Chapter 21
“You cannot make everyone happy. You are not a taco.”
—It’s science
Hector
It had been two weeks since I’d stayed the night at Iris’s place, and we hadn’t slept alone since. We mostly stayed at my place because of Sarge, but also because Iris said she liked my place better.
“I love the Thunder Cove area,” she had said multiple times. “It’s close enough to the city that you get all your amenities and fun things to do, but you’re also far enough away that you have some peace and quiet. I love that.”
Seeing her happy in my cabin was everything because I enjoyed it too and for the same reasons she did.
Many nights, we found ourselves sitting on my porch just staring off at the lake in the distance, which was what we were doing now.
We were both sitting in Adirondack chairs—Iris doing her needlepoint while I was casually throwing a ball to Sarge, which he would fetch and bring back… most of the time.
We had just eaten dinner and were now relaxing. My phone buzzed on the table beside us, bringing me out of my peaceful thoughts.
“Son of a…” I muttered at seeing Jennings’s name on the screen.
“What’s wrong?” I answered the call.
I was off the clock, so there had to be a good reason for them to call, and it better be, because I was enjoying myself right now.
“Boss, someone called in a report that there was a person digging near the former crime scene of the body, so Lewis and I went to check it out,” Jennings started. “Sure enough we found someone doing exactly that. I’ve got him in cuffs, but the guy claims he will only speak to you.”
“You got a name?” I asked, though I had a feeling I knew exactly who it was.
“Yeah, it’s Diden’s stupid podcast dude,” he grumbled.
Bingo.
While I hated having to leave Iris, I had hoped this would happen so we could bring him in for questioning and get some information out of him. The trespassing charge he was about to get would allow me to question him.
“I’ll call the ISB and meet you over there,” I told him. “Do not do anything or say anything else to him until I get there.”
“He’s cuffed in the back of my vehicle, so he’s not going anywhere,” Jennings added, and I could hear the slight smile in his voice. “And Lewis went to block the gated entrance so no one else can get in.”
I hung up and turned to Iris, but she spoke before I had the chance to.
“It’s okay. I’ll hold down the fort and keep Sarge company.” She smiled and waved her hands to shoo me away.
I stood from my chair before putting my hands on either side of her chair and leaning down to kiss her.
“I’m sorry, but thank you,” I told her. “Hopefully, this won’t take long.”
She put her hands on each side of my face and pulled me back for another kiss, and once again, I hated that I had to leave.
“Even if it does, I’ll still be here when you get back. Don’t worry about Sarge and me. We’ll have a great time snuggling on the couch or maybe go for a quick walk.”
I gave her one last kiss, a longer one this time to hold me over, and then reluctantly left her, grabbing my keys, badge, and gun, before heading out.
On my drive there, I realized how much my life had changed since Iris became a part of it.
A month ago, I never would have minded leaving home to do work-related stuff, even after hours. Now, though, with Iris in my life, I found myself looking for every excuse possible to come home earlier to see her.
By the time I pulled into the lot, I was growing more agitated by the minute, simply because I had to be here. However, I also knew this was what Agent Andrews and I had hoped for, which was why I’d called her on my way here to let her know.
She planned to meet me there as soon as she could, though it would take longer since she lived farther away. She’d told me I had until she arrived to continue with our plan, and then she would take him into custody.
I waved to Lewis, and he let me in. Lewis was semi-retired and only worked part-time for us, but he was great.
“Hey, man,” I said as I pulled up next to him.
“Hey, Madeira,” he replied. “Found him knee-deep in the water with some digging tools. He claims you told him he could be here and that digging for scientific samples is allowed. However, he conveniently left his permits at home.”
It was true that you could collect samples from a national park as a scientist for research, but you had to have very specific permits for that, and generally the permits only allowed you to collect from a particular area.
There was no way in hell I would approve a permit for digging in the area near a former crime scene, so this man didn’t forget his permits—he didn’t have any.
“Thanks, man,” I told him. “The ISB will be here soon, so they’ll want your statement too.”
He nodded, and I continued my way through the gravel lot until I pulled up to the other two Park Service SUVs.
When I pulled up, it was to see Diden and Jennings verbally sparring.
Jesus, I did not need this.
“Hey!” I yelled angrily as I circled the vehicle and made my way to them. “Get your shit together. Both of you.”
“He’s accusing me of being a traitor and leaking information to Steve!” Diden spouted.
“Steve?” Jennings shot back. “You call him by his first name like you’re friends. What the hell, Diden? Why are you trying to help this psychopath?”
“How does calling him by his first name mean I’m helping him?” she snapped. “You’re the one who nearly assaulted him.”
Great. Just what I needed—an assault charge against one of my staff.
“I didn’t assault him!” Jennings spat. “I cuffed him after he lied about you and the boss giving him permission to be here.”
That got my attention and had me attempting to break into their heated conversation. “He told you I gave him permission?” I asked, wondering how that conversation went.
“No, he said you and I told him the closed-off area would be re-opening soon, and he thought that meant he could be there,” she countered.
“Why the fuck are you defending this guy?” Jennings barked. “You said he mentioned in his podcast that the killer possibly murdered nine other women! How does he know that? He could be the murderer!”
“Enough!” I yelled. “Both of you, take five minutes and walk it off. Now!”
They needed it, but I also needed them to not be around while I asked a few questions of our suspect.
Once they cleared the area, I walked over to the SUV with him inside. Either Jennings or Diden had left the vehicle running with the AC on, but I was about to ruin that. I opened the back door.
“I didn’t do anything wrong,” he said right out of the gate. “You said it would be open to the public soon after the dive that day. I waited two weeks just to make sure. You can’t arrest me for being on public property.”
He ended by jutting his chin out in defiance with a level of confidence that was way too high.
“Mr. Stanton, you’re not being arrested for trespassing, technically speaking,” I informed him. “You’re being arrested for digging on federal property without permits.”
“I…uh…have them, just not with me,” he replied, his confidence breaking just a little. “They’re at home.”
“You know you are supposed to have them on you, or the permit access is invalid, but…” I held up my hand because I could see he wanted to argue with me. “I’m willing to let that go, but you need to tell me specifically what your conditions and oversight were listed for on your SRCP.”
I knew he wouldn’t be able to answer that because he didn’t have a permit. SRCP stood for Scientific Research and Collecting Permit, but again, most people didn’t pay attention to all these details…unless they actually had a permit.
“Look, man, you said the other day while I was here that I couldn’t go into these areas while it was an active investigation area, but now it’s not, which makes it public access,” he argued.
“Public access and public domain are not the same thing,” I explained. “This is federal property that we allow you to visit. It’s like the library. You can go in, read some books, use the space, but you don’t get to rip out certain pages of the books and take them home and keep them.”
“Okay, but a library also lets you take the books home as long as you bring them back,” he argued. “So why can’t I just take some samples as long as I agree to bring them back?”
Jeez. Jennings might be right. This guy was a few fries short of a Happy Meal.
“Why does a podcaster need dirt and sand samples?” I asked, getting to the point of the matter.
“For research,” he said, sticking his chin out again.
“What kind of research?”
“The criminal justice kind,” he shot back, his confidence stretching into arrogance.
We had teams of professionals for that, and he knew that, but I needed him to give me more, so I ignored the fact that he was not a trained professional and moved on.
“What’s your specialty?” I inquired. “What do you look for in these circumstances?”
His head jerked back slightly, almost shocked that I’d asked.
“Am I being arrested?” His mood now changed entirely. He was no longer confident but angry. “I want to speak to a lawyer.”
“The ISB is on the way, and they will escort you to their office, where you can contact a lawyer,” I told him, knowing he would likely just be questioned at the ISB office and then taken to the local sheriff’s office for holding.
However, given the sensitivity of this, and the fact that Diden and Jennings had already had a tussle about Stanton, I chose to drive him myself over to Agent Andrews’ office.
I’d done my part of the plan. Now it was time for Andrews to do hers, and hopefully we could get some much-needed answers for this case.