7
Evan put trust in his team and continued to delegate.
Rod would be proud.
The two cases had too many moving pieces. No matter how much he wanted to be the person who implemented every aspect of the investigation, it was impossible. His lieutenant had assigned him two other detectives besides Noelle Marshall. Evan was the lead on Rod’s case, and Noelle officially had Sophia’s, but they worked together, sharing all information, knowing solving one case could lead to the other’s solution. Every resource available was being thrown at the cases.
Rod and Sophia were part of the Deschutes County family.
Evan had sent Detective Lori Shults and more patrol officers to Rod’s neighborhood to knock on doors, do interviews, and get camera views. He sent Detective Maxine Nelson to help in Sophia’s neighborhood and the area of new home construction behind it. The forensics team had finished at Sophia’s home and moved on to Rod’s. A blood spatter specialist was currently reviewing the scene at Sophia’s. Evan hoped his analysis would shine some light on what had happened.
We don’t even know if it’s Sophia’s blood. Or Rod’s.
Evan had taken over the largest conference room at the sheriff’s office. The lieutenant had also assigned two deputies currently on light duty to assist with the investigation. One had broken his leg in a motorcycle accident and was in a walking cast. The other was recovering from back surgery and moved slowly and stiffly. Investigations involved a lot of busy office work. Phone calls, interviews, background checks, affidavits, following up on tips from the public. Evan was glad to have extra hands and eyes working behind the scenes in addition to the law enforcement out gathering information. The two officers would be occupied.
Currently Evan was digging through the case copies from Rod’s file cabinet. Evan had snapped photos of the file drawer tabs, hoping he could figure out which files had been removed since Rod had arranged the cases by date. Evan’s goal was to figure out why Rod had decided to keep copies of all these solved cases, and then he’d look for cases that met the same criteria and occurred between certain dates.
Starting with the most recent, Evan began skimming Rod’s cases from the filing cabinet, going through the official physical records, which were more complete than the photocopies. The officer with the back injury was still collecting more of the files. Evan still had no idea why Rod had saved records of these particular cases. Nothing jumped out at him. Swearing under his breath, he closed the first case he’d looked at, opened another, and found an inconsistency. “Shit.” He rapidly checked the other cases.
He’d been operating under an assumption. An incorrect assumption.
“What is it?” asked Noelle, who was reviewing camera evidence from the junkyard. She didn’t look up from her screen, her chin propped on one hand as she fast-forwarded and occasionally stopped to record license plates to look up.
“This photocopied case of Rod’s—well, it’s not Rod’s. He didn’t have anything to do with it. It appears several of these cases weren’t his. I’d assumed they all were.”
Noelle looked up. “But he kept copies?” she asked sharply. “Why?”
“That’s the big question.” Evan flipped through the pages. The case in his hands was a robbery at a motel. Two men had entered a room, held a woman at gunpoint, and taken her laptop, wallet, and cell phone. They’d been caught five days later.
“Whose case is that?” asked Noelle.
“Maxine’s.” The detective knocking on doors in Sophia’s neighborhood.
“Ask her. Maybe she remembers something that could have interested Rod.”
“It’s from two years ago.”
“I remember every case,” said Noelle. “I can’t list them, but if prompted, the details immediately come back.”
“Yeah, I remember too,” he admitted.
Some more than others.
The next two cases he looked at had been Rod’s, and then Evan decided to switch to the oldest cases in Rod’s files. The original paperwork on those hadn’t been pulled yet, so he looked up the case briefs in the department database. Even the oldest case hadn’t been assigned to Rod.
What is going on?
“The oldest case is a hit-and-run. Not Rod’s.”
Noelle tipped her head in thought. “I have no idea what to make of that. Maybe they’re just solved cases that made impressions on him. No rhyme or reason.”
“That’s not helpful,” Evan said in a sour tone. He noted the detective on the hit-and-run he was looking at had been Sam Durette. Sam had retired before Evan joined Deschutes County. He’d met the detective the previous year at the crack of dawn in the department parking lot when the retired detective approached with questions about one of Evan’s cases. Turned out Sam had known Rowan since she was a child.
Maybe Sam will have some insight.
He made a note to talk to both Maxine and Sam.
His phone pinged with a text from Rowan asking how it was going. He decided to call instead of reply. She answered immediately, clearly driving.
“I’m going to be late tonight,” he said.
“I had no doubts about that,” said Rowan. “I just wanted to let you know I got Zack settled in at your sister’s. I’m thankful you managed to okay that with child services.”
“They were hesitant when I made the suggestion, but they’re overworked and short on space. They classified it as some sort of emergency situation to make it work.”
“I asked Bridget again if she was comfortable with it. She proceeded to show me how secure their home is and assure me that someone will always be with Zack. He was excited about their rescue animals. They’ve really expanded their facilities and added more animals since I was here last. Now there’s a blind donkey and a dog whose back legs don’t work. They made him a little cart and he zooms around.”
“That’s Speed. Charlotte named him,” said Evan. His sister’s family had recently come into a financial windfall and used it to create a haven for animals no one else wanted. “Zack probably won’t be there more than a day or two.” Evan mentally crossed his fingers. It’d been a hell of a day, and he’d suffered one shitty surprise after another. He rubbed his forehead, suddenly very tired.
“Nothing on Sophia?” asked Rowan.
“Not yet. Where are you going?”
“Iris’s house. It’s baking show night.”
“That’s right. Say hello to everyone. Love you.” They ended the call, and Evan closed his eyes for a long moment, wishing he were on the way to Rowan’s sister’s house too and that none of the past twelve hours had ever happened.
“Did you ever eat lunch?” Noelle’s question broke his concentration.
“No.” He checked the clock on the wall. It was 5:30 p.m. “I grabbed a bag of chips when I got gas. That counts.”
“You think? I’m ordering Chinese because I’m starving. Requests?”
“Sesame beef.”
She nodded and picked up her cell phone. “Oh, shit. Fuck!”
“What?”
“I just got a response about Sophia’s ex. Charlie Graham got out of prison two months ago.” She stared at Evan. “Do you think ...”
“He has five more years on his sentence!” Evan knew because he’d helped send the man to prison.
“We both know that doesn’t mean anything. Crap.” She set down her phone and tapped on her keyboard. “I’ve got his parole officer’s information. I’ll call and find out where Graham is living. I’d like to pay him a visit.”
“You and me both,” muttered Evan. Charlie Graham was an asshole. The man was a human rap sheet with dozens of arrests from theft to robbery one. He’d been several years older than Sophia when they briefly dated, and when she got pregnant with Zack, he’d informed her that the pregnancy was “her problem” and left. Walking away from Sophia was probably the smartest thing Charlie Graham ever did, because Evan had believed that Rod would eventually murder him and hide the body.
Would Graham seek revenge on Rod? And then Sophia?
Ice shot up Evan’s spine; he could picture it.
He listened carefully as Noelle talked to the parole officer. Graham had appeared at all his parole appointments and found a job at an auto body shop. Evan snorted. In the past Graham had been arrested a number of times for stealing cars and car parts. He wondered if the shop had suffered any thefts in the last two months.
Noelle ended her call. “The parole officer says Graham should be working until six o’clock. I’m headed over there.” She stood and pushed in her chair.
Evan got out of his seat. “I’ll go with you. I haven’t seen Graham in a long time.”
Noelle stepped in front of him and pointed a finger at his chest. “Do not antagonize him.”
“I won’t. He probably won’t remember me.”
“Bullshit. You arrested him. I read the report. Graham had a black eye and split lip. He knows exactly who you are.”
“He resisted, ran, and then hit the curb with his face when I tased him. He’s lucky he didn’t crack his skull open.”
Noelle glared at him.
“That’s what happened! I swear.” Evan had been tempted to continue to shock Graham with the Taser after the cuffs were on as a little payback for hurting Sophia, but he’d had some self-control.
“You testified against him. I doubt your presence will be helpful.”
Evan took stock of how he felt. Rage simmered under his skin because of Rod’s murder and what they believed to be Sophia’s abduction. But it was manageable. It was a useful level of rage; it kept him pushing forward and focused.
“I’d like to see him. I want to judge his reaction when he hears about Sophia.”
Noelle studied him for several seconds and finally nodded. She grabbed her bag and headed for the door. “You’re driving. Let’s pick up some deli sandwiches on the way. Chinese will have to happen another time.”
Evan followed. “I’m sure we have plenty of late work nights ahead.”
“True.”
I also want to judge Graham’s reaction to me.
He was looking forward to it.