by Dianne Emley
Early turned away from the Balsams and the teens and moved closer to Nan, who lowered her head toward the shorter sergeant. Early said quietly, “I don’t know why certain decisions were made regarding this investigation. I’m as much in the dark as you are. But no matter what happens or who’s in charge, I’m not about to let any bad guys go.”
“I know, but thanks for telling me.”
“There’s something else that’s…irregular. Tovar and Wales are in the ravine with the bodies.”
Nan straightened with surprise. She’d occasionally seen Commander Andrew Tovar at a homicide scene but she’d never seen Deputy Chief Nolan Wales anywhere near one. Nan had heard about bad blood between Tovar and Wales because Wales had been brought into the PPD as deputy chief, a position PPD veteran Tovar had thought was his. “How long have they been here?”
“I heard since shortly after the call went out,” Early said. “They arrived separately. Both said they had been in the area.”
“What are they doing?”
“When I last checked on things, they were just standing there, watching the coroner investigator working, and not talking to each other. I had the impression that neither one wanted to be the first to leave.”
“That is strange,” Nan said. “Who’s the coroner investigator?”
“Bambi.”
Nan was happy to hear that. Bambi Clifford was unfortunate to have been given a stripper’s name and had grown into a stripper’s body, but she did an excellent job and Nan trusted her. “Where’s Ryan Keller?”
“Last I heard, he wasn’t answering his cell phone and he wasn’t at his buddy’s house where he’d been bunking.”
“How did the victims get here?”
“Appears that they drove separately. In the dirt parking lot is Erica Keller’s white Prius with her purse in it and a tan Honda Accord that’s registered to Melissa Hayword, Jared’s mom.”
“Bambi have an estimate of the victims’ time of death?”
Early sucked in her cheeks. “Near as she can figure, not long before Emily and Ashton showed up.”
A chill went down Nan’s spine.
Chapter 5
“Tow trucks are here for the victims’ cars,” Early said, looking toward the road. She and Nan walked back to the others and Early said to them, “Take care, folks. We’ll let you know if we need anything further. Nan, I’ll catch up with you and Alex after the cars are taken care of.”
When Early had walked away, Nan turned toward the teens, “When you two got to the park, did you see or hear anybody else around?”
Ashton shook his head. “No, ma’am.”
“I don’t remember seeing anybody,” Emily said. “When we got here, we were running and fooling around and stuff, and when we saw the bodies, things got all chaotic. I might have heard a car leaving. I’m not sure.”
“Do you remember if there were any other cars in the lot when you got here?” Nan asked.
Emily shrugged as she looked at Ashton. “I think there were cars.” She pressed her eyes closed, trying to remember. “Maybe a white car. A Prius.” She opened her eyes. “Oh my gosh. That’s Mrs. Keller’s car. I didn’t even think about it.”
“There were a few cars,” Ashton said. “There usually are.”
Leo volunteered, “People come here to walk their dogs. Sometimes homeless people sleep here in their cars until the police come by.”
“There might have been a dark car,” Emily said. “I don’t know if I really remember it or if I think I remember it.”
“If you kids think of anything later, even if it seems unimportant, let me know, okay?” Nan said. “Have a nice dinner. Em, I’ll see you at home later.”
Becky gave Nan a hug, saying, “Emily is welcome to spend the night at our house. We have plenty of room. You’ll have comfort knowing that she’s safe and not alone. I imagine that you don’t know what time you’ll be home.”
Becky’s offer didn’t give Nan comfort at all. She knew that Em would be safe at home, which was well alarmed and had an arsenal of weapons, all of which Em was skilled at using. She said to Emily, trying to keep her preference out of her voice, “Well, Em—”
Emily interrupted, “Thank you, Becky, so much, but after dinner I just want to take a shower and sleep in my own bed. I’ll be fine. Really.”
“Of course you will.” Becky reached to stroke Em’s arm. “We’ll make sure she gets home safely, Nan. Leo can drive Em’s car, and Ashton and I will follow in ours.”
Nan said, “Thank you, Becky.”
There was an awkward moment before Emily said, “I’ll catch up with you.” After Ashton and his parents took the cue and started walking away, Emily hugged her mom and said, “I love you.”
Nan pressed her face against Em’s and put her nose in her hair. “I love you too, sweet pea.” Saying “I love you” to each other was their tradition, partly superstitious, which they practiced without fail even if they were peeved at each other, like they were now.
After Emily ran to catch up with Ashton, Becky, and Leo, Nan looked around and shuddered to think that a killer could have heard Emily and Ashton coming and hidden in the trees.
She put on her nitrile gloves and headed into the rocky field with patches of green, wild grass, stepping over stake-and-twine markers in an area that had already been searched. The gasoline generators running the lights made a steady background noise and threw off exhaust fumes in the night air. She squatted down to look at a woman’s shoe on the ground. A plastic marker printed with the number nine was near it. The shoe was canvas in multicolored stripes with a rope wedge sole. The grass leading up the knoll had been trampled with footprints, but here a length of the grass had been pulled up as if someone had been dragged. Vining remembered that Erica Keller was about five seven and weighed about a hundred and twenty pounds. It wouldn’t have been hard for a larger man to overpower her.
Nan pushed herself up when she saw a commotion by the wooden barricade across the road a distance away.
A silver pickup truck drove off-road around the barrier with officers in foot pursuit. The truck went around parked cars, bouncing on the rugged terrain on oversize tires. Coming into the field almost where Nan was, the truck screeched to a stop, the driver’s door flew open, and a tall, broad-chested, sandy-haired man leaped from the truck and started running, heading toward the hill. He wailed, “Where is she? Is she up there?”
Nan recognized Ryan Keller.
Officers tried to grab him, but Keller was a big man and fast for his size. He shook them off and kept running, screaming, “Erica!”
Also in pursuit was Lieutenant Beltran, yelling, “Ryan, stop! Don’t go up there.”
Nan lurched out of the way as Ryan thundered past, wearing a gym warm-up suit and tennis shoes, tearing through the twine grid. Running over the crest of the hill from inside the ravine was Commander Andrew Tovar with Deputy Chief Nolan Wales close behind him.
As Nan watched from the sidelines, her hand on the butt of her Glock, Alex Caspers appeared beside her and said, “What the hell?”
A uniformed officer caught up with Ryan and tackled him to the ground while another officer joined in, both of them struggling to subdue Erica’s distraught husband.
Beltran crouched beside Ryan, speaking softly, “Come on, buddy. Calm down.”
Tovar and Wales reached the turmoil.
Facedown on the ground, his arms and legs pinned down by the officers, Ryan craned his neck to look toward the knoll, tears running down his cheeks. “Is that where she is? George, I have to see her.” He pleaded to Tovar, “Andy. I need to see what that creep did to her.”
“Ryan, pull yourself together,” Tovar said, scowling. He was wearing dark gray slacks, a deep purple shirt, and a silk tie with purple and silver stripes. He was forty-two. Nan had worked with him and considered him a solid cop if a bit of a political animal. He was known for his vivid wardrobe and thick head of wavy dark hair, which was showing some silver.
“He’s okay. Let him up,” Beltran said to the two officers as he reached out a hand to help Ryan to his feet.
“I told her to stay away from that kid, that Jared. He killed her, didn’t he?” Ryan was half a foot taller than Beltran and had fifty pounds on him. He pulled free of Beltran and again began running up the hill. “Erica!”
Tovar cursed and grabbed at Ryan.
Deputy Chief Nolan Wales had been standing to the side, watching the scene. He bounded in front of Ryan and raised his hands. Wales was a tall man but lean with a narrow face, a high forehead, and thinning, light brown hair. Being dressed as if he’d come from playing golf added to his patrician air. He was fifty and something of an enigma at the PPD, having been brought in as second-in-command after serving as police chief at a small neighboring city. Wales was able to stop Ryan without touching him. “You want to see your wife, Sergeant Keller? Is that it?”
“That kid murdered her, Chief. I told her to stay away from him.”
“Is that what happened? Why don’t you take a look at Erica?” Wales grabbed hold of Ryan’s arm and nearly shoved him up the hill. “Let’s have a look. I’d like to hear your thoughts on the matter.”
Beltran made a face of disgust and muttered, “I don’t believe this.”
A glaring spotlight was on them from a news helicopter circling above, waiting for a money shot.
Tovar’s right cheek twitched and his dark eyebrows were drawn together. He jogged to reach Ryan and Wales, saying, “Chief, can I have a word, please?”
Wales stopped, his lantern jaw rigid. “Yes, Commander.”
Tovar walked a few yards away, saying, “Ryan, stay where you are. Don’t go any closer.”
Wales gave Keller a dark look before he joined Tovar. He stood with his legs apart and his hands behind his back on the slope, leaning slightly forward as he looked into the shorter Tovar’s face.
Beltran hooked his hand over Keller’s shoulder and gave it a shake, while Keller took deep breaths, calming down.
“What’s up with Wales trying to rub his wife’s murder into Ryan’s face?” Alex asked Nan.
Nan made a shushing noise and raised an eyebrow, glancing at Tovar and Wales, trying to catch snippets of their conversation. After a few moments, she whispered to Alex, “Tovar’s right. Ryan has to be treated like a suspect even if Jared Hayword probably murdered Mrs. Keller. Ryan can’t see the bodies and the evidence and start crafting a story.”
After keeping his voice low, Tovar said to Wales in a normal tone, “I hope I’m not speaking out of school here.”
Wales continued to stare at Tovar, his posture and facial expression not relaxing one bit. “That’s sound advice.” He turned and called out, “Lieutenant Beltran.”
Beltran left Keller and quickly headed toward them. “Yes, Chief.”
“Please take command of obtaining Sergeant Keller’s statement.”
“Yes, sir.” Beltran returned to Keller, who didn’t now need any encouragement to proceed down the hill and away from his wife’s corpse.
Without another word, Deputy Chief Wales left the scene. Commander Tovar left as well, keeping a safe distance between him and Wales.
Chapter 6
“What was that all about between Wales and Tovar?” Nan said as she headed with Alex Caspers up the hill and over the crest into the ravine.
“No clue. They were both in the ravine by the bodies when I got here. Didn’t make me happy, them tromping around my crime scene.”
“I’ve never seen Wales at a homicide. He’s all about meetings, budgets, and policies. Not about getting down and dirty. Tovar’s been around. He was my field training officer. I’m not as surprised that he was here, especially if he was in the area when the call went out. What did they do?”
“Stood and watched Bambi and me. You could sense that they barely tolerate each other. Wales, though…The way he looked at Erica Keller, it was like he had feelings for her. Can’t blame him. She’s gorgeous. If I’d had a teacher like her, I would’ve never learned anything in school.”
Nan looked at him with surprise. “You saying you learned something in school?”
“Shaddup.” He grinned.
“How old was she? Twenty-five?” Nan looked at the ground, watching where she was walking on the uneven ground.
“Twenty-seven.”
The ravine was as brightly lit as daytime. The terrain was rockier here, with groups of boulders that were excellent places to sit and relax, as evidenced by the multitude of tobacco and marijuana cigarette butts that littered the area. There were empty cans and bottles of beer, wine, and booze, plastic cups, and used condoms.
A wide path between the rocks led to the other side of the ravine. There, two canopies supported by metal tubing hammered into the hard dirt shielded the bodies. Floodlights on poles illuminated the ground beneath them.
Bambi looked up from where she was writing on a document inside an aluminum case she held in the crook of her arm. On the ground nearby was her open toolkit, which could have belonged to a mechanic. She looked up. “Hey, Nan.”
“Hey, Bambi.”
“Thought you were on vacation.” Bambi handed the document case and a pen to Alex. “Your John Hancock, please. The meat wagon will be here soon.”
Nan said, “My vacation lasted about five minutes.”
Alex scribbled his name. “I’m glad you’re here. Lydia Narayan can’t find her ass with both hands.”
Bambi chuckled. “Come on…You were just starting out at one time too.” She closed the document case and gathered her equipment kit. “You kids play nice. Hope I don’t see you for a long time.”
“Us too.” Nan squatted beside Erica and set her Maglite on the ground. The dead woman had a diamond-shaped face, a straight nose, and lips that weren’t lusciously full or too narrow, and she was still pretty but her skin had the waxy pallor of death. Her long blond hair was naturally sun-kissed. It was easy to imagine it whipping about her face as she ran along a California beach. Now it was twisted and matted with dirt, grass, and blood, with locks stuck to the blood on her chest and on her face. Both her hands had plastic bags over them, which were tied around her wrists.
Alex said, “Bambi counted sixteen stab wounds. All of them appear to have been made by the same knife, which Jared also used to slit his wrists. Found a jackknife with a four-inch blade on the ground by Jared’s right hand. Got a bone handle. Looks like an heirloom. It’s bagged and logged into evidence.” He pointed to a clear plastic tote box with the lid off. Stacked inside on their edges were manila envelopes, plastic bags, and paper bags.
Nan felt he was fishing for a compliment and she gave him one. “Great job.”
She picked up a side of Erica’s open blouse and pulled it over her chest. The blouse had been ripped open with some of the buttons pulled off. Her light pink bra, which hooked in the back, had been yanked up to her collarbone, exposing her small breasts. Her pants and panties had been pulled past her knees. She had bikini tan lines.
Nan said, “He stabbed her once through her blouse, right into her heart. That was enough to kill her, even with a four-inch blade. Then he ripped open her blouse, yanking off the buttons, yanked up her bra, and kept stabbing her.” She rolled back onto her heels. “If Jared was acting out of rage, why didn’t he keep stabbing her through her clothes?”
“Easy. He wanted to see her boobs.”
Nan said, “Feels staged to me.” She tugged the blouse down to expose Erica’s upper arm and pointed at several round bruises in a row. “These look to be about a week old. Wonder if Ryan grabbed her.”
Alex said, “She has a fresh contusion on the back of her head.” He dropped to his knees, carefully took Erica’s head between both gloved hands, and turned it, showing where her hair was matted with blood. “Bambi says she was either struck or she fell against something sharp. It’s pretty deep. May have knocked her out or certainly stunned her. She’s also got fresh bruises on her lower back and right hip like she fell
hard onto the ground.”
Nan spread Erica’s hair and examined the wound with her fingers. “Any blood on the rocks around here?”
“Forensics didn’t find anything. We need to come back during daylight.”
They looked up as Sergeant Early came over the ridge and into the ravine. Alex said, “Hey, Sarge.”
Nan glanced up from scrutinizing Erica’s body and said, “Sarge.”
“Got Erica’s and Jared’s cars towed. Forensics is about done with whatever they can do tonight. They’ll come back through during daylight tomorrow.” Early shone her flashlight around the debris from pot and cigarette smoking. “Cleaning up Stoner Glen looks like a good job for folks assigned to community service hours. Erica Keller doesn’t seem the type to choose to meet anyone at a place like this.”
“I don’t think she came voluntarily.” Holding her Maglite in her left hand with the beam on Erica, Nan drew a circle with her gloved fingers over an area on the back of Erica’s shoulder. “These look like Taser marks.”
Chapter 7
Alex leaned over to look at the area where Nan was shining her flashlight.
He looked at Nan and Early and said, “Looks like bug bites or even a rash”
“Those are skip marks from a drive stun. If she was struggling and sweaty, the contact would have skittered. I’ve been tased enough times to know.” Nan smoothed Erica’s blouse into place and again turned her flashlight beam on it. “Would bugs leave matching holes through her shirt?”
“Nan, in my humble opinion, you’re making a mystery where there isn’t one.” Alex straightened. “Even if Ryan Keller was an abusive jerk, this is a murder-suicide. Go look at the kid and you’ll see.”
The three of them went to Jared, who was about ten feet away, sitting on the ground with his back against the trunk of a sycamore tree. His legs in blue jeans were splayed out. He was wearing athletic shoes with bright orange soles. His hands were by his sides, palms up. He was tall—Nan guessed about six feet—and had a slender build.
