "I really hope Reese can find something on that phone, but I’m not optimistic. What do you think we—"
Her words were cut off when Sam put the glass on his desk.
"What’s that?"
"Mick gave it to me last night. There’s a print on it. Could lead to Tyler’s killer."
"What? How did he get it?"
Sam relayed what Mick had told her while he dug the fingerprint dusting kit out of the bottom drawer of his desk. He slipped the glass out of the bag and dusted. There were several prints on it, and he lifted them all.
"So what do you figure? We test it against the partial print we found in the car?" Jo asked.
"Yep."
"And if it is the same guy, what then?"
"Punish him to the fullest extent of the law."
"The prints won’t hold up. What about chain of custody? Mick got the fingerprints illegally." Jo tapped the eraser end of her pencil on the pad of paper. "We have to figure out another way. We can’t test these prints officially because there’ll be a record of it. And if this comes to trial, then even the greenest lawyer will use that against us."
"Yeah, I figured that. We need to know if this guy is involved first, then we can figure out the legal way to get him for it. ’Course, we could just go down and beat everything he knows out of him right now. But I figure it’s better to see if the print matches—that way we know we’re barking up the right tree. If we go down there and we don’t have something solid to threaten him with, it gives him time to cover his bases, and we lose the advantage."
"Putting the match through the computer could screw things up for us later." Jo thought for a while. "We need a way to match up the print that isn’t recorded officially. And who do we know that has access to crime labs at an academic level that isn’t recorded officially?"
"Reese? But we can’t ask her to do this. Can we?"
Lucy’s tail thumped against Sam’s chair as if she were giving her opinion that this was a great idea.
"Of course we can. She cared about Tyler just as much as we did. She wants to see his killer put away too," Jo said.
"I don’t know." Sam glanced at the door. "We don’t want to let too many people in on the fact that we’re not doing things strictly by the book."
"Speaking of that, is Kevin coming on board full time?" Jo asked.
"No."
They stared at each other for a few beats. Nothing needed to be said. They were both relieved that Kevin wasn’t going to be full time.
"I guess we’ll have to get used to a new person, then. All the more reason to have Reese on our side." Jo pushed up from the chair and paced over to the long windows. She looked out at the mountains. "We’re not doing anything that bad. We’re just trying to expedite things. Stuff moves so slowly up here. And it won’t be so bad to have Reese on our team—she could get a lot done for us."
"She does seem to have mad computer skills and resources…"
There was a soft tap on the door, and Reese poked her head in. "I figured I’d let you know. The campers are on their way. Should be here in a few minutes."
Sam motioned for Reese to enter and then gestured for her to close the door. She was a quick study, her eyes darkening with understanding as they flicked from the glass, now with black dust on it, to Sam and Jo.
"Re
ese," Sam started. "I think you know sometimes we might have to push the envelope a little for the sake of justice."
Reese’s eyes lit up. "Oh, I totally understand. Like with the phone."
Sam smiled, his eyes meeting Jo’s. "Exactly like with the phone. And if you’re on board with that, I have a way you might be instrumental in finding Tyler’s killer."
Chapter Twenty-Four
Jo and Sam figured the best person to talk to next in the Palmer case was Julie. Jo had noticed she seemed a little hesitant when they’d been at the campsite. She was hiding something, and Jo wanted to find out what it was.
Reese ushered Julie into the room. She was dressed in camping attire—camouflage pants, tee shirt, light-blue windbreaker, hiking boots, and a wide-brimmed ball cap. She sat nervously in the chair on the other side of Sam’s desk. Sam made her wait, pretending he was looking through paperwork. Jo could feel the tension in the room as Julie shifted around in her seat, causing the chair to rock and jolt on its uneven legs.
"Sorry, Miss Swan. I was just looking through my notes here from when I talked to Amber and Noah." Sam leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. "So how long had you known Lynn?"
Julie’s eyes misted, and she sniffed. "Four years. We were all friends. Lynn and Noah started the company. They asked me to work for them. I was third on board."
"So you knew Lynn pretty well, then?" Jo asked.
"You could say that. We all hung around together a lot. We worked long hours, so we became kind of like an extended family."
"And how would you say Lynn felt about Noah taking up with Amber?" Sam asked.
Julie’s brows drew together. "Lynn didn’t care. She was the one that broke up with Noah."
"And what about Amber? Was she jealous of their former relationship?" Jo asked. When they had interrogated Amber, Jo had gotten the impression Amber was lying about both her and Noah being in the tent. Jo wasn’t sure if Amber was the killer. She didn’t know if there was a big enough motive there, but she wasn’t being truthful about something. Maybe digging into what Julie knew would uncover what that something was.
