Authors: Tammy Cheatham
“Damn,
we’ve got to find this guy before we have a third murder on our hands. But I
also want to do a little reputation saving starting today. What time does the
next shift come in? Or, better yet, since the department is so small, what do
think about calling them all in for a briefing first thing tomorrow morning?” Pulling
the strap of her computer bag up over one shoulder Emma moved to the back door
without waiting for Tate to answer.
On
the drive in to the courthouse Emma outlined her plan, “I want to call a press
conference, admit that I’m with the FBI and that I’m here on an unofficial
basis as a personal favor to you. Then I want to share the tentative profile
information that I have on the UnSub with the staff so that they have a better
idea about what we’re dealing with. That should shut the leak up for a while
and give the press something new to focus on.”
Tate
nodded his agreement and flipped the blinker on as he turned the SUV into the
courthouse parking lot.
Taking
Emma by the hand, Tate led her up the courthouse steps and into the dispatch
area of the department offices. Stopping at the reception desk Tate introduced
Emma to Julie Barton. “Julie, I need all staff here thirty minutes before
shifts in the morning for a meeting with SSA Gage-Echo. She will be facilitating
the meeting to go over a tentative profile for our killer. Martin will be
pulling in all available sheriffs department staff as well, so schedule a room
that’s large enough to hold us all.”
“Sure
thing, Chief. You want me to put a memo out to the staff now? If I hurry I can
get them in mailboxes before the shift change so that everyone is notified.”
Tate
smiled, “Perfect. I appreciate your help. I’ve got a couple things to handle
here then we’re going out to help the county with the search for Walt, call on
my cell if I’m needed.”
“You
got it, and we’ll hold the fort down here.”
Driving
through the White’s Lake property, Tate and Emma kept an eye out for Walt’s
truck. If he had come to the lake he hadn’t bothered to check in at the front
desk. Giving up their search inside the lodge proper they began to cruise the
many back roads just outside the lodge’s boundaries.
Turning
the SUV onto an unmarked road, Tate slowed the vehicle, dodging the sandy ruts
made by other travelers. “This is the area where we find most of the locals who
slip down to fish the lake. Keep an eye out for anyone. If Walt came this way
chances are someone else was out here too.”
“Why
wouldn’t Walt, or anyone else for that matter, just come through the gate into
the lake area?” Emma continued to scan the countryside. “I mean, the roads are
better, they have boats and the pier.”
“The
locals slip in because they don’t think it’s right that they have to pay to
fish the lake. Martin gets an occasional call for someone fishing without
paying, but for the most part the locals fish the lower edge of the lake and
stay as far away from the lodge and campgrounds as possible. If he was fishing,
Walt would have come this way, he’s local to the core and probably wouldn’t go
through the lodge. I sure hope to hell he came to fish and not to search for
damned geocaches.”
Emma
kept her eyes trained out the passenger side window. “So the sheriff’s
department just turns a blind eye to illegal fishing out here? That doesn’t
seem right.”
“Yeah,
I know it’s not by the book, but it’s different here. We stay inside the law on
most things, but you also have to take into consideration the demographics here.
Small town, large Native American population, hell some of the Natives consider
it their birth right to fish any lake in the county or to hunt in any
unpopulated area whether it’s actually on the Reservation or not. There’s also
a lot of poverty here, you don’t notice so it much inside town but the rural
areas are hurting. Jobs are scarce and money’s tight for a lot of people. When
you look at all the bad things going on in the world today, catching a few fish
from a lake as big as this one just doesn’t seem to be much of a crime.”
“Stop,
Tate! Back up.”
“What
did you see?” Tate asked, braking.
“Not
positive, but I caught a flash of something through the trees about twenty feet
back. Could have been a truck or car. God, I hope it’s him.”
Tate
maneuvered the SUV backward to the spot Emma indicated and parked as far off
the road as he could before getting out. “Come on, let’s go see who’s down
there.”
A
narrow trail not much more than the flattening of grass ran down to where the
truck was parked. Emma and Tate followed it down.
Before
reaching the parked vehicle Tate called out, “Hello! This is Police Chief Echo,
I need to talk to you for a minute.”
Tate
and Emma watched as two heads popped up over the hood of the truck. Kids.
The
two boys stepped around the truck to face Tate and Emma. The taller of the two
explained, “We was just fishing, Chief. Nothing wrong with that.”
Recognizing
both boys, Tate asked, “You seen anyone else out here, Cory?”
Shaking
his head, the shorter boy said, “Naw, we ain’t seen anyone else out here
today.”
Emma
asked, “What time did you boys get here?”
The
older of the two answered. “About sun up ma’am. Been right here all day.”
“Look
boys, Walt Mabry’s been missing since yesterday. Half the town’s searching for
him. You’re sure you haven’t seen him out here?” Tate asked.
“We’re
sure, Chief. I know Mr. Mabry real good and I’d remember if I’d seen him
because he always has his dog in the truck with him.”
“Either
of you have a cell phone?” Tate asked.
Cory
replied, “I do, Chief, and I even got a little signal out here.”
“That’s
good. If you see Walt, King or even a truck that looks like Walt’s, you call
911.” Tate and Emma jogged back to the road, the sun hung low in the spring
sky, it’s orange and red rays fading fast. Time was not on their side.
Slapping
a hand against the steering wheel Tate swore. “Damn it, Walt! Where are you?”
Turning the SUV around on the narrow road, Tate punched Martin’s number on his
cell.
“Crawley
here. You find something Tate?”
“No
sign of Walt out here. We’re headed back to town and should be at the
courthouse in about thirty minutes, I take it that none of the volunteers had
any luck either.”
Martin
replied, “Nothing. It’s like he just disappeared off the face of the earth. Curtis
Weston over at the Pine Ridge Daily did get a hot line set up and he’s got some
guys from the VFW manning the phones. So far, there’s been over twenty calls
but they were all dead ends.”
Tate
turned to Emma and shook his head. “Nothing.”
Martin
pulled his staff and those on loan from the city back to town as night fell
knowing that they would need their rest so that the search could resume the
following day. As the men and women came into the station Martin could see the
exhaustion and the frustration lining their faces. Tate and Emma arrived back
at the courthouse in time to hear Martin giving directions to his officers and
the volunteers for the following morning.
Speaking
loudly, Martin said, “The sheriff’s department thanks each one of you for
helping with the search today. We will officially resume the search in the
morning just after daylight. Any of you volunteers that are available to help
can come in and we will assign you a search area for the day. I know that we
all hoped to find Walt today and I won’t lie to you about it, each hour that
passes lessens our chance of finding him safe and well but we will not give
up.”
When
the last of the volunteers left the courthouse, Tate approached Martin, “Looks
bad Martin. Your team find anything at Walt’s house that might help?”
Looking
much older than his fifty four years, Martin shook his head, “Not a damn thing.
Nothing in the house was disturbed and even though they dusted for prints there
wasn’t anything there that we couldn’t account for. Looks like Walt just went
out for the day and didn’t come home. Only thing we know for sure is that
wherever Walt is, King is with him. Jewel got into town this morning and she
stayed at the house all day in case Walt came in. Every time I talked to her today
she was a little more upset. She knows that the longer he’s missing, the worse
it is and there’s not a damn thing I can do to make it right for her.”
Tate
clamped a hand on Martin’s shoulder, silently supporting his friend.
Stepping
up to Tate’s side, Emma said, “Everyone knows that with each passing hour the
chances are lessened that we’ll find Walt and sad as that is if it was his time,
then I hope he did have a heart attack. That would be a much better way to go
than what would happen if he ran into our caching killer.”
Martin
grimly nodded, “I’ve got to stop over at Walt’s and talk to Jewel before I call
it a night. Barb has been over there most of the day keeping her company and
she plans to stay the night if Jewel will let her. I’ll see you tomorrow for
the briefing.”
Twenty
minutes later, Martin pulled his patrol car into Walt’s driveway and parked
behind Barbara’s car.
Before
he could knock Jewel threw the door open, her eyes red with tears but hopeful.
“Did you find my dad? Please tell me that you did.”
Shaking
his head, Martin cleared his throat before saying, “Nothing yet, Jewel. Let’s
go inside and I’ll bring you up to speed on the search effort.”
Barbara
stood a few feet behind Jewel in the doorway and she silently moved forward,
wrapping an arm around Jewel and leading her to the dining room table before
disappearing into the kitchen.
Taking
a seat across from Jewel, Martin softly said, “We’ve called off the search for
toni…”
Jewel
jumped up from her chair. “How could you! How could you just stop looking for
him? He’s out there somewhere and he’s probably sick or hurt! You can’t just
leave him out there all night, he could die!” Storming to the back door of the
house she continued, “I’ve got to go find him, I can’t just sit here and wait.”
Rushing
to the young woman’s side, Martin wrapped an arm around her heaving shoulders
and pleaded, “Come on, Jewel, have a seat and let’s talk about this for a
minute.”
Shrugging
his arm off her shoulder, Jewel turned on him, her eyes wild with rage and fear,
“No! I’ve got to find my dad. I’ve got to…”
Taking
her firmly by the shoulders, Martin forced her eyes to his, “Look at me. We
start the search back at first light. There’s nothing that we can do in the
dark, with a search area as large as this one. I can’t risk the lives of the
volunteers by sending them out like that, Jewel.”
Jewel
melted, collapsing in a heap on the floor, her head buried in her hands. Tear-filled
eyes looked up at Martin. Sucking in a deep steadying breath, she said, “I’m
sorry, Sheriff, it’s
just…” her voice cracked and she whispered, “He’s my daddy.”
Martin
took Jewel’s hands in his own larger ones and pulled her to her feet and wrapped
her in a tight hug, “I know, sweetie, I know.” Looking over Jewel’s head at
Barb standing in the kitchen doorway, Martin nodded before scooping Jewel up in
his arms like a child and following Barb down the hall to the bedroom.
After
a quick stop by the diner, Tate and Emma sat on the deck eating burgers from a
greasy brown paper bag and watching night fall in the tiny back yard.
Pulling
a paper napkin out of her lap, Emma wiped her mouth.“A penny for your thoughts,
Chief Echo.”
“My
thoughts probably aren’t worth a penny tonight, Em. Hell, Walt is missing,
probably dead. Martin’s got his hands full trying to keep Jewel from falling
apart and somewhere out there…somewhere out there there’s a killer that I
haven’t found. I’m tired of chasing my tail on this case, I want him. I want
him now.”
Stuffing
her trash into the now empty paper bag, Emma stood, “We’ll find him, it’ll
happen. There’s not much more that we can do tonight and I haven’t had a chance
to check my computer all day. I’m going to grab a quick shower then take a look
at the information that the geocaching site owner promised me.”
Reaching
out as she passed, Tate grabbed her free hand and brought it to his lips
pressing a soft kiss to her palm before letting go. He heard the patio door
open then close and knew that she had walked away. Muttering he said, “Just let
it go, Echo. The wall’s up and there’s no way around it…yet.”
CHAPTER 28
Tate
and Emma arrived at the courthouse thirty minutes before the morning shift
change. Volunteers lined the hallway in the reception area, waiting for their
assigned search areas and hoping to find the missing Walt. Nodding to several
of the locals, Tate steered Emma toward the briefing room that Julie had
reserved for the meeting. For the first time since she’d arrived, Em was in
full FBI mode: dark slacks, matching jacket and FBI photo badge clipped at her waist.
Her long hair was pulled back and clipped, the mahogany strands hanging sleekly
down her slender back. Tate opened the door and followed her into the briefing
room. Standing back, he watched her walk to the front of the room. “It’s your
show, Em,” he whispered.