Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Claire
When we stepped out of Vance’s office, Trey straightened, watching us. And when he saw that we were both smiling, his face went dark.
I followed Vance back through the bullpen, trying not to appear too victorious. But I couldn’t help shooting a little smirk Trey’s way when I walked by.
In the parking lot, Vance gestured for me to get into his SUV. He walked around to the driver’s side. “We have a lot to catch up on,” he said, as he started the vehicle.
“We do,” I agreed. “What did you find out in Laramie?”
“That Tony hasn’t changed much,” he said, shaking his head.
My stomach knotted. “What do you mean?”
He backed out of his parking spot and headed toward the main road.
“Everyone—both Katelyn’s friends and Tony’s—said that he was way more serious about her than she was about him.
From my understanding, it started as a whirlwind romance on both sides.
But after he brought her here over Christmas break, he started talking about marriage and she started pulling away.
By the time of her disappearance, she’d all but ghosted him. ”
“Really?” That matched with what Elsa had said, but I still couldn’t believe that Tony was so focused on getting married so young.
Maybe because I was a decade older than him and still hadn’t given the institution a second thought.
“Yeah. Here’s the interesting thing, at least compared to what you seem to think about Tony. Every single one of them preferred Tony over her and thought she was crazy for breaking things off. They all described him as a gentleman. I think Katelyn’s old roommate was half in love with him herself.”
“ Really ?” My jaw dropped.
He nodded.
I tried to think back over the interactions I’d had with Tony. I’d never liked him, but was that fair? He’d never given me any trouble personally. The only reason I disliked him was because Jonathan did—and because of what Jonathan had told me about him.
But I trusted my brother’s judgment.
“Tony is well-liked,” Vance said. “But Katelyn’s friends all described her as a manipulative gold digger. Said she was determined to latch onto someone with money. Does that fit the Evans family? Mayors don’t make that much.”
“It might,” I admitted. “Leslie Evans inherited a decent sum of money years ago from some rich uncle in Seattle.”
“What kind of money are we talking?”
“I’ve never heard the figure,” I answered.
“It was enough to furnish a decadent lifestyle here in Wildwood, but probably not enough to run with the big dogs somewhere like Jackson or Breckenridge. If it was, I think that’s where they’d be.
Leslie has always acted like she’s too good for this place. ”
Vance mulled things over. “Maybe that’s why Katelyn was into Tony, at least initially. He dresses well, drives a slick car. Has the money to rent a nice house with his friends. Lavished her with fancy dinners and flowers.”
“But if he got obsessive, she might have decided it wasn’t worth it.”
“Everyone said she loved the attention. If he hurt her, though, that might have been a different story.”
“Or she could have realized he wasn’t the catch she thought he was,” I pointed out.
“Meaning?” He glanced my way.
I held my fingers up, counting off my points.
“Unless he’s changed dramatically, he’s a lousy student.
So he may not have great prospects for a future career.
His dad is a mayor, which means there’s no family business for him to inherit or some ready-made position for him to step into.
Their money came from a one-time inheritance.
And at the rate his mom spends cash, there might not be any left for him. ”
Vance let out a long breath. “So maybe Tony looked great in the beginning, but when she got to know his situation, she realized it wasn’t enough for her long term.”
“If her friends are right about her, then yeah.” I thought it through.
“So she breaks up with him. That’s rejection.
Plus, it makes him look bad. You said Tony is well-liked there.
But he has a long history of pushing girls to take things further than they want.
He’s an only child. Spoiled. Probably thinks the world revolves around him. ”
“Is that a dig at me?” Vance asked, giving me a smirk.
“If the shoe fits,” I answered, grinning. “But let me finish my thought. We’ll have to deal with your issues later.”
“Ouch.” He put his hand on his heart like he was wounded.
I rolled my eyes. “Hypothetically, let’s say Tony was angry and hurt over the rejection. Were you able to find out if he’s the one she had a fight with the night she left?”
“Yes,” Vance confirmed. “He and his friends had a party at their house. He invited her, and she went.”
“Alone? Or did she take someone with her?”
He glanced at me, giving me the same look he’d given me out at the crime scene. Now that I knew him better, I recognized it as a mix of surprise and approval.
“She went alone,” he said.
“Odd choice if she was pulling away because he had hurt her,” I pointed out. “It shows she wasn’t scared of him.”
Vance nodded. “That’s a great point.”
“So, what did they fight about?”
“Tony made a move on her. Said he wanted her back. She said no and apparently yelled some pretty unflattering things about him. Also told him she had a new boyfriend before she stormed out. He was devastated, according to his buddies.”
I put my elbow on the door and propped my face on my hand. “So… He has a motive.”
“He does.”
“Two questions.”
“Shoot.”
“First, do you think he did it?” I expected him to say yes quickly. To me, it seemed so clear.
But Vance didn’t answer. He stared at the road, his brows furrowed as if he was thinking long and hard. The Wyoming plains whizzed by and the mountains loomed ahead of us as the town of Wildwood faded in the rearview mirror. I took in a sharp breath as I realized what road we were on.
We were heading back to the crime scene.
Vance finally spoke. “I’ve been asking myself that same question for at least twenty-four hours. He had a motive. They’d had an ugly, public fight. Her body was found in his hometown. He’s an obvious suspect.”
Obvious, but it had taken Vance a full minute to answer.
“But…” I said, drawing him out. I knew there was more he hadn’t said.
“But the kid’s grief was real. The news broke a few hours before I got to talk to him, and his eyes were still red from crying. I think he genuinely loved her.”
“Doesn’t mean he didn’t kill her,” I pointed out.
“You’re right. Love is a strong emotion, and strong emotions can make people do crazy things.
Add that to the embarrassment of being publicly rejected and possible rage over her being with someone else…
” He shrugged. “The motive is real. But he was cooperative. Didn’t ask for a lawyer. Begged me to find out who hurt her.”
“Could have been an act.”
“Could have been,” he agreed. “But to answer your question, no. I don’t think he did it.”
His answer disappointed me. It wasn’t that I wanted Tony to be a killer, exactly. It wasn’t even that if he was innocent we’d be back to square one.
It was more that I didn’t want Vance to be someone who could be swayed so easily by Tony’s charm. By someone who had a friendly smile, wore expensive clothes, and drove a nice vehicle…
Like Vance.
“Are we still going to investigate him?” I asked, biting the inside of my cheek.
“Of course,” Vance said, glancing over at me with an odd look on his face. “We’d be fools not to.”
His answer settled me—some.
“You said you had two questions,” he reminded me. “What’s the other?”
“I was going to ask where we’re going, but I’ve figured that out now. You can tell me why though.”
“To see if we can establish a timeline,” he explained.
“Katelyn disappeared March thirteenth. But we don’t know how much time passed before she died.
Because of the condition of her remains, the medical examiner will only be able to give us an estimated range.
So far, they’ve given me a two-month time span, saying she most likely died sometime between leaving on March thirteenth and the middle of May.
Hopefully we can do better narrowing it down ourselves. ”
“How?”
“It’s a long shot. But if the murder wasn’t premeditated, maybe Katelyn came here with her killer and there’s some sort of record of it.
We’ll check the visitor registration and camping logs, talk to park rangers, and see if there is any video footage that might help.
They might have security cameras in their parking lots and the visitor’s center. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
I snorted. “I doubt it.”
He looked my way, narrowing his eyes. “Why?”
“That campground doesn’t open until Memorial Day,” I explained. “And that’s only if the snowpack has melted. Every now and then, we have a crazy year where it’s closed until June or July.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yep. Last year, it opened on time. But if they’re saying she died sometime before mid-May…”
“Then the campground was closed.” He tapped his finger on the steering wheel and swore under his breath. “Okay. You know the terrain and you know the conditions last spring. Let’s assume the two-month window is correct. How could someone have gotten in?”
I thought back to the past spring. “By May, the roads were clear. If they had gate access, they could have driven in and gone straight to the campsite. There was still some snow left in the mountains, but the campground roads would have been plowed.”
“Okay,” he said, nodding. “Who all has gate access?”
“National Park Service employees. Any contractors they may have hired to do any work. Local law enforcement. That’s about it.”
“Do you think the Mayor of Wildwood would be on that list?”
I shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. I doubt it. The park isn’t in the city limits, so why would he?”
He sat silent for a moment, that mind of his puzzling over it all.
“Okay,” he finally said. “So, toward the end of the season, the easiest way may have been to go in through the front gate. Maybe someone with access—or someone who was able to bribe someone for it. But that’s dangerous.
If there are workers around, there are potential witnesses. ”
“Not if it wasn’t premeditated,” I pointed out. “What happened to Katelyn meeting someone there to hang out at the park and things going bad?”
He shook his head. “It’s a totally different scenario if the park is closed. Seems more likely the park was used as a place to dump the body.”
“Makes sense,” I agreed. “Unless she was having an affair with someone and they were meeting there because it was closed and private.”
“Katelyn doesn’t seem like the type to date a park ranger,” he pointed out.
“True. But if they bribed someone for access…”
“Are there cabins there where she could have met someone?”
“No. Just camping spots.”
He shook his head. “Then that rules that out.”
I snorted. “Why?”
He gave me a perplexed look. “Because there aren’t any cabins. No beds, no privacy.”
I grinned. “There’s plenty of privacy out there, and last time I checked, a bed wasn’t required for a roll in the hay. In fact, some of us prefer the thrill of the great outdoors.”
His jaw twitched and his knuckles turned white on the steering wheel. “Well. Okay. We keep that on the table.” He shook his head, like he was trying to clear out the mental image I’d put there.
I bit back a laugh.
He refocused on the conversation. “So, May would have been easy, but with a high potential for witnesses. Maybe that’s good.
Gives us a place to start. What about earlier?
March. Assume Katelyn was killed shortly after she left Laramie and that someone wanted to dump the body at the campground while it was closed. How would they have gotten in?”
“They would have had to hike in,” I said. “Either on the main road by walking around the gate or by taking a nearby trail and cutting over.”
“Walk me through it.”
I closed my eyes, picturing the area. Considering possibilities, eliminating them. Then I found one—a good one.
“There’s a trailhead that connects to the primitive campground.
It would have been under snow in March, but it’s a popular route for snowshoers.
To get all the way from the trailhead to the spot we found Katelyn is a long walk for most people though.
Fifteen miles or so. That’s a long hike in good weather.
In snowshoes, it would be even more strenuous. ”
Incredibly strenuous, actually. It was the kind of thing the SAR team did all the time, but most people? No way. Snowshoeing burned almost a thousand calories an hour, and that was without carrying a body.
I was ready to discard the idea altogether when I suddenly realized how easy it could be. My eyes popped open and I grabbed Vance’s arm.
“But take that same route on a snowmobile? Easy.”