“My partner and I are looking into the disappearance of Samuel Stiles.”
He didn’t say anything, but was aware that McGaven blocked his exit.
“He worked here for about two years?”
“Yeah, I think that sounds right,” he said.
“How much did you know about him?” she asked, knowing instantly that this guy wouldn’t give up any information even if he had something to say.
He shrugged at the question.
“We’re trying to retrace his steps when he left that day.”
“Oh.”
“Did you see him leave? Did he drive or did someone pick him up?”
“Dunno. I was working on an engine of a ’74 Camaro.”
“You seem to have a good memory from five years ago.”
“Believe me, if you ever rebuilt an engine you would remember it.”
“You wouldn’t happen to remember what day of the week it was?” She watched him carefully.
“Yeah, sure.”
“And?”
“It was the middle of the week—Wednesday, I think.”
“You don’t seem so sure.”
“Look, I work all the time. Every day blends into the next,” he said. “Like now, I need to get to work.”
“Of course,” Katie replied. “Thank you for your help.”
Palmer junior grumbled as he made his way around McGaven who remained silent the entire time.
Katie walked back to the car with McGaven. They didn’t speak to one another until they were back inside the vehicle pulling out of the parking area of the garage.
“They were a nice group,” said Katie with sarcasm.
“Do you think they’re hiding something?”
“Yes, but I’m not so sure it’s about Stiles.”
“Okay.”
“Okay what?” she asked.
“How can you tell?”
“I watched senior closely. There weren’t any hesitations, or rehearsed answers.”
“Maybe he’s a psychopath?”
“Not likely. Even psychopaths have some truth when they are trying to convince you of something.” Katie searched her phone for the wrecking yard. She brought up the map and then used the GPS. “Here, let’s get a look at the recycling and wrecking yard.”
“On it,” he said and made travel preparations to head in that direction. “If the Palmers are the owners of the wrecking yard, then why are they both at the auto garage?”
“I was thinking the same thing.” She looked in the side mirror and watched a black truck pull out of a driveway and take its place behind them. She could make out just part of the license plate number: XLG_3. “Maybe their names are just for the record and they have nothing to do with the place?”
“There wasn’t any mention of it in the original report?”
“Nope,” she said, still watching the heavy-duty truck keep an exact distance of two car lengths behind them. When McGaven turned down a road, the truck soon trailed. “Detective Patton didn’t seem to mention that.”
“Maybe he didn’t know?” he suggested.
“No, I would bet on the fact he knew,” she said.
“Hmmm.”
“Hmmm what?”
“What’s that you said recently?” he asked.
“What?”
“The plot thickens?”
“Like a plot that Detective Patton conjured up for one of his novels.”
The long unpaved road seemed to go on forever as the unmarked police sedan sped along. Katie had to admit she was feeling better—but it was only due to the fact that she was in investigative mode in unchartered territory. She tried to keep the image of her aunt out of her mind, no matter how hard it was. Her weary heart was with her Uncle Wayne; she knew she needed to be well minded enough to be able to help him.
“We passed that stupid sign a while ago,” said McGaven.
Katie searched up ahead, straining her eyes to see. “I think we need to get a better vantage. Make a left up there.”
McGaven turned up a narrow road and they immediately climbed, but the thoroughfare was in good shape and didn’t need a 4-wheel drive vehicle to access it.
“Where’s this?” she said surveying the area.
“Not sure. Never been here before.”
“Maybe some type of county access.”
“Could be.”
“Since we don’t have a real reason to be on the property—and we don’t want to show all our cards at once—let’s find a place with some camouflage and see what we can with binoculars,” she said.
“And if we find something?”
“Then,” she said, “we’ll decide if a search warrant is needed or find some other pretext to be looking around there.”
“Undercover?” he asked with some enthusiasm.
“Great idea.”
“What about Martinez or internal affairs?”
“What about them?” she said with a sour expression.
“If we do anything that deviates from standard protocol during an investigation—in this case a missing person’s cold case—we’ll get reprimanded. Don’t we have to have prior permission?”
“I didn’t hear him say that.”
“You know they’re going to be watching us like hawks—looking for anything to justify taking away the cold case unit.”
Katie saw a group of trees that would be perfect for them to park and scope out the property down below. “Not until something big happens with my uncle. But yes, they’ve already decided they are going to disband it. It’s just a matter of when,” she said sourly. “Martinez told me specifically that he was against it from the beginning.”
“Oh shit. That totally sucks.”
“Maybe so, but I’m not going to give up without a fight, for the unit and my uncle.” She felt tears begin to well up but pushed them away. Her grief was beginning to take her on a roller coaster ride.
“You have to stop doing that.”
“Doing what?”
“Carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders. There are other people who will help you. You’re not alone, Katie.”
“I don’t want to be responsible for someone getting put on leave—or worse—fired.”
McGaven pulled in between several trees. They were off the road enough in case someone was to drive by. “Let other people decide what they want to do.”
Katie laid her hand on McGaven’s arm. “Thank you.”
He smiled.
Both officers were out of the car in seconds and McGaven opened the trunk to retrieve a pair of binoculars.
Katie quickly surveyed the immediate area, making sure that there wasn’t anything that would hinder their long-distance search of the auto wrecking yard, while McGaven readied himself in prime position. The trees acted as cover camouflage, but the land below was readily visible.
“Okay,” began McGaven, “it’s not as big as I originally thought. Maybe the Internet maps were wrong or extremely outdated?”
“Why?”
“It appears to be about one quarter of what we saw on the map back at the office. I can see the vacant land next to them. There are defined fence lines and some pretty serious-looking security cameras.”
“Cameras? Are you sure that they aren’t connected to the wrecking yard because of different types of metals? Some are quite valuable.”
McGaven panned back and forth for a few minutes without saying anything. “Wait a minute.”
Katie heard his voice change and knew that he had found something.
“I can barely make out the name.”
“What?”
“I think it’s ‘lye’.”
“Lye.” Katie’s mind searched as to why an auto wreckers or salvage yard would use lye. “Would they use it to clean some of the metals? Let me look.”
McGaven gave the binoculars to Katie. She quickly brought up the eye pieces to her own eyes, readjusted the focus, and slowly scanned the area. She saw the organized piles of various types
of metals that were being recycled. There were areas that had different parts of cars along with entire cars lined up in rows. An area toward the back of the property had several giant piles of tires.
“See what I mean,” he said.
“Sodium hydroxide, right?”
“Yeah.”
“There’s a huge amount of bags—enough to fill a big truck. What are they using it for?” she said.
“That’s disturbing.”
Katie scanned the area and everything else appeared to belong in an auto salvage yard. As she moved north of the property, she saw what McGaven was talking about with the fence line. It was wire fencing but there were small cameras fixed to the top of the corners.
“Can you see the cameras?” he asked.
“Yeah. It doesn’t make sense to have them at that property. Maybe they’re going to lease out the land to marijuana growers? There are huge crops popping up everywhere and many business owners are renting the land.”
“That’s true, but it looks different.”
Katie lowered the binoculars and turned to McGaven. “It’s weird, but I think we just need to file it under ‘not enough information yet’.”
McGaven laughed.
“What?”
“I don’t know how you do it.”
“What are you talking about?” she asked with a little annoyance in her voice.
“How can you juggle all these things right now?”
Katie didn’t want to answer that, and she didn’t want to think about the obvious things plaguing her.
“You know you’re going to have to grieve—you’re not superwoman,” he pushed, but in a caring way.
“Of course I know that,” she snapped. “Sorry. It’s just that a weird piece of land with security cameras doesn’t bring us any closer to finding out what happened to Sam Stiles.”
“No, but it does give us more information about his employers,” he said. “And that’s a start. This doesn’t make sense now, but something will turn up during the investigation that will make sense of this.”
Katie walked back to the car. “You know, McGaven, you sometimes make perfect sense,” she said, smiling, then she stated, “I’m hungry. And I want to make another stop too.”
* * *
“Thank you, Mrs. Stiles, for seeing us on such short notice,” Katie said. She didn’t think she needed more information, but this case was complex and she wanted to find out who Sam Stiles really was.
“Of course, anything that I can do to help,” she said.
“Well,” Katie began, “I want to get to know Sam a bit better.”
“What do you mean, Detective?” Her voice was shakier than before as Katie watched her with curiosity.
Katie spied more than a half dozen prescription bottles lined up on the counter. There was a small pile of western novels along with a neatly gathered bundle of old newspapers.
“It would be really helpful to know more about him, what he was like.” Katie forced a smile, glancing at McGaven in the upholstered chair nearby.
“Well, he was always a good boy. He rarely got in trouble and it wasn’t ever for anything serious,” she said. Then she closed her eyes, as if it helped her to remember fond memories. “He didn’t have any siblings; I couldn’t have any more children. I had two miscarriages and then it was going to be very dangerous for my health. Anyway, Sammy was used to entertaining himself, playing, watching TV. He was sensitive to others, their feelings. He brought us a lot of joy and now—”
“Mrs. Stiles,” Katie interrupted so Mrs. Stiles didn’t have to go there. “Do you remember any of his friends?”
“Oh, he had a lot of friends, but as he got older I couldn’t tell you their names or anything. He had an incredible appreciation for music. He listened to all kinds of music and wanted to form his own band. I really don’t know if…” Her voice wandered.
“Right before he disappeared, did he seem upset or different in any way?”
“I keep thinking about that day.”
“Why?” Katie said.
“Well, he had been in an even better mood, very upbeat, almost childlike, as if he had a secret, but it was a wonderful secret.”
“Did he say that he had something to tell you?”
“No, but I got the feeling there was something he wanted to share.”
“Was he usually up front with you and shared things?”
“Most of the time. He took his duties as a son to heart, making sure Mr. Stiles and I were doing well and we were able to afford our medications. That was very important to him.”
“How often did you speak with him?” asked Katie.
“Oh, about three to five times a week.”
“Did he ever confide in anything that was bothering him or that he was having some trouble?” Katie was careful not to ask if someone wanted him dead.
“Detective Scott, my Sammy was an open book much like he was when he was a kid. No, he seemed fine, and if anything, he was happier than usual.”
Seventeen
Monday 2000 hours
Katie hung up the phone, stunned and swimming in deep sadness. She was trying so hard to hold everything together, to stay strong for her uncle’s sake. She took a deep breath. Lawrence Ameretti, her uncle’s criminal attorney, who had come highly recommended, had just updated her on the status of his case. Her uncle wasn’t coming home today. Intense negotiations were underway and Ameretti assured her that he would do everything he could to get her uncle released with an ankle tracking device. That was all she knew for now.
Katie answered the soft knock at the door at exactly 8 p.m. Nick Haines was right on time as she knew he would be, just as she knew that he would answer her request for help. She would have done the same if the situation was reversed. He gave Katie a big hug. “Oh, Scotty, life isn’t fair,” he said and then took a step inside. Limping slightly on his prosthetic leg as he entered, he gave Cisco a pat and quick scratch behind the ears before moving into the kitchen and living room to sit down.
Nick had been Katie’s sergeant in the army—he was the reason that she made it through the tough and terrible times and became a stronger person. Recently, after his honorable discharge, he had asked Katie to find his estranged brother and now he was mending old family wounds living just outside the county area. He was healing too, both physically and psychologically.
“Thanks for being here,” she said and shut the door.
“I knew it was only a matter of time the moment I heard about your aunt,” he said with his slight southern drawl.
“I’ve been thinking about this ever since I found her,” she said stiffly not wanting to let her emotions tumble out. “I don’t want to get any of my colleagues involved—I know they would, especially McGaven and John. This isn’t their fight.”
Katie moved to the kitchen counter and took a seat on one of the bar stools. She knew it was easier for Nick to navigate the taller chairs.
Nick took a seat next to her and waited for her to talk.
“I need to shadow the homicide investigation without anyone knowing.”
“What’s your idea?” he asked.
“I can’t do anything that would indicate that I’m investigating this case.”
“You need to get into the police database?” he asked. His training and expertise was in IT and he could do just about anything related to computers, software, security systems, and firewalls.
“No. I don’t think that it will come down to that. I just need to know what Detective Hamilton is doing—and not doing.”
“Sounds easy enough.”
Katie had been avoiding his gaze. In the low lighting, it was easy to not see his long prominent scar down his cheek. It gave him a fierceness, a warrior appearance—at least, that was what she initially thought when she had first met him.
“Scotty, spit it out.”
“I can’t stand this waiting and not knowing if the detective in charge of the case is doing everything possible—and not just build
ing a case around my uncle. I’m trying to stay focused on my case load but I’m having a difficult time sleeping,” she said. “I need you to shadow the detective in charge of the case.”
“To what level?”
“I want to know everything he knows, or thinks he knows.”
Nick leaned back, obviously thinking about what Katie was asking from him.
“You know I’m good at these types of things, but I have to tell you, if this detective is any good at his job, he’ll start putting together that a guy with a bum leg has been following him.”
“I know…” Katie said softly. “But he has no idea who you are; he’s never even seen you before.”
“Tell you what.”
Katie looked at him.
“I’ll let this pass—just this once, under the circumstances.”
“What?” she said with a smile. As she watched him, she realized how much she had missed him since she had been home. He was a part of her family from another place and time.
“You have a specialized team at your disposal and don’t even know it. In fact, I mean a real specialized team with amazing attributes.”
“What are you talking about?” Her interest was now piqued.
“What I’m talking about,” he mimicked in good humor. “You’ve got me, now that’s a given, but you have Jimmy and Nadine too.” Katie’s sergeant had relocated with his estranged brother Jimmy and his wife, Nadine.
“I can’t ask—” Katie didn’t finish her sentence because Nick interrupted her.
“You can and you will. Look, you know that Jimmy is an expert in all the F/X stuff with movie makeup and special effects. But, Nadine has been doing insurance investigations and she’s amazing at details and dealing with people.” He leaned down and petted Cisco who had padded over quietly and rested his head on Nick’s good leg.
“Oh,” was all that Katie could say. She’d never thought about that.
“Oh?” he laughed. “Scotty, you need to allow others to help. I’m here. I’ll always be here when you need me—that’s the code we share. But Jimmy and Nadine are just an extension of me—so that makes them within the code too.”
Flowers on Her Grave Page 10
