Chapter 15 Without Cause
WITHOUT CAUSE
That was a great way to get his mind off of meeting the Ridgeway clan.
He had his laptop with him to take notes if he needed to, but for now it’d be nice to get some feedback on the locals who lived it.
And he’d be asking Ford for those police records. He’d listened to Gale and didn’t take that step just yet. He had enough to occupy him with the court case files.
“Tell me more about your dreams with Rene?” Gale asked as she drove them to her family’s farm.
Maybe it was nice to feel as if he could open up with someone. “Sometimes I wish I could just call her up, but I think she knows that and makes me suffer more.”
“I could almost see that. You know, why make this easy? If it were, she’d tell you who did it.”
He snorted. “I’ve asked her before.”
“What does she say?”
“She doesn’t know his name. That’s all she says. It’s like I can see the fear in her eyes when she talks about it to me. Even in a dream, I feel her pain. It’s not something either of us has handled well.”
Her hand reached over to lay on his lap. “I’m sorry. I don’t want to get you upset.”
“You’re not. I mean, not any more than my life has been. Don’t think that.”
“I hope you trust me.”
“I do. I haven’t trusted many people, but I do you.”
“I’m glad. You can trust my family. I mean that. They might not always say what I’d like, but they care and are honest.”
“It’s more than I’ve gotten out of other people in the past decade.”
They pulled onto her family’s property. It wasn’t what he expected it’d be.
There was a large gate they’d passed through, looked to have cameras on it, even the barn that they’d gone by for events had more cameras there.
They pulled to a stop past the cafe and even more cameras. What the hell? He wondered if this had to do with what he’d read about Ford’s and Clay’s fiancées and the trouble they’d had or if the family was paranoid.
It was an extensive property, and there were a few businesses on it. Three houses also, though he could only see the huge farmhouse surrounded by apple trees and much more rolling over the hills beyond.
They parked next to a big truck.
“Ford and Reenie are here. My guess is Clay walked down with Meredith, but I could be wrong.”
“How far away are they?”
“Not far,” she said. “Just past those trees on the other side.”
They went to the back door and he walked into a room full of large men. Much larger than he’d thought they’d be.
From their pictures, he knew who the sheriff was, and her father. The other was obviously Clay. He screamed military a mile away.
Both men had guns on them.
Ford, he could understand but not really Clay.
“You guys are assholes,” Gale said. “Do I need to put my gun on my hip too?”
She opened her purse and he saw the handle of one. Jesus, he hadn’t known she carried that.
“I told Clay it was overkill. I’m Meredith and it’s nice to meet you.”
He shook her hand, then Clay’s. The dude wasn’t cracking a feature and was staring him down. He could give it right back. He had nothing to hide.
“I’m not stupid enough to bring a gun across state lines, but I know how to use one,” he said.
“Don’t be rude and shake his hand,” Meredith said. “He just found out that there might be more to it than Gale helping you and he’s out of joint.”
“No,” Clay said, returning his shake. “I’m out of joint because my sister doesn’t need to get caught up in more trouble than she brings on herself half the time.”
“Meaning what?” Rory asked. “The last thing I want to do is make trouble for anyone else.”
“I’m Ford. My brother is touchy and he’ll tell you why soon enough.”
That didn’t sound good.
“What’s going on?” Gale asked.
“Why don’t we all go sit in the living room? Dinner will be a bit. I’m Brooke, and Gale is being rude by not introducing you to everyone.”
Gale rolled her eyes and made the introductions and they went to sit down.
“Now tell us. What is going on, Clay?” she said.
“I got a call from Kane McGregor yesterday. He’d like to talk about my cider and a partnership for a restaurant he’s looking to open on the lake.”
Gale’s nose was twitching. “He told me he was going to put up more condos in my area. That it was his wife’s idea. He said nothing about a restaurant.”
“I don’t know what to tell you, but it came out of left field. Or more like he’s planting seeds. You know how that asshole is,” Clay said.
“Clay went to school with Kane,” Gale told Rory.
“I was a year behind him. Pretentious prick.”
“Clay,” Brooke said. “Enough. We’ve got guests.”
“No, speak your mind,” Rory said. “I didn’t care for him on Friday night when he walked over to find out who I was.”
“And we didn’t tell him. Though he knows,” Gale said. “I don’t like this. He’s putting himself into the family to find out what is going on. That’s what this is about.”
“No shit,” Clay said. “And that means there is something they don’t want anyone to know or are afraid to have come out and are getting ready to line pockets or pave ways.”
“We don’t know any of that,” Ford said. “It could be nothing more than he has expansion plans and doesn’t want past news to hinder it.”
“Past news?” Rory asked. “That’s what they think of my sister’s murder?”
“Ford didn’t mean that,” Gale said. “Right?”
“I meant that it’s a small town and the McGregors are big names. They own a lot of different businesses, even other restaurants. They have wanted to control the town and tourism and have for years. They have their fingers in a lot of pies.”
“Do they have them in law enforcement?” Rory asked. He wasn’t sure why he hadn’t thought of this before.
“No,” Ford said firmly. “I won’t take offense to that either. What is said here stays. If I think you’re going to use this otherwise, then we’ve got a problem.”
“I’m not,” he said. “I want justice like the next person.”
Ford sighed. “There is no record of Austin giving any interviews to the police. The detective on the case back then has been gone for years. I’m not sure where he is.”
“A retirement home in Albany,” Rory said.
“So you’re on top of that?” Callum asked.
“I keep on top of what I can. I know where the players are at some point. I hadn’t realized the current detective had retired though.”
There had been no reason for him to call monthly for anything new. It’d felt like they’d been stale for years.
Not anymore.
He just hoped this wasn’t anything more than a business not wanting to lose profits.
“On top of the interviews not being there, there is some other information on paper I found that never got scanned in.”
“Like what?” he asked.
“Nothing of importance at the moment. I’m looking into it,” Ford said.
This guy wouldn’t hand over anything without cause.
“And you’ll tell me if it is of importance?” he asked.
“Of course he will, right, Ford?” Gale asked. “Because I might not represent Rory, but that doesn’t mean I can’t recommend him to another attorney.”
“Gale,” Brooke said. “You wouldn’t cause problems for your brother like that.”
“I’m doing what is right regardless of the players involved. Just like Ford would do. Maybe not Clay.”
Clay huffed out a breath. “What do you have, Ford?”
“Gale told us about your sister’s ankle bracelet. It was cut off her body and bagged with the rest of her clothing that day. DNA testing was different back then, but your sister had nothing on her body to lead to her murderer.”
He knew those things. He always had.
Her clothes had been looked at for any particle of anything. Any clue. Any trace.
Nothing was there. Or was there and it wasn’t documented?
“I looked at the pictures of the ankle bracelet,” Rory said.
“It’s different from how I remember it. As if it came off and was tied back on.
Could she have done that? Maybe, but I don’t think so.
Could it have come off while she was fighting the person off?
That’s possible. I’m not sure why they’d tie it back on, but it’s not even the same width as it was. ”
“All that we have on record back then was that your mother hadn’t seen it before, but you said your sister put it on that morning.”
“That’s right. I noticed it before she left for her walk. She told me she had put it on that day. I don’t know the exact time.”
They’d even questioned him if he’d done it. As if he were a suspect.
“Not sure that is important,” Gale said.
“Looking back, at my time as a cop, not even a detective, there were things that weren’t done well.
Or rushed. The fact my mother didn’t know what that was and I did, someone should have looked into it.
Even taken the extra string from our cabin rental to make sure that is where it came from and was not given as a gift. ”
“Agreed,” Ford said.
“Was it ever tested for DNA?”
“It doesn’t look as if it was,” Ford said. “And it goes no further that I’m sending it out. No one knows at the department. I gave it to someone I trust in the labs and then it was sent out for further analysis.”
“Do you think there is a leak in the department?”
“I don’t want to think there is. At least not now, but back then, before my time, I don’t know.
My gut says to keep this quiet. I’ve got copies of everything I’ve got access to.
I can see what you’ve been given and there were a few things added over the years.
Nothing that seems important, but I’ll share it anyway.
The release is already on file from you, so we’re good. ”
“You don’t want me talking to anyone?” he asked.
“Not just yet. Not unless you feel the need to.”
Rory sat back, his upper lip between his teeth.
“You know, we were fed a narrative by the police back then. We believed what we were told because we didn’t know any better.
Years later, even in our grief, we never questioned that they didn’t want the killer caught just as much as us.
But now I wonder if there was more going on that no one wants brought up. It feels it to me.”
“I was a kid here too,” Meredith said. “We were all scared. Wasn’t there a theory that he was a tourist?”