Chapter 27 #2
“This is ridiculous,” Tean said. “Call them right now, and they’ll tell you that I’m no longer a suspect. I was never a suspect, not really. They didn’t like me poking around and asking questions, and they wanted to scare me off.”
“It must be so hard,” Karli said. “You’re being very brave.”
“Call them!” But Karli just blinked at him, so he took out his phone. He was surprised to see messages from Jem on there—they registered at the haze clouding his brain, and he could only gather the impression that they were apologies.
As Tean dug around in his wallet for Trevino’s card, Karli said, “I want you to think about this with me. Think about what’s best for everybody—for you, for the division, for all the people in our great state who count on you to do a good job.
A job that is above reproach. What’s the best thing for everybody right now? Think about that with me for a minute.”
The call went to voicemail, so Tean disconnected and tried again.
When he got voicemail for the second time, he said, “This is Teancum Leon. I need you to call me back immediately, or call my supervisor Ed Collins or executive director Karli Walker at the Division of Wildlife Resources. You need to explain that I am not a suspect in your investigation.”
He caught himself about to say it all again, to keep saying it, as though if he repeated it enough times, Trevino would pick up the phone.
When he disconnected, Karli was giving him doe-eyed sympathy across the desk. “It’s okay, sweetie. It’s a paid leave of absence. It’s not disciplinary. You’re not being punished.”
That voice that sounded like Jem said, Like fuck.
“When?” Tean said. Karli blinked—again—so he said, “When did they talk to you? When did they come here?”
“The day before yesterday,” Karli said. “I know what you’re thinking, and we shouldn’t have waited so long. But you didn’t come into work yesterday, now did you?” She didn’t actually say the words, but the tone implied, You silly goose.
That meant the SBI had come around asking questions before everything that had happened in the Uinta Basin. Before the campground, before Katie and Zeb, before the attack in the gully, and before that nightmarish farmhouse. Before Rydel. Before Daniel.
“I understand that a lot has happened in the last forty-eight hours,” Tean said, fighting to keep his voice reasonable, “but you’re making a mistake—”
“Honey, I’m sorry. I am. But you’re on paid leave, effective immediately.
I’m going to walk you out—right now, I know, it’s all happening fast—and we’ll be in touch as soon as this mess gets cleared up.
” She brightened, and a Miss Utah smile glowed on her face.
“Think of it as a vacation, how about that?”
Tean stared at his desk. The papers and books, the mug, the pens—it all blurred, swam together, separated again. “I have to get—” He took a breath. “I have some work—”
“Oh, no, you’re on leave, remember?” Karli stood, and she managed to turn it into a little bounce. “We’re going to take care of everything. Don’t fret about one little thing. We’ve got it all handled.”
For such a small woman, she moved like a whirlwind, and before Tean knew what was happening, he was being bundled out the door with his jacket in one hand, his messenger bag in the other, and the disorienting sense that he’d been turned around too many times.
He stood in front of the building. The sky was that rich, autumn blue again.
The sun was bright, breaking on the chrome and glass of the cars zipping back and forth along North Temple.
A long receipt on thermal transfer paper lay on the ground, and air displaced by the cars made it swish like an animal’s tail.
It fluttered across the street and twitched twice more before it ended up in the gutter.
Tean was reaching for his phone when his brain finally caught up with him.
Paid leave. Paid leave, because the SBI had come around asking questions.
Which didn’t make any sense. It was practically begging for a lawsuit.
And all that business about the division’s reputation, and the importance of public trust. He needed to write it all down.
He needed to keep a record. Should he call a lawyer?
Maybe. And what was he going to tell Jem?
He’d still get his paycheck, and Jem would be thrilled Tean would be home.
He probably would see it as a vacation. Meanwhile, work would be piling up: field inspections, sample gathering, reports—
And for a single moment, he had that sickening sense of his own stupidity again. He had felt it before. With Jem. With Ammon. Like he was standing outside himself, could finally see himself the way other, savvier people saw him. Gullible. Overly confident. Blind.
The report to the Fish and Wildlife people.
Joe Neff’s depredation investigation.
The sun glared off a passing windshield, and Tean squinted.
The sickening sensation passed. He waited for anger, outrage.
But the past few days—hell, the past year—had hollowed him out.
He felt lightheaded. When he turned toward the back of the DWR building, he didn’t feel like he was walking. He felt like he was floating.
She’d taken his keys, but a rap on the warehouse door and a stammering excuse were enough for Larry to wave him through. The key box was open, as usual, and he took a set of keys. He didn’t bother to write his name on the clipboard.
And then he found the DWR truck in the lot and started to drive.