Chapter 36
Chapter Thirty-Six
After escorting Michelle for testing, Arrow made his way to headquarters.
It was only a little after eight on Monday morning, yet the building was electric with activity.
As he walked the hallways, he saw and acknowledged fellow agents he hadn’t seen in a while.
He was almost to Peterson’s office when Leo caught up with him.
“Arrow,” Leo called. “Good to see you. I heard you were back.”
Fletch turned around and met Leo’s stare. His associate was six feet, three inches of solid muscle as shown by the bulging biceps beneath his short-sleeved black t-shirt. Fletch didn’t know Leo’s birth name. His friend adopted the name Leo because of his lethal fighting skills—like those of a lion.
Leo looked as if he’d already been to the gym and showered. His blond hair was cut in a short military style. After all that had happened over the last week, the friendly face was a sight for sore eyes.
“Thanks for your help back in Iron Falls,” Fletch said, offering him his hand.
Leo took it in a firm handshake. “About that. I didn’t want to say anything to you until you made it back, but the shed…”
Leo’s pause set off alarms in Fletch’s nervous system. “What about it?”
“When I got there, one of Denny’s high blacked-out windows was broken.”
Fletch wrinkled his forehead. “Blast from the house?”
“I don’t think so. Prints in the snow indicated boots, a man’s boots.”
“Fuck, the sheriff?”
“My guess. Whoever it was, looked inside but didn’t get in. I got it cleaned out before they could make it back.”
“We all appreciate that, man. Perkins is too stupid to have figured out what Denny had going on, but that doesn’t mean the people he answers to couldn’t have done it.”
Leo reached for Fletch’s shoulder. “Before we go in there with Peterson, I looked into Sarah Holdcraft.”
“Shit with all the crap, I forgot about her. What did you find?”
“Birth records indicating she would be four years older than Shelly. No death certificate. According to what I found, she went missing but not before Shelly was born. It was over two years later.”
“What?” Fletch asked. “Missing? Police reports?”
“Yeah. Denny had them sealed.”
“You need a judge for that.”
“He already had years on the force. It wouldn’t have been too hard.”
“Was she ever found?”
“That took a little more digging, and honestly, the jury’s out,” Leo replied.
“The remains of a young juvenile fitting Sarah’s profile were discovered fourteen years after Sarah disappeared.
The forensics team determined based on environmental factors that the remains had been buried for fifteen to seventeen years. ”
“COD?”
“C1 through C2 vertebrae fracture.”
Fletch pressed his lips into a straight line. “Trauma.” He shook his head. “Where did they find her?”
“A man driving a front loader for an excavation company was preparing the site for another distribution warehouse southeast of Indianapolis. The land had been farmland for generations. The remains stopped the project for a couple weeks. That made the news—local at least.”
Fourteen years, Fletch thought. Chell told him she learned about Sarah while she was in high school. It was probably because that was when her remains were found. He shook his head. “Makes sense why Denny had such a passion for missing and exploited kids.”
“Yeah, but that’s where it gets weird. Neither Denny nor Tracy officially claimed their daughter was deceased. They refused to acknowledge the remains were Sarah’s. They paid for cremation out of respect for the deceased child.”
“You said she was identified?”
“Possibly identified—inconclusive dental records. The remains were cremated prior to DNA testing. IMPD claims it was a mix-up in evidence. The Holdcrafts chose not to pursue legal action.”
“Sounds like a cover-up,” Fletch said. “If she was abducted, why wouldn’t they want to know? Where was the investigation?”
“I couldn’t find it. The case was closed not long after the cremation.” Leo pressed his lips together and shook his head. “If I were to make an assumption, it would be with Tracy and Denny working for the agency, they didn’t want the publicity.”
“Damn, that would’ve been hard on them both. No wonder they didn’t talk about her to Chell.”
The door to Peterson’s office opened, and Peterson eyed Fletch and Leo up and down. “Get your asses in here.”
After a nod to each other, the two men followed Peterson into his office.
“We have a development in Iron Falls,” Peterson announced. Before either man could reply, he said, “After Perkins failed to show to the office this morning as usual, Deputy McBride went to Sheriff Perkins’s home.”
“No fucking way,” Fletch said.
Peterson nodded. “Dead. Coroner puts the time of death somewhere between ten p.m. and two a.m. COD is unknown. They’re doing an autopsy, but foul play has been ruled out.
The old man probably had a heart attack brought on by stress.
According to Deputy McBride, he’d been having problems with an old football injury. ”
Fletch shook his head. “I don’t believe it.”
“I checked. From 1973 to 1975, Ralph Perkins played quarterback for Iron Falls High School, Class C.”
“Not the football injury. I don’t believe he died peacefully in his sleep,” Fletch corrected as he and Leo took the chairs in front of Peterson’s desk.
Peterson stood before them and leaned against the desk, crossing his arms over his chest. “As we know, there’re a lot of ways to facilitate a cardiac incident, ways that can be hidden from the standard toxicology screen.
Then again, if he was having knee pain, the old bastard might have overdosed on painkiller.
” He shrugged. “No matter how it occurred, Perkins is no longer.”
“He shot Denny,” Fletch said. “Now getting a confession is out of the question; we have to prove it.”
“I’m going to be upfront with you gentlemen,” Peterson said, relaxing his arms. “There are those higher up who would rather the publicity around this case die down.”
“No.” Fletch stood. “If we let it go, Chell takes the blame.”
“Arrow,” Peterson said, “Michelle Holdcraft is dead too. For her to join us, she no longer exists.”
“That doesn’t mean she has to die suspected of crimes.”
“You figure out how you can clear her name, and we’ll talk.” Peterson turned his focus on Leo. “Where’s the equipment from Denny’s shed?”
“A temperature-controlled storage container in Manchester.”
Peterson nodded. “Get the address to the coordinators, and we’ll get it moved.”
“It’s a lot,” Leo said. “Impressive, really.”
As the two discussed Denny’s technological skills, Fletch paced, his mind on Perkins. The fucker wasn’t going to get out of this by dying. There was no way Fletch would allow that to happen. It was when he heard one term that his attention went back to the discussion.
“…backed up the hard drive…”
Fletch turned to Leo. “I need Denny’s hard drive, everything you backed up.
” Before either one of them could question, he went on, “Denny was onto something. His information saved Timothy Wells.” He nodded as he spoke.
“The night he died, he made a comment about Crossroads. I let it go in one ear and out the other until the other night.” He turned to Peterson.
“You told me to explain the Loews case to Chell. I did. Frank Loews was a small cog in the Crossroads Network. Denny said he thought he was onto something akin to Crossroads.” Fletch ran his hand through his hair.
“Fuck, I don’t recall his exact words. I know he said Crossroads, and he talked about Patrick Lehman—”
Peterson lifted his hand. “Denny told me about the senator also.” Peterson pressed his lips together and shook his head. “He didn’t have proof.”
“Denny was killed. That’s enough fucking proof for me.
He was on to something. He said he believed a new network had been created, linking professional kidnappers, laypeople, law enforcement, elected officials, and wealthy connections.
” Fletch’s words were coming faster. “I read all about Crossroads. I began in the agency at the beginning of Crossroads’ fall.
After Frank Loews’s trial, many layers were successfully peeled away, exposing money and power.
” He stared at Leo and Peterson. “The tip of the spear was never even questioned.”
“Nelson, Arron Nelson?” Peterson asked. “He’s one of the wealthiest men in the world.”
“That doesn’t mean he’s innocent.”
“Hell no,” Leo said. “It means he can afford to get away with whatever he wants.”
Peterson shook his head. “We couldn’t connect him six years ago. Nelson’s wealthier and more powerful today than he was then. He just received some big governmental contract for defense spyware.”
“And who’s on the Defense subcommittee?” Fletch asked.
“Patrick Lehman,” Peterson answered. “Guilt by association isn’t evidence.”
“Then let me find evidence,” Fletch said. “Chell can help.”
“Shelly isn’t ready—”
“She can do it if we’re part of a team. Baptism by fire. Put her to work on a case that matters to her.”
“Emotional connections have a way of distorting objectivity. Hell, I’m not even sure you should work on this.”
Ignoring that comment, Fletch turned to Leo. “You’ll be my eyes on the ground.”
“Wait,” Peterson said. “Is this a witch hunt to bring Nelson down?”
“No,” Fletch replied. “Denny told us that he was afraid he accidentally created a cyber breach, alerting either Lehman or Perkins. Personally, I don’t think Sheriff Perkins would recognize a cyber breach if it loaded him up with ketamine or oxy.”
Both potential painkillers that in excess amount caused cardiac arrest.
“But Lehman,” Fletch went on. “If he’s in this, he has the connections and manpower. Let me start with Denny’s hard drive.”