by Jeff Carson
“My wife flipped out and left. Left her daughter and her husband and went to California or Las Vegas, or somewhere. Who knows?” He looked at Wolf. “Can you believe that? Leaving your daughter high and dry?”
They sat in silence for a beat.
“And ever since, my daughter’s blamed me. And now she lives her life trying to hurt me in bigger and better ways. And right now she’s stabbed me and she’s twisting the knife.”
Wolf was stuck on thinking about how Sarah had checked out of his and Jack’s lives for years. “Was your wife on drugs?”
Shumway looked at Wolf for a long time. “You know what? You’re the first person to ever ask me that.” His took a sip of his coffee with a quivering lip and then looked at Wolf again. “Thanks.”
They watched Jet half-assed chase a squirrel outside.
“What was the second file on your desk?” Wolf asked.
“What?”
“When I first came up here yesterday morning, you had a second file on your desk. You and Etzel had something else going on.”
“Oh, yeah. I was … just checking on some of the local men. The whole my-daughter-screwing-Steven-Kennedy thing.”
“How were you checking on them? Why?”
“Financial records. Looking for specific charges, ATM withdrawals.”
Wolf narrowed his eyes. “Explain.”
Shumway stood up and went to the coffee-maker. “There’s a little more to the whole Steven-and-Megan story, I’m afraid.”
Wolf set down his coffee. “Oh?”
Shumway took his time stirring some sugar into his cup and sat back down. “Megan was pregnant, with Steven’s baby, and had an abortion.”
Wolf blinked.
“I was looking for men who’d paid with a credit card at a clinic, or made an ATM withdrawal for large sums … I was grasping. That’s what that file was—eight men in town and their recent financials.”
“You didn’t know who it was?”
“I figured out with you yesterday that it was Steven who’d gotten her pregnant.”
Wolf stared at his coffee. “I need you to start from the beginning. Why were you looking for this guy now? This weekend?”
Shumway leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes with his palms. “I told you Levi Joseph and Bradley Boydell used to be good friends.”
“Yeah?”
“Well, I guess Levi came to Bradley the other day and told him a little secret he’d been keeping—that Megan had been pregnant with someone’s baby and had gotten an abortion.”
“And how did Levi know about this?”
“Levi took her down to the clinic in Grand Junction for the procedure.”
“And Levi didn’t know who had gotten her pregnant?”
“No.”
“And Levi told Bradley?”
“Yeah.”
“You were looking into the men yesterday. Did Bradley tell you recently?”
“Yeah, a few days ago.”
Wolf set down his coffee. “And you didn’t think of telling me this yesterday, when we were looking at Levi’s corpse?”
“Why? What would that have to do with anything?”
Wolf thought for a moment. “When did this pregnancy and procedure happen?”
Shumway shrugged. “I guess it was a couple of months ago. I don’t know when exactly.”
“And you learned about it this weekend.”
“Yeah. Why? What?”
“What did Megan say about the whole thing?”
Shumway sipped his coffee.
“You haven’t talked to her about it?”
“Hell, no. It’s not a conversation I’m looking to have with my daughter. It’s enough that I learned about it and know the bastard who did it. I don’t need to hash it out with her, get in a big ol’ fight and have her hate me more.”
Wolf thought about Jack and Cassidy’s camping trip and how he needed to get a handle on that before this exact situation became a possibility. With a shake of his head he erased the thought and stood up to pour some more coffee.
“What was that?” Shumway’s voice was low. “Was that judgment? You judging me?”
“No, I’m not. Like you said, it’s tough raising a kid by yourself.”
“I’m sick of people looking at me like I’m a shit father.”
Wolf swirled the final sip of coffee in his mug and thought better of refilling it. “Maybe I’ll head up to the university myself this morning. It’ll give us—”
“Sounds like a fuck of an idea.” Shumway cradled his mug to his lips and stared out the window.
Wolf set down his mug in the sink and walked out of the kitchen. “Call me the second you get those DNA-match test results.”
Shumway held his gaze with the eastern sky and grunted in response.
Chapter 37
Wolf walked to the SUV and put Jet in the back seat. The air was warm and the light breeze carrying the scent of juniper did little to dry the sweat already building in his armpits. He wondered whether Rocky Points would be getting relief from the heat today.
He felt bad for steering the conversation with Shumway into a brick wall like that, but he also felt the insatiable desire to catch Ryan Frost’s killer, so if some people got their feelings hurt in the pursuit of truth, so be it.
And he needed food—enough to fill a garbage-can lid.
He started the engine and tried to remember which way to go, then consulted the GPS and drove down the road, looking forward to a plate of eggs and bacon before he started on the road to the university.
He’d yet to get in touch with Talbot and was eager to discover what the head of the paleontology knew about Dig 2’s specimen, or specimens.
Because it was a good question that Mathis had raised last night: How had Green hidden that second skeleton from Talbot?
“What the hell?”
A pickup truck with the DOI logo painted on it passed him and pulled in front, then jammed the brakes. A slender hand waved out the open driver’s window, and he realized it was Megan.
Wolf steadied his breath and pulled behind her.
After a few turns to the right and left, she finally pulled over.
Jet poked his head out the window and whined.
Wolf got out and Megan met him at his bumper.
“What’s going on?” Wolf asked.
She looked spooked, averting eye contact and clutching a cell phone in a white-knuckle fist. “I talked to Bradley Boydell and Deputy Etzel last night about what happened to Levi.”
“Yeah?”
“And I heard that you guys are thinking it was Steven.”
“How did you hear that?”
She folded her arms. “I just saw Deputy Etzel this morning in town. He told me about all the evidence you and my dad found.”
Deputies discussing open murder cases with civilians? It didn’t say much for Shumway’s training.
“I have a piece of evidence that proves he didn’t do it,” she said.
Wolf raised his eyebrows.
She was staring at her cell phone, twisting it in her hands. “It’s on here.”
“What is?”
Her breath quickened and she rubbed her lips together. “Just get inside, okay?”
Wolf walked to the passenger door and opened it. Coconut oil scent spilled out as he climbed onto the leather bench seat. He left the door open and stared at her expectantly.
She cradled her phone and stared at it, as if she were waiting for an update from the SS Enterprise. Checking her mirrors, she pointed at the door. “Can you please close that?”
He closed the door and the cab went silent except for her labored breathing.
She was shaking, all the while holding up her cell.
All that staring at a phone reminded Wolf Patterson was going to send him a video clip first thing. He let the urge to pull out his own device pass and asked, “What’s on the phone, Megan?”
She tapped the screen and thrust it into Wolf’s lap, lik
e she’d just pulled the pin on a grenade.
She put her hand over her mouth, slid over to the driver’s-side window, and stared outside.
“Hey, baby,” a male voice cooed from her phone’s speakers.
Wolf looked at the screen. His skin prickled hotly. In front of him was a video of Megan’s naked, spread-eagled body.
She was smiling and reaching forward, her skin illuminated by a yellow light. The recording was shaky. The camera hovered over her, pushing close to her face and then her breasts, before pulling back to reveal her entire form again.
Megan giggled on the video.
“You ready for this?”
Wolf recognized the voice of Steven Kennedy.
Wolf tapped the screen and set the phone on the bench seat between them. “Oh, I wish I could un-see that.”
Megan reached over and took the phone. She pressed some side buttons and muted it, then studied the footage, tapping and sliding her fingers on the screen. “Here. Look again. I won’t press play.”
He closed his eyes for a breath and then opened them.
Megan was holding up a still shot of Steven’s face twisted in pleasure. “It’s Steven. With me.”
“Yeah, I get it.”
“Look at the time stamp. On the top of the video.”
Wolf blinked. “Saturday, 9:37 p.m.” He looked at her, then back at the time stamp. “You were with Steven on Saturday night?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“Where?”
“In the back of my truck.”
“Where, exactly?”
“Just out in the sticks. He met me.”
“He drove? You drove?”
“We both drove. We have a secret spot where we meet.”
The blood was draining from his face now, but he had to blink to remove the image of Megan’s naked body from his retinas. “Wait a minute. That said Saturday. How do I know it wasn’t some other Saturday?”
She picked up the phone and tapped the screen. “Here, see? Saturday, August 11th. 9:37 p.m. Satisfied?”
Wolf sat in silence for a beat. “You could doctor the time stamps.”
She made a face and shook her head. “How the hell would I do that?”
“You could have been anywhere. You could have just shown me proof that you were with Steven just after the murders.”
Megan looked horrified. “No … we were just up the road, toward the quarry. You take a left on—”
Wolf held up a hand. “I can check the location of your phone through the GPS in it.”
She nodded. “Yes. Exactly. You’ll see that we were up the road.”
Wolf looked at her. “Send me the file.”
He gave her his number and she texted the video to him.
Wolf stared at the side of her face as he waited for the file to reach his phone.
Counterintelligence training in the army had introduced Wolf to the subtleties of telling lies convincingly and how to spot liars. And with a decade and a half’s experience as a cop, he’d met his fair share of lying people. Megan was not one of them. She was troubled—betrayed by a mother who’d ditched her, and a father who’d made it all happen. She had a whole lot of associated problems going on there, but she was telling the truth about her Saturday night.
His phone beeped, and he forwarded the file to Patterson.
“I just sent this to my deputy. So, if there’s nothing more, I need to leave and call her as soon as possible to explain. I’m going to have her check the file to see if you’ve tampered with it in any way. I think they call that stuff meta-data or something. My deputy knows. And if you’ve messed with it, she’ll know.”
“I didn’t mess with it.” She glared at him. “I’m not lying.”
Wolf held out his hand. “And I’ll need to take your phone.”
She handed it over.
He opened the door.
“I think this is going to be it for me and him,” Megan said.
“You and Steven?”
“No.” A tear slid down her cheek. “Me and my dad. He’s already pretty much done with me. This video’s going to be the final straw.”
Wolf watched her cry for a few seconds.
His phone chimed and a message from Patterson read “?!”.
Wolf typed, I’ll explain in one minute, and pressed send. Then he pocketed the phone. “Your dad knows about your pregnancy with Steven and your procedure. Did you know that?”
Megan looked down and a fresh tear slid down her face. “I figured. And what’s he going to think about me now? Jesus …”
Wolf watched her sob. “It’s tough being a father, you know? You try your best for your family, and sometimes you’re misunderstood. Sometimes you’re blamed for things, for hurting your kids, but you’re just trying to do your best.”
“I know it’s tough being my father.” She shook her head and whispered with a thick throat. “I know that.”
Wolf slid off the seat and placed her phone in his pocket. He stopped himself from closing the door and ducked back inside. “Megan, when was your procedure at Grand Junction?”
She wiped her eyes. “June 3rd.”
“June 3rd?”
“Yeah.”
He slid back up onto the seat. “Two months ago?”
She nodded.
“Is that why Steven sleeps up the wash from the rest of the dig members? Because his wife found out about this?”
She nodded.
“How did she find out?”
“It was Levi.” Megan sniffed and shook her head. “Levi told Felicia. After the procedure, he brought me back to my quarters up at the visitors’ center and then I guess he went down to the Dig 2 camp and jumped Steven. Picked up a shovel and hit him with it. I guess Mo and Professor Green had to wrestle him away.”
“Steven told you about this?”
“Yeah. He said Levi came in yelling and screaming about getting me pregnant and told everyone about taking me to Grand Junction and about the clinic. Levi kind of had a thing for me, and he was mad that Steven had put me through all of that. But Levi got it wrong. I didn’t blame Steven for anything. He wasn’t doing anything wrong because I never even told him. He didn’t even know about my pregnancy until Levi barged in and started hitting him with a shovel.” She shook her head. “I’m such an idiot. I’ve caused so much pain for these people. And Levi? Poor Levi …”
Wolf stared at her. “So, Levi went down to that camp on June 3rd? You’re sure?”
She nodded and looked at him. “Yeah, after we got back from Grand Junction, like I said. And Steven told me later that week. It was the third. And I saw Levi up at Mr. Boydell’s yurt that same night. I was resting in my camp chair outside and saw him walk up. I could tell he’d been crying and he looked messed up. I called out to him and he glared at me and wouldn’t talk. Just passed me by. And then he went into Mr. Boydell’s.”
Megan’s eyes glazed over.
A text chimed on Wolf’s phone, but he ignored it. “All this happened June 3rd.”
She frowned now and looked up at him. “Yes. Why are you asking?”
“Does Bradley Boydell have a landline in his quarters?”
She nodded. “Yes. Why?”
“Thank you.” Wolf slid out and stood on the road shoulder.
“Are you going to show that video to my dad?” Megan asked.
Wolf pulled his lips into a hard line. “I don’t really have a choice here, Megan.”
She looked away fast, like she’d been slapped, and then with a face devoid of emotion she nodded and started the car.
He shut the door and walked back to his SUV with his phone pressed to his ear.
“Uhhhhh, hello?” Patterson said.
“Hi.”
“Interesting video.”
“Yes. Sorry about that … are you at work yet?”
“Yeah. Didn’t you just get my message? I just sent you the video from the gas station. It’s only a thirty-second clip, but it shows all the footage we have
of the guy.”
“I need you to check the time stamp on that video I sent you and make sure it hasn’t been tampered with.”
“If I can pull it away from Rachette, I’ll get right on it. Is that all?”
Wolf climbed behind the wheel.
“Actually, no,” he said. “I’m just getting started with what I need from you.”
“Okay.”
“First of all, how do I check where a cell phone’s been in recent days, preferably at a specific time?”
“It’s actually pretty simple. First of all, do you have access to the phone?”
Wolf watched Megan pull away ahead of him. “Shit, just a second.”
Pulling out her phone, he pushed the button and the screen lit up. She hadn’t set up a password or touch ID.
“Yeah,” he said with relief.
“Good. And how about a computer? You in front of one?”
Wolf said nothing.
“Never mind. I am.”
“Atta girl.”
Chapter 38
Two hours and ten minutes later, Wolf drove into the Windfield County Sheriff’s Department parking lot.
His tires squealed as he came to a stop and Jet bumped into the seat behind him.
“Sorry, boy.”
He let Jet out and marched to the front door.
“Stay here,” Wolf said.
Jet walked to the front of the building and lifted a leg.
Shumway was standing inside talking with Deputy Etzel. “What are you doing here? I thought you were going to Utah?”
“I need to talk to you.”
Shumway waved a piece of paper in front of Wolf’s face. “Well, good, because I need to talk to you.”
Wolf took the paper. A heading read Nordicran DNA Labs, Grand Junction, Colorado. Four horizontal graphs were printed on the page. The first two graph lines were identical, with the same peaks and valleys. The second two were not.
“DNA inside the bloody glove matches our man Steven Kennedy.” Shumway flicked the page.
Wolf frowned. “And the second two graphs?”
“Not quite as reliable. They found two different profiles in the shoes—Steven and unknown.”
Wolf nodded. “Of course they did.”
“Of course they did?”
Wolf pulled out his phone and showed Shumway and Etzel the video clip of the perp filling the gas can south of Brushing.
