David Wolf series Box Set

by Jeff Carson

  Wolf shook his head, still smiling. “Nothing. You just gave me an idea, that’s all.”

  The man peered at Wolf suspiciously for a few seconds and then faced forward and shut his eyes.

  Wolf sat back and looked out the window. He was suddenly more anxious than ever to get home.

  Chapter 50

  It was mid-afternoon Sunday by the time Wolf and Rachette drove into Rocky Points.

  The weather was dry and warm, but they had driven through rain on the way up from Denver, and there was a thunderstorm looming behind the peaks.

  At Wolf’s insistence, they didn’t drive directly to HQ, where Wolf’s truck had been parked for the past week. Instead, they passed by, continued a few blocks, and pulled into the Sunnyside Café parking lot.

  “Okay.” Rachette put the truck in park and looked at Wolf. “You going to tell me what you’re thinking?”

  Wolf unbuckled his seatbelt. “I’m going in to ask a question. I’ll be right back.”

  Wolf only needed five minutes inside the Sunnyside to get what he needed. He came outside with a sliver of white paper in his hand and sat back in the SUV.

  Rachette eyed it as Wolf settled in. “So?”

  “Do you remember when we were talking to Vicky Mulroy on her porch the other day, and she got all angry when we talked about how the Wheatmans were worried about their son, and she took it as us implying she didn’t care about her daughter?”

  Rachette frowned and looked out the windshield. “Yeah, I guess.”

  “She said something about how Julie had been spending a lot of time there.”

  Rachette shook his head. “Yeah, okay. So what?”

  “Then she said, That family of fairies turned my daughter vegetarian. Remember that?”

  Rachette looked at Wolf. “Yeah. I do. I didn’t really think anything of it.”

  “Me neither. Not until the plane ride over. Let’s go to the mayor’s.”

  Rachette didn’t move. “The mayor’s? To talk to Chris Wakefield? Why?”

  Wolf sighed and sat back in the seat. “You take the car ride up there to figure it out. I don’t feel like explaining this twice today.” Wolf yawned. “I’m too jet-lagged.”

  Rachette headed out of the parking lot and east on Highway 8, where they passed the small residences and businesses backed by narrow dirt alleys, headed out of town through a cattle field, and finally up into the forest.

  Soon they were passing large homes with thick log trusses, natural wood siding, copper trim, horse barns, vast tracts of land, and other amenities a lot of money could buy. Before long, they came upon their destination—Greg Wakefield’s residence, the mayor of Rocky Points, Colorado.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Rachette asked, slowing the SUV to a stop without driving into the property. “You know, with the sheriff appointment vote tomorrow? We could postpone ...” Rachette looked at Wolf and let his sentence die.

  “If there’s one thing I’ve learned the past week, it’s that hesitation kills.”

  Rachette eyed him, then sighed and looked out the window at the big house. It was a large and modern home with a magnificent view of the valley behind it.

  Wolf opened the door and got out.

  Rachette turned off the truck and followed him down the dirt driveway.

  The front door, a stained-glass mountain scene framed with dark wood, stood open. Inside was the mayor with a puzzled look on his face.

  “Sergeant Wolf,” the mayor said. “What can I do for you?”

  “Hello, sir,” Wolf said, walking toward him. “How are you doing today?”

  “I’m fine. I  ...  I hear you’ve been in Italy.”

  “Yes, sir. In fact, I just got back into town.”

  “And you came here?”

  Mayor Greg Wakefield was dressed in his Sunday casual attire—jeans and a T-shirt with a mountaineering equipment logo on it. The latter was tight-fitting, accentuating his athletic build. At fifty-two years of age, the mayor was a perfect specimen of health. His skin was tanned from spending time outdoors, his hair sandy-brown without a speck of gray, and his face was handsome with an engaging smile.

  Good looks aside, Wolf had always considered Greg Wakefield a good man. And when he’d become mayor of Rocky Points a year ago, as far as Wolf could tell, he’d stayed the same man, not letting whatever power he’d acquired cloud his judgment in any way.

  All this factored into coming to his house to question his son. Wolf saw Wakefield as a man of principle, a man who did the right thing. Wolf knew that if Wakefield’s son had done something unlawful, he’d want to know about it. Wakefield wasn’t the type who would surround his kid with a bunch of lawyers to shield him from consequences of his actions.

  At least, that was the idea.

  The mayor stepped out the door and shook Wolf’s hand. “I heard about John. I’m so sorry.”

  Wolf nodded. “Thank you, sir.”

  The mayor shrugged and put his hands in his pockets. “So, what’s going on?”

  “I need to talk to your son, sir. It’s about the death of Jerry Wheatman.”

  The mayor’s face fell. “Again? Haven’t you guys already gotten what you need from my son? There’s no sense upsetting him anymore. Look, he made a mistake not telling you guys about it right away, but he was just protecting that girl, Julie.” He looked at Rachette, then back to Wolf. “But they came in. They did the right thing. Come on, guys. Seriously. Let’s let these kids grieve.”

  Wolf stared a beat at the mayor. “Greg, you know I wouldn’t be doing this without a good reason. I need to ask your son one question. Just one. Then we’ll be on our way. I promise.”

  The mayor stared at Wolf for a long time. He was probably wondering what could have possibly been so important, at the final hour before the sheriff appointment, which was set to happen the next morning. He was probably thinking there was no way Wolf would harass his son with so much on the line. After all, the mayor’s vote would be counted tomorrow, too.

  Mayor Wakefield sighed and waved his hand. “Come in. I’ll get him.”

  They followed the mayor into the vaulted entrance of his house.

  “Just a second,” Mayor Wakefield said, and he disappeared around the corner.

  Rachette whistled softly. “Wow.”

  Ahead of them was a tall room filled with leather couches and wood furniture. Windows dominated the far wall, framing the valley below and a perfect view of the ski resort in the far distance. It was a million-dollar view, and with it, the house probably cost five times as much.

  “Chris!” the mayor belted from somewhere inside the house. “Chris!”

  “What?” A distant reply sounded deep in the house.

  After a minute of silence, they both came around the corner.

  Chris Wakefield was dressed in sweat pants and a T-shirt, and looked like he had not showered all weekend, which probably was normal for a sixteen-year-old. But he looked tired. His eyes were bloodshot, with half-moons under his eyes so dark it looked like he’d been punched a couple times.

  Wolf stepped forward. “Chris. How are you? I’m Sergeant Deputy Wolf. This is Deputy Rachette.”

  Chris nodded and pulled his shirt down, like he needed something to do with his hands. “Yeah, I know you guys.”

  “We’d like to ask you a few questions,” Wolf said.

  “You said one question,” the mayor warned. Then he rolled his eyes and led everyone into the great room. He pointed at them to sit on the thick couches, sat down next to his son, and leaned forward with an expectant look.

  “Chris,” Wolf said, “I need to know why you’re covering for Julie Mulroy.”

  Chris’s chest heaved as he sucked in a breath. Wolf watched as panic flashed and disappeared within an instant on the boy’s face.

  He glared at Wolf. “What? What the hell are you talking about?”

  “Chris,” The mayor frowned at his son. “You’re talking to a sheriff’s deputy right now.” />
  There was a tense moment of silence as father and son stared icily at one another.

  “Show some respect, please,” the mayor said.

  Chris stared at his hands and picked at a fingernail.

  “Where’s Julie now?” Wolf asked.

  “I thought you said one question,” Wakefield said, turning his scathing look to Wolf.

  They stared at one another for a few seconds, and then Wakefield gave a resigned sigh.

  “Where’s Julie?” Wolf asked again.

  “Home.” Chris shrugged. “I don’t know.”

  “Chris,” Wolf continued, “I know Julie Mulroy killed Jerry Wheatman.”

  Chris kept his eyes on his busy hands.

  The mayor shook his head and sat straight. “What?”

  Wolf kept his eyes on Chris, who sat unmoving, still fiddling with his fingers.

  “You said Julie called you that morning, the morning Jerry died, and you went to help her down the mountain.” Wolf’s voice was quiet. “You said she was catatonic. You even said that she was vomiting on top of the mountain. She was frozen, and you had to help her down.”

  Chris looked up at Wolf. “Yeah. That’s what I said.”

  Wolf stared at him for a few quiet seconds. “If Julie killed Jerry Wheatman, and you’re helping her cover it up, you know that makes you an accessory to murder, right? You’ve probably seen enough cop shows to know that.”

  The mayor put up a hand between them. “Okay, Wolf. My son says he did what he did, and that’s that. Do I need to call my lawyer and—”

  The mayor went quiet when he saw Wolf holding up a slip of paper.

  Wolf thumbed the receipt he’d gotten from the Sunnyside Café and made a show of studying it.

  “Okay, what’s that?” the mayor said.

  “This is a credit-card statement from the Sunnyside Café, signed by you, Chris, on the morning of last Friday. The morning that Jerry Wheatman was found forensically to have died.”

  Chris clamped his eyes together and shook his head. “So?”

  The mayor stared expectantly at Wolf.

  “It’s an itemized receipt, showing you paid for a ham-and-egg omelet, some toast, and orange juice. I also checked who you were eating with. They said you ate alone that morning.” Wolf paused for effect. “When we went up to the top of the cliff where Jerry fell off, we found some vomit. It contained, ham, eggs, orange juice, and toast.”

  Wolf watched Chris’s chest heave up and down again. His blood pressure was clearly skyrocketing.

  “That was Julie’s vomit,” Chris said, still staring at his hands.

  Wolf didn’t blink. “That’s what you told us when you and Julie came to the station, yes. But I checked, and Julie and Jerry didn’t eat there that morning. They ate somewhere else.”

  Wolf cleared his throat. “Did you know that Julie Mulroy has recently become a vegetarian? Her mom told us the Wheatmans converted her. Did you know that Julie had had breakfast at the Wheatmans’ that morning?”

  Wolf kept his eyes on Chris and watched the question sink in.

  The leather of the couch squeaked as Rachette squirmed next to Wolf.

  A tear slid down Chris’s cheek. “No, I didn’t know she was a vegetarian,” he whispered.

  The mayor smothered his face with his hands and then looked at his son. “Did you two kill Jerry Wheatman, son?”

  Chris looked wide-eyed at his father. “No, dad. I swear. I didn’t do anything. I just …”

  “You just what? Tell us!” The mayor’s voice echoed through the house.

  Chris’s tears flowed freely now, but he stayed silent.

  “You went up there because she asked you to,” Wolf said, “and when you got there, you freaked out. Right? You were the one who vomited, not her. Because you couldn’t believe what you were looking at, and you had just found out that Julie had pushed him.”

  Chris wiped his nose and glared out the window with wet eyes. After a few seconds, he started speaking as if he were watching the events unfold in front of him. “I didn’t know she pushed him, I swear. I got the call from her right after I was at the Sunnyside. She said that Jerry had fallen. I didn’t know what she was talking about. I told her to call 911, didn’t know why the hell she was calling me. Then she freaked out and said she couldn’t do that. She said you guys would think it was her who did it. She asked if I would come up and help her down. She said she was totally freaked—”

  “I still don’t see why you did that, Chris. That was so irresponsible. A boy had died.”

  Chris broke down crying. “I told her to call 911!”

  Wolf held his hand up to the mayor and leaned forward. “Just tell us what happened, Chris. The truth is the only way out of this thing.”

  Chris nodded his head and sniffed. “Like I said, she called me, so I went up. I hiked up as fast as I could. When I got up there, she was hysterical. She was blabbering about how Jerry was messing around near the edge of the cliff, and just fell off.” He shook his head and stared at Wolf. “That’s when I looked over the edge and  ...  then I puked.”

  Wolf nodded to keep him going.

  “That was the story she told me. I believed her, and I told her everyone would totally believe her, and we needed to talk to the police. But then she started talking about how we needed to hike all the way down and hide his body. Then I was kind of like, what the hell? You know? Like, why was she wanting to hide the body if it was an accident?”

  “Did you ask her that?” Rachette asked.

  Chris hung his head. “No. I just tried to calm her down and told her we needed to leave. I was going to bring her to you guys. To the Sheriff’s Department. I figured she was just hysterical or something, like she didn’t know what she was saying and she would snap out of it sooner or later. But she kind of, like, went crazy. She was begging me, and begging me.” His voice lowered to a whisper. “And kissing me, and begging me not to go to the police. To the sheriff.”

  Wolf took a deep breath and put his elbows on his knees. “You like Julie Mulroy, right? You’ve always kind of had a crush on her?”

  Chris huffed. “Yeah. I guess. But I still was like, no, we have to go to the cops. So we hiked down, and I said I would take her to the sheriff, but she wanted to drive her car, so I said I would follow her there. But she drove straight here, to this house.” Chris shook his head. “So I just followed her, and then …  I just wanted to keep her happy until we went to talk to you, until she got the guts to tell you guys.”

  “Why didn’t you just leave her and come to us?” Wolf asked.

  Chris looked down with a blush. “She was being  ... nice.” He looked at Wolf and flicked a glance at his father. “She and I …”

  Wolf and the mayor gave each other knowing looks.

  “She kept you occupied? As in, sexually?” Wolf offered.

  Chris nodded. “Yeah.”

  “So then what?” Wolf asked.

  “My dad came home and said it was okay for her to stay here for the weekend. I lied and said she was having trouble at home. Everyone knows about her parents.”

  Mayor Wakefield shook his head in disgust.

  “All weekend, I was telling her we needed to go to the cops, and it was, like, getting worse with every day. Told her the more she didn’t go, the more it looked like she had pushed him off. Like she was hiding something. Finally, on Monday we heard about the search going on, and I told her I was going to the cops whether she liked it or not. So she finally agreed to come with.”

  Wolf frowned. “Okay, then what? Why did you lie about the vomit?”

  “I don’t know. I guess I was trying to like, make her look more  ...  vulnerable or something. Like I was trying to help out her story. I just wanted you guys to believe her, and let her get on with her life.” Chris took a deep breath and his lip started quivering. “I’m sorry. I don’t know why I did that. But I think I really screwed up doing that, though.”

  Wolf nodded. “Yes. You—”
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  “No, you don’t understand.” Chris’s eyes were wild. “I screwed up because she did it. I know she did it. She told me.”

  Wolf blinked. “When?”

  Chris stared at the coffee table in front of him. “Right after we left the sheriff’s office. I followed her home. I was hugging her goodbye in front of her house, and she called me ‘her hero.’ She whispered it in my ear, then said, ‘You were great in there. You made it all sound so believable.’ I was like, what? And she just, like, smiled at me, and walked off. So I grabbed her and asked her, made her tell me. She said, ‘Yeah, I pushed him. And now he’s gone.’ She had this, like, really evil look in her eyes.”

  Wolf took a deep breath and peered out the window. The pines were swaying back and forth now, the room darkening as the clouds rolled in.

  “I swear. I didn’t know she did it until after I talked to you guys.”

  Wolf looked back at him with disappointment. “And then you didn’t come back to us to correct yourself, or to let us know what she said.”

  Chris sat back and stared again at his hands.

  “Chris. We’ll need you to come down and do that right now. We need an amended official statement from you as soon as possible.”

  The mayor turned to Wolf and nodded. “I’ll bring him in, is that okay?”

  Wolf nodded. “Yes.”

  Chapter 51

  Rachette eyed Wolf as he drove them back into town. “You had no clue about what Jerry and Julie ate that morning.”

  Wolf shrugged. “I knew that was Chris’s vomit. No doubt after I went and checked in the Sunnyside. Frankly, I’m a little disappointed you didn’t put that together while I was gone.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Rachette drove in silence for a minute. “Risky.”

  Wolf stared out the window at the approaching storm.

  “So, how we going to get Julie to confess?” Rachette asked.

  “She’s not going to confess. I have a feeling that family is poisoned. No consciences. She probably already convinced herself she didn’t do it. We’ll try, but in the end, it’s not going to be up to us now. It’s he-said-she-said, and it’ll be figured out in court.”