“She was pregnant. She wanted a second chance.” Tain shook his head. “I thought we could give it to her.”
Nolan nodded. “I understand that, but if we go out there, we risk any evidence we find being thrown out of court.”
Ashlyn shrugged. “Then what if we go out there to question them? Nobody’s talked to Eddie or Bobby about Jenny Johnson, and she was on the payroll for the shipping company where they both work.”
“Hoping for exigent circumstances?” Nolan reached for his phone. “First we talk to Sullivan.”
Ashlyn slumped back in her chair and looked at Tain, who stared silently back, unreadable. They’d known this was the risk they were taking when they decided to talk to Nolan. Now they’d have to take Sullivan through it all again, and try to persuade him that the risks were worth it.
PART FIVE
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Despite the unpredictability of driving in the mountains in early spring with the dramatic shifts in weather that could make the roads treacherous, the drive should have been a refreshing change. The long gaps between towns, the trees and mountain peaks interspersed with valleys, the lakes and rivers all should have been a welcome break from the concrete and steel of the Lower Mainland. Cities hemmed you in, ensnared you in a manmade environment that showed off the best and worst of what man could create. Some thought the explanation for mass murderers and the senseless slayings that filled the news each night was too many people pressed in too close together, with no avenue for escape or natural release for the buildup of pressure.
There are cities that never sleep, and within them there were those who can’t filter out the hum, unable to quiet the mind.
Tain knew that blaming any perceived rise in violence on urban sprawl was a fallacy. In the distance he could see more mountains. The one that drew his gaze was the one he was convinced they’d found Mary Donard’s body on. From this distance, he knew he couldn’t be sure if it was the right mountain, but it didn’t matter.
All that mattered was that when he’d left Nighthawk Crossing, he’d been happy to put the experience behind him. He’d never planned to go back.
As he looked at the now-familiar roads and countryside as they approached the town he felt his chest tighten. Anyone, anywhere, was capable of the most horrific crimes. This small community that straddled the border between two countries was proof of that.
Beside him, Ashlyn sat in silence. She stared straight ahead with an unwavering gaze. He wasn’t buying the calm demeanor, no matter how hard she tried to appear at ease. The coroner had confirmed his suspicions. Newspaper articles found with the body in the woods created a condensed history of their careers, carefully planted clues meant to ensure that even if the bodies had been found by someone else, Craig, Ashlyn and Tain would have been called in at some point, although whoever it was had clearly planned to dispose of the bodies where the three of them were working.
There had been loose ends with the original investigation, because they’d never recovered all of the suspected victims, but there was no doubt in Tain’s mind that the guilty weren’t running free. The only person they’d harbored doubts about who’d never been tried was Kurdy, and even Tain believed any involvement he had was peripheral, with the exception of Jenny Johnson’s murder. Kurdy was a suspected arsonist with a long history of connections to fires, and he worked with Eddie and Bobby, but he was also experienced and arson was one of the hardest crimes to prove.
He’d never been charged.
Tain hadn’t mentioned his suspicions about Kurdy to Ashlyn, and he was beginning to regret it. The body in the woods had been left with a neon sign that pointed to Craig, Ashlyn and himself, and Millie had been nothing more than a means to an end.
And that end involved getting their attention.
Who would do that? Why? As hard as he tried to shake the questions from his mind, his thoughts kept going back to Kurdy.
As they drove into town Ashlyn remained silent, but Tain sensed the tension emanating off of her. She was striving too hard to look controlled, staring straight ahead instead of looking out the windows, trying to pinpoint what had changed and what had stayed the same in the small town they’d worked in months earlier.
Tain stopped in front of the station where they’d first met. “Ash—”
“I’m fine.” She undid her seat belt and got out of the car.
He followed her to the front door and they stepped inside. The same beige carpeting lined the halls, the same receptionist sat behind the desk by the entrance, and waved them through without breaking her conversation on the phone.
The station was the way Tain remembered it, until they reached the sergeant’s office. Sergeant Winters stood and waved them in.
Winters had never recovered the short-term memory loss he suffered about what had happened right before he’d been attacked, but otherwise he’d been given a clean bill of health after several months of physiotherapy for his injuries. When he’d returned to work they’d put him on desk duty, but he didn’t stay there long.
Tim was one of the few officers originally involved in the Missing Killer case who hadn’t focused exclusively on community policing. He’d spent time working in the Lower Mainland, had a lot of experience on the street, and hadn’t been content to stay stuck in office. First he’d proven himself on the streets, and recently he’d earned a promotion.
“You must be my replacement,” Winters said as he extended his hand to Ashlyn.
“Your standin, maybe. I was actually partnered with Craig Nolan.”
Winters nodded as he waved at the chairs and returned to his own, behind his desk. He picked up a pencil that he twirled in his fingers and leaned back in his chair as he spoke. “Nolan’s name lives on around here. Well, all your names still come up from time to time. I never did meet Nolan. Or you”—he gestured at Ashlyn with the pencil—“until now. Heard a few good stories about your current and former partners at each other’s throats.”
Tain saw Ashlyn glance at him. She hadn’t sat back in her chair either. The small talk wasn’t something she’d factored on, and he realized now she probably hadn’t known it was the same Winters who had been promoted, if she’d even known the name of the new sergeant.
“Well, you might get a chance to meet Nolan for yourself,” Tain said. “We believe he’s here.”
The first shadow crossed Winters’s face. “What do you mean, believe?”
“He’s been suspended,” Ashlyn said. “We think he’s heading out to the camp where…” Her voice broke, and she didn’t try to finish the sentence.
All traces of the easy smile and casual demeanor Winters had displayed since their arrival disappeared. For a few minutes the pencil twirled in his hands, and then he tossed it down on the desk and leaned forward. “I know about Millie.” Although he’d never met the girl, the way Winters said her name told Tain that the burden of that case still weighed on him.
“Hey!” A familiar voice cut in from the hall and Tain turned to see Constable Keith, hair a little longer but still blonde, nose piercing gone. “It’s good to see you.”
Whatever else Keith might have added, she quickly cut off the reunion when she glanced at Winters. As she backed away from the office she said she hoped to see them later.
“When I heard the news, I wondered how long it would take for you two to get up here,” Winters said.
“The bosses were arguing over whether to have us work Millie’s murder, and they were afraid the press would start pointing fingers,” Ashlyn said. “I don’t think they wanted us here unless it was absolutely necessary.”
Winters nodded.
“And I know Nolan was working the manhunt. Christ, just the thought of Kurdy killing his wife and kids—”
“Wait, what do you mean, Kurdy?” Ashlyn asked.
“You didn’t know? Hank Kurtis Jeffers. Otherwise known as Kurdy,” Winters said. “I figured that was why they put Nolan on the manhunt.”
“Yeager didn’t say
anything about the connection,” Tain said. “And we didn’t know.”
“Come on. We all get briefings, and something as high profile as the manhunt…How could you not know?”
“We were both on leave,” Ashlyn said.
“Our first day back we got called out to the Dumpster.”
“Look, respectfully, we don’t have time for this,” Ashlyn said. “If Craig’s out there, his life is in danger. Kurdy—”
Winters pointed at her. “I don’t care if you think this is a simple courtesy, I’m not letting you run through the woods on a hunch with a loaded gun. Not after what happened last time. When they found that body in the woods, I wondered how long it would be before someone called, before the press started skinning us alive, saying we’d never caught the Missing Killer.” He looked at them. “What aren’t you telling me? You two may not have known about Kurdy, but Nolan had been assigned to the manhunt. He had to know.”
And apparently, he hadn’t said anything to anyone, his sergeant included.
“Kurdy wasn’t in deep, not like the other two,” Tain said. “We believe he was involved in the smuggling. He was known for doing odd jobs on contract, and he probably set the fire that burned Blind Creek Inn to the ground, but Hobbs never talked.”
“You’re sure he wasn’t involved? He would have wanted in,” Winters said. “He had a reputation.”
“I know. But I think that’s why they didn’t want him involved. He’d been charged for statutory rape before and gotten a hand slap, but that was before he got married and had kids of his own.” Tain paused. “My source said the one time Kurdy got close to those girls, Eddie Campbell went after him. She was pretty sure Kurdy didn’t know about it.”
“That wasn’t what Craig thought, though,” Ashlyn said. “He questioned Kurdy’s wife during the investigation.”
“What? When?” Tain asked.
“That day, the day you and I talked. The day we were off. It was something Craig told me about later. One last loose end he said he wanted to tie off, just to be sure.”
Tain thought about that. He’d threatened to talk to Kurdy’s wife and Kurdy had been enraged.
That was when Craig had interrupted their conversation. Kurdy had threatened Tain. If he actually knew Craig had followed through…
“We have to look for him. We need to find Nolan before Kurdy does.”
“We will,” Winters said as he got up and shut the door. “Just as soon as you tell me everything.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Inside, the station had remained much the same as it had been, but outside the station there was one noticeable difference. A semicircle path had been built on the lawn on the far side of the building, where a bench had been placed in front of a fountain.
A fountain of cherubs dancing around a cross, with a simple inscription beneath that read, “For he who sacrificed himself for the nameless.”
Ashlyn turned to the bench, which had a single name inscribed on a metal plate against the back.
There was nowhere to escape. She was hundreds of miles from the city in a town where buildings were scattered throughout mountains and countryside, minutes from roads that wound their way through the forests and into the hills, away from homes and people, yet she felt as though it was all pressing in on her, that there was no place she could go where she could breathe.
Or where she could forget.
Months after her original assignment in Nighthawk Crossing and here she was again, waiting on a sergeant who had to consider the fact that they didn’t have any physical evidence that justified searching the Campbell property.
The last time, Sullivan had been emphatic. There was no probable cause. They’d have to follow the leads they had and hope to find enough evidence to support a warrant. No shortcuts.
This time, Winters echoed those words. To make matters worse, Campbell was dead, Hobbs in prison. The property had recently been sold, and there wasn’t one piece of physical evidence that tied it to the new cases.
Eighteen months earlier, when she’d come to terms with Sullivan’s decision and went to see how Tain was handling it, he’d been gone. Unwilling to wait, he’d disregarded a direct order. They’d had no choice then; they had to go out on the pretense of questioning Eddie.
This time, Tain was inside, still pleading his case.
Her phone rang and she answered, half expecting it to be Tain, making sure she was okay.
“Ashlyn, it’s Sims.” There was a pause. “I did some checking on those addresses you gave me. From the original canvas.”
“Oh, yeah, right.” She remembered placing the call before they’d left Kelowna, not really expecting anything useful to come of it.
“Most of the residents have been cleared. There’s only two we haven’t tracked down. Neighbors say Mrs. Thiessen likes to spend the winter in Arizona, and as far as they know she’s still there.”
“What about the people you did talk to?”
“Nothing useful. They’d either been out of town or at work.” Sims paused. “The thing is, the more people I spoke to, the more interesting it got. Seems every single one of them was at something that was part of their regular schedule. They went skiing in Whistler the same weekend every month, or they always worked that shift on that day. There wasn’t one person I spoke to who just happened to be out.”
“Interesting.” Except it wasn’t. She turned from the bench only to be confronted with the fountain, and finally moved so that her back was to both of them. There were enough reminders without looking at permanent memorials. “Well, let me know if you find the last person.”
“The last address? It’s a rental. A new tenant moved in three months ago by the name of Parker.”
It wasn’t an uncommon name. No reason to think…
“I talked to the owner,” Sims said. “His tenant’s place of employment is listed as the Port Moody Police Department.”
She closed her eyes, felt her body sway and opened her eyes again. “What are you saying, Sims?”
“It’s the same Parker.”
Lulu could have been telling them the truth, and they’d dismissed her out of hand. She might really have seen Parker, in uniform, moments after he’d disposed of Millie’s body.
“Nobody I’ve talked to has seen him since Millie’s body was found in the Dumpster. He didn’t even show up in court last week when they dismissed the assault charges against him.” His voice trailed off to a whisper. “But I’m sure you knew about that.”
They hadn’t been able to convict Parker for assaulting her. She wasn’t surprised, because she’d never gotten a good look at her attacker.
What she was surprised about was the fact that nobody had told her the case had been dismissed. She looked down. Her hand had instinctively gone to her stomach.
She would have been showing by now.
“…I was thinking about heading back out there, canvassing the neighbors again to ask if any of them had seen Parker with a woman matching her description.”
“Sounds good.” She turned to look at the station. “One other thing. Can you check and see who purchased a property for me?” Ashlyn rattled off the address.
“After the canvas or before?”
“Before, if you don’t mind.”
“Sure thing.”
“And Sims? Call me, okay? I’m just following a hunch.”
“Speaking of hunches…”
“What is it?”
“Well, I called the prison where Hobbs is. He hasn’t had any visitors, except one.”
“Let me guess.”
“Parker tried to get in to see him a month ago, but Hobbs refused. I’m not sure it means anything…After that, Hobbs started sending letters to a Hank Jeffers.”
Who’d apparently gone off the deep end and murdered his wife and children and was out there somewhere.
With Craig.
“I did a few searches, dug a little deeper. Jeffers is wanted for the murder of his wife and children.”
“I know. The manhunt.”
“Thing is, Ash, the eyewitness who fingered Jeffers as the shooter? A vacationing Port Moody police officer who just happened to be in the area.”
Parker. What the hell was going on?
“One other thing, Ashlyn. They did a search of Hobbs’s prison cell. He’d received letters from Parker. They’re FedExing copies to us.”
She thanked him, hung up the phone and took a shortcut across the grass to the parking lot behind the building. When she’d told Tain she wanted to get some fresh air he’d asked her to pick him up a drink. She hadn’t done that yet, but she did have the car keys.
He’d have to wait for that drink a little longer.
PART SIX
THE PAST
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Eighteen months ago
Ashlyn stepped back inside Nolan’s cabin. “He’s gone.”
“What do you mean he’s gone?” Sullivan asked.
“I mean…” She looked at Nolan and saw his eyes widen. “I think he’s gone out there.”
There was silence for a moment, broken when Sullivan stood.
“Okay. We’re going out there, to question Eddie about Jenny. That’s it,” Sullivan said.
“You mean, we’re going out there to cover Tain’s ass.”
Sullivan turned to Nolan. “When this is over, I’ll deal with Tain myself.”
They drove out to the property in silence. A truck was parked at the main house. “Bobby’s truck,” Sullivan said.
Ashlyn walked up the door and pounded on it. “Mr. Campbell? Mr. Hobbs? It’s the police.” She lowered her hand. No answer.
She looked at Sullivan, who was scanning the property. Dusk was upon them, and she could make out the shape of shadows that she knew were trees, but soon it would be pitch black. “How far do you think it is to the cabins?”
“Tain said he thought about a mile.” Nolan nodded toward a dirty road that cut off through the trees. “That way.”
Lullaby for the Nameless (Nolan, Hart & Tain Thrillers) Page 59
