Justice for Katie (A Jake and Emma Mystery Book 3)

by Linda Crowder

  "Unless you're lying to me again and Carolyn threatened to make a stink about you and Taylor. That wouldn't sit well with your husband, finding out that way. It wouldn't be good for your career, either. Casper's a conservative town."

  Amanda stared him open mouthed and when she responded, there was no false note in the symphony. "I'm not a murderer, Matt. If Carolyn had confronted me about it, I would have gone down on my knees and begged her to keep it to herself but I certainly wouldn't have killed her over it. My husband will be upset, and it will be bad, but he'll eventually forgive me. As for my career, I can transfer anywhere in the country. I had no reason to kill anyone."

  Matt was inclined to agree with her, but he had to be thorough. Pulling his notebook from his pocket and taking a pen from the holder on her desk, he looked at the statement she'd given him about her movements on the night of the murder. "You left work at what time yesterday?"

  "A little after five. Then I went home, took a shower and changed into jeans for rehearsal. I heated up some soup for dinner and got to the theater around 6:30 to wait for Carolyn. Actors started showing up around ten 'til and rehearsal started at 7. We were done by 11 and I went straight home."

  "Can anyone verify any of this?"

  Amanda tapped her pen on her desk as she thought. "I said goodnight to building security as I left the office. The alarm company at my home should be able to give you the times I logged in and out. Of course, there are the actors and crew who can verify when I was at the theater."

  Matt made a few notes then put his notebook back in his pocket and replaced Amanda's pen. He stood to leave. With his hand on the door he turned back to look at her. "Don't keep secrets, Amanda. Not when there's been a murder."

  He left, closing the door behind him. Amanda walked quietly to the door and opened it, watching Matt's back retreating down the hall. Closing her door and locking it, she returned to her desk and picked up her phone.

  "Taylor," came the answer after she dialed the familiar number.

  "Matt Joyner was just here. Carolyn Maxwell saw me leave your office."

  There was a chuckle on the other end of the line. "Yeah, I know. She flew in here like the wicked witch on her broom yesterday."

  "What? Why didn't you tell me Carolyn saw me leave your office?"

  "Didn't think it mattered. What did you tell Matt?"

  "I told him the truth."

  "Thanks for the warning." The phone went dead. Amanda turned to stare out her office window and wondered what she had ever seen in Taylor.

  10

  The friends were gathered at Jake and Emma's house. They had planned to meet at Kristy's apartment for dinner, but Grace wasn't up to the ten mile drive into town. When she and Emma got home, Grace had taken a long nap. She awoke feeling not much more rested and looking flushed.

  Emma called the local oncologist who had been recommended by Grace's doctor in California. He offered to see Grace before he went home for the day, but she stubbornly refused to go.

  "Call me back if her fever doesn't go down," he advised, giving Emma his home number. "If it spikes, take her to the emergency room."

  "I'm just tired," Grace assured Emma. "It's been a stressful couple of days. Give me some time to rest and I'll be good as new."

  "Are you sure?"

  "I'm sure. I had my latest round of chemo before I came out here and it does terrible things to a person. It's almost as bad as the cancer. It takes me longer every time to recover."

  They assembled in the living room after dinner. Grace was tucked into Emma's recliner, a cup of herbal tea on the table beside her. Matt and Kristy sat together on the couch while Jake and Emma sat across from them. A pitcher of iced tea and glasses sat on the coffee table. "So Matt, you said you had a favor to ask," began Jake once they were all settled.

  Matt quickly filled them in on the break-in at Jeb Cannon's storage locker, the stolen copies and the missing originals in Weston County. He told them what he knew about Katie's death, which wasn't much.

  "I spoke with the Captain about it and for some crazy reason, he doesn't want to allocate resources to trying to solve a 30 year old murder that happened in another county. The Weston County Sheriff isn't interested in re-opening the case because there's nothing to go on."

  "What do you want us to do?"

  "I'm hoping you could drive over to Newcastle with Cannon. He wants to find answers and I just don't have time."

  "I would like to help," offered Jake. "This young woman deserves justice. I doubt we'll be able to find it for her, but the least we can do is try. I'll go as soon as I can free up a few days."

  "Kristy, what does my calendar look like over the next few weeks?" asked Emma eagerly.

  "You're not going," said Jake, interrupting Kristy. "Remember what Matt said about you and Grace staying out of murder investigations. "

  "Then why is he asking us to go to Newcastle? He must think it's safe."

  "He's not asking you. He's asking me."

  "Don't be a caveman! If it's not safe for me to go, it isn't any safer for you."

  "I'm going too," said Grace.

  "Are you sure you're up to it?" asked Emma, concerned.

  "I will be," Grace assured her and from the look in her friend's eyes, Emma thought the trip might just be the best medicine for her.

  "It's a 30 year-old case that's been cold from Day One," said Matt. "I'm only interested because Cannon's interested. I can't see any harm in Emma and Grace going. Frankly, I think it's a great idea. It'll keep them at a safe distance from Carolyn Maxwell's murderer."

  "What if someone did steal both sets of case files?" asked Jake. "Maybe there's more to these files than meets the eye."

  Emma waved her hand dismissively. "You're grabbing at straws. We're going."

  "But someone did steal Cannon's copies."

  "Along with a hand-written original draft of an as-yet-unpublished novel by a best-selling author. A collector told me something like that from an author of Cannon's stature could be worth thousands of dollars."

  "Seriously?" asked Kristy. "I've read his books and they're good, but thousands of dollars for an unpublished draft?"

  "Hardly anyone hand-writes the first draft anymore. Even Cannon switched to computers years ago. When they do write by hand, it seems most authors destroy their drafts after a book is published. That makes something like this all the more valuable. That's why someone stole Cannon's copies. There is no tie between the break-in and the missing files in Newcastle."

  "All right, all right," said Jake in surrender. "We'll go as soon as we can both get a couple of days free, assuming that works for Cannon."

  ***

  Thursday afternoon of the following week found the party setting out for Newcastle. Grace's fever had subsided, as she had told Emma it would, and she was in good spirits when Jeb Canon pulled up in front of Jake and Emma's home in his dusty black Escalade.

  "I'm pleased to meet you," the author greeted them. He took Grace's hand and gave it a knightly kiss. His eyes sparkled when he straightened. "I'm especially pleased to meet you, Dr. Russell. I've read your work on the genesis of deviance. I've used some of your theories in my books. Just brilliant."

  Grace reddened and Emma noticed she did not rush to credit her co-authors, as she had when Carolyn had complimented her work. Her smile was radiant as Cannon helped her into the front passenger seat. Jake and Emma settled into the back and listened as the two chatted away.

  Cannon stopped at the police station and he, Grace and Emma waited in the car while Jake went in to see if Matt had any last minute instructions. "I hope you have better luck than I'm having," Matt told him.

  "Still no breaks in the Maxwell case?"

  "Just between you and me, nothing. Autopsy, ballistics, Carolyn Maxwell's cases, her personal life, if you want to call it that. There's nothing to indicate anyone would have had a motive to kill her."

  "How did it work out with Amanda Knoll?"

  "Mildly promising, bu
t turned out to be a dead end."

  "What about Grace's theory about it being someone at the CA's office?"

  "Alibis all around and for the most part, very little motive."

  "Darn. If the murderer really is someone at the CA's office, my money was on Taylor."

  Matt grimaced, remembering Taylor's reaction when he questioned him about Amanda Knolls' story. He admitted that Carolyn had confronted him about it when he got back from court. He told Matt he'd offered to tell her about the tryst in great detail. "I swear she turned purple. I thought her eyes were gonna pop right out of her head. She turned around and marched out of my office, the old prune."

  Taylor was a snake, but he was a snake with an alibi, backed up by a variety of sources. "Yeah, he's a piece of work, isn't he?"

  "Where do you go from here?"

  "Track down everyone who had a key to those offices and could have let themselves in while Carolyn was working. Tedious, but that's what breaks cases."

  "Maybe Carolyn arranged to meet someone and let them in herself."

  Matt held up the DVD from the security manager. "Nobody came in or out through the lobby. There's a side entrance but it leads directly to Blakely's office and he's the only attorney whose secretary doesn't even have a key to his office.

  "What about Blakely? Does he have an alibi?"

  "No alibi, but no motive either. So what's your plan of attack in Newcastle?"

  "I don't have a plan," admitted Jake. "Though Emma and Grace are probably out there cooking one up with Cannon. I'd better get back before they go off and leave me here."

  Jake was correct and Emma outlined the plan to Jake in the back seat as Jeb drove and chatted with Grace in the front. Newcastle was a two and a half hour drive east from Casper so they had plenty of time to talk it over.

  "We thought we'd start with Sheriff Irwin," began Emma as Cannon pulled onto the freeway. "Jeb says he was in the army when Katie died. According to his bio on the County's website, he served four years and was honorably discharged. He joined the Sheriff's department after being with the Highway Patrol for ten years."

  Emma turned a page in the notebook she had brought with her. "The man who was Sheriff at the time of the murder died years ago but the Coroner, a man named Eugene Stockman, is still alive. Jeb says he hasn't ever managed to catch Stockman in town. Stockman has a son in Florida and spends part of the year there."

  Past the infamous Teapot Dome oil fields, at the tiny town of Midwest, they turned east. The road took them past open pit coal mines with dump trucks as big as houses. At Wright, they jogged south and continued their eastward journey through the heart of the Thunder Basin National Grassland and finally through the town of Newcastle.

  Jeb's Uncle Pete, who ran the family ranch, greeted them when they pulled up in front of the old farmhouse. Jeb had grown up in the farmhouse. When his uncle bought out his share of the ranch after his father died, Jeb retained use of it. His uncle lived in a newer home separated from the farmhouse by a huge barn that housed both horses and cattle. Behind that was a hay barn and an equipment shed.

  "I'd like to go see where you and your father found Katie," suggested Grace. They had unpacked their overnight bags and were discussing whether to head into town to meet with Sheriff Irwin or invite him to come to the ranch.

  "Nothing to see. Just an empty field."

  "Battlefields where men have fought and died retain an emotional imprint of the suffering that occurred there. I've heard that said about Ground Zero in New York City as well. I'm not saying these sites are haunted, but that great trauma has a way of imprinting itself on the environment."

  Jake struggled not to roll his eyes, with help from a well-placed elbow from Emma. Jeb pronounced himself intrigued by the theory and suggested they ride out to look. He placed a call to Irwin, then pulled a set of keys from a row of hooks beside the door and led them to the equipment shed. A four-seat ATV fired up on the first try and Jed backed it out of the shed and waited while the three scrambled in.

  As he drove, Jeb told them about finding Katie. His father had kept him away from the scene as best he could, but there is no controlling a curious teenager. He'd sneaked a look at the remains and immediately wished he hadn't.

  The two of them had sat on their respective horses, silently watching the work of the police and Coroner from a respectful distance. All the men had removed their hats when the black bag containing what was left of Katie's body was placed on a stretcher and loaded into the Coroner's wagon.

  Emma wondered how Jeb could find the right spot after 30 years. The rolling terrain all seemed the same to her, bleak and brown. Then she spied a handmade cross sitting atop a small rise perhaps thirty yards from the road. "My mother put up that cross," Jeb explained, stopping the ATV and turning off the engine. "She didn't think it was right, not having anything here so after the police finished, she got my dad to make this cross and we all came out and set it up. She and the ladies at church saw to it that Katie got a proper burial and didn't just end up in an unmarked grave."

  They sat in silence for a time. Grace touched Jeb's hand and he started the engine and drove back to the ranch. The Sheriff's truck was pulling into the clearing as Jeb came out of the equipment shed. The men shook hands and climbed the steps to join the others on the porch.

  Sheriff Tobias Irwin was a character and he loved to talk. He was taller than Jake and thin as a rail. He chain smoked while he spoke but his smoke was only water vapor. "Wife keeps nagging at me to quit," he told them when he drew out the electronic cigarette.

  He told them about his time in the army and the years he'd spent with the Highway Patrol. When a deputy position opened in his native Weston County, he'd jumped at the chance to come home again. He'd been married to Elvira, whose mother had been a big fan of the Oak Ridge Boys, for 28 years and had three grown sons.

  He rocked back in his chair, tilting it on two legs. "So you're here about our Jane Doe. I was away, serving in the army, when Mac Cannon found that girl's body. He was still ranching when I moved back to Newcastle in '96. Good man."

  "He died in 2002," added Jeb quietly.

  "Did he ever talk about the murder?" asked Jake.

  "Oh sure. He and I used to take whack at it, every now and again, especially after his wife passed. He'd stop by the station or I'd come by the ranch to check on him." He looked up at Jeb, who was leaning on the porch railing. "That was before your uncle built his house, when he and the boys were still living in town."

  "Did you ever take a look at the case file?" asked Emma.

  "Sure thing. Mac and me, we went over it lots of times. Not that there was much to go over. They weren't even able to establish whether she'd been killed there or somewhere else and her body dumped where we found her. She had nothing on her. No clothes, no purse and no jewelry of any kind. She had no tattoos, no dental work had been done on her, fingerprints didn't match anything on file."

  "DNA?"

  "Didn't come into use until 1985," said Jake, "and even then it wasn't widespread until almost 10 years after that."

  "That's right. I suppose they might be able to do genetic testing now but you'd have to have somebody to match her with. Any DNA pointing to the killer would be long gone by now."

  "Was she sexually assaulted? Were they able to determine a cause of death?"

  "There wasn't enough of her body left to tell. She was mostly just bones with some hair and a skin left. No way to know if she'd been raped or how she died. Skull was intact and they didn't find any bullets or shell casings near her to indicate she'd been shot. She might have been stabbed or strangled there was just no way to know. The Coroner called it death by unknown causes."

  "I know the man who was Sheriff at the time has passed. Do you know if the Coroner is available?" asked Emma.

  "I figured you'd want to talk to Eugene. He's past 80 now but still sharp. I called and told him you'd be by to see him. He said to tell you he's at his best in the morning after breakfast."


  "Is there anyone else you think we should speak to about Jane Doe? Would anyone remember the murder?" asked Jake.

  "Heck, Jeb'll tell you. Everyone around here remembers that murder. It was the talk of the town when it happened and they were still talking about it when I got back. Problem is, there's nothing to say."

  "When was the last time you remember seeing the missing case file?" asked Jake.

  "I've been thinking on that. It was when Jeb here came back for his daddy's funeral. You remember, Jeb."

  "I went by the station and asked to see the file."

  "I was riding a desk by then so I went down to the evidence locker with him. It was eerie going through that box with Jeb when I'd gone through it so many times with his dad."

  "Jeb, were you able to notice something that your father missed?" asked Jake.

  "Nothing. There never was much evidence. I asked for a copy and Tobias ran it for me. Then I headed home."

  "And that was the last time you saw the file?" Jake asked Irwin.

  "Sheriff told me they were wasting space down there and I'd better take them to the County records for storage. The last time I saw the files was when I handed them over to the County Clerk."

  "She never showed up on any missing persons report?" asked Emma.

  "Not that I ever heard of," Irwin answered. "Sheriff reported her to the State Bureau of Investigations in Cheyenne. When they had nothing on her, he broadened that to all of the surrounding states. The Feds picked up the missing person report in 2000 when they computerized the system. We got a couple of calls about her round about that time but nothing ever came of it."

  Sheriff Irwin stood and said he had to get back to the office. He wished them luck with their search and told them to call him if they needed anything else. After he left, Jake checked the time on his cell phone. "It's just after 4. Let's see if we can catch the County Clerk before closing."