Chapter 33
THIRTY-THREE
Katie and McGaven grabbed a quick lunch and headed back to Trey Roberts’ house.
The construction worker was still in hospital, due to complications from his overdose.
It was a little bit of a drive, with a sketchy cell phone signal, and they wanted to make sure they had eaten and had plenty to drink with them.
They were keen to complete the trail that had led them to Roberts after he didn’t show up at the construction site the morning Misty and her mother’s bodies were found.
As Katie drove up the narrow gravel road, she spotted Deputy Andrews’ police cruiser. She quickly parked and got out, grabbing gloves and some evidence bags. They also had their search warrant.
Deputy Andrews appeared. “Detectives,” he greeted. “I documented the room already.”
“Great work,” said McGaven.
“Deputy,” said Katie. “Can you show us?”
“This way,” he said and led the detectives around back, not to the back door, but the other side of the house.
“Here?” said Katie.
“There was an issue with the electricity, so one of the officers came out here to see if it was a breaker. And he found this.” Andrews opened the panel, but instead of just a breaker box there was what appeared to be a trap door. He opened it.
The detectives looked down at a stairway leading under the house.
“The best part,” said Andrews. “There are lights.” He bent down and flipped a switch, illuminating the stairway.
“Wow,” said McGaven.
Katie agreed.
“I took photos from here and all around the area down below,” said Andrews.
Katie was the first down the stairs. They felt sturdy, as if they had been constructed recently.
She stepped into the room and stood in the middle taking a very slow three-hundred-sixty-degree scan of the area.
It didn’t appear to be a living space, but rather an office with old wood filing cabinets and a table pushed up against one side.
There was an antique Persian rug taking up most of the floor.
The ceiling was low, barely over six feet.
It gave a definite feeling of claustrophobia, especially without there being windows.
“Ow,” said McGaven as he hit his head stepping into the room.
“Sorry, partner, I forgot to tell you heads-up.”
“Thanks,” he said sarcastically.
Katie was drawn to the large horizontal filing cabinet. She pulled open the top drawer and was surprised to see it wasn’t locked. “Huh, why wouldn’t they keep this locked?”
“Probably because no one knew it was here.” McGaven rubbed his forehead.
The long drawer was used to hold architectural drawings. She looked at the dates on the bottom and saw most of them were more than twenty years old.
McGaven joined her, slightly stooping. “What are those?”
“They look to be archived architectural drawings and renderings.”
“From where?”
“It looks like the area around the Collins homestead.”
McGaven looked around the dingy room. “This doesn’t make sense.”
“No, it doesn’t,” she said. “Andrews, can you call the Pine Valley Hospital and find out when Trey Roberts will be released?”
“On it.” He left to find an area with cell phone coverage.
“Why would someone like Roberts have these files in this retrofitted underground room?” said McGaven.
“I don’t know, but let’s take an overall inventory of what’s here.”
The detectives spent half an hour looking in every drawer, taking some photos, and then jotting down specifics.
Not all the filing drawers were designed for architectural drawings.
Some had what appeared to be keepsakes, snippets of clothing, and old firearms, mostly revolvers.
None of the guns were loaded and the ammunition couldn’t be found.
“You know what this reminds me of?” said Katie.
McGaven stopped searching and looked at her. “What?”
“A crime lab. Think about it. Architectural drawings, personal items that could have been taken from someone’s house, and of course, the firearms.”
“I agree. It’s like a cold case from decades ago.”
“We need forensics out here. The contents need to be brought back to the department. I know it’s a lot of work, but maybe these guns and maps might connect to other unsolved crimes—and maybe… it might connect to our cases,” she said.
“I’ll put a call to John and Eva.” McGaven left the underground room.
Katie felt bad for John due to the amount of evidence that needed to be gone through. She wasn’t sure if it warranted their attention, but it was too strange and coincidental to not be fully examined.
She took a few more notes and then climbed the stairs. McGaven and Andrews were talking.
“Bad news,” said McGaven.
Katie’s heart sank, bracing for what he was about to say.
“Trey Roberts died two hours ago from kidney failure,” said McGaven.
She let out a sigh.
“He was a heavy user and his system began shutting down after his overdose.”
“Makes sense. But now who is going to answer questions about that room?” she said.
“Maybe we can find out who else was staying here?” he said.
“Yep, good idea,” she said, taking in the news. “We keep moving forward, digging through everything—I know the answers are right in front of us.”
“This is a weird investigation,” said McGaven.
“Normally I would disagree with you, but that is a perfect description for it.”
“We need to seal this house up completely until John has time to come out,” said McGaven.
“And we need more hands on deck,” she said. “I’ll talk to the sheriff.” This case was becoming bigger by the hour and they needed to get to the bottom of it; having more hands and eyes would benefit the investigation.
The detectives and deputy carefully made sure the house and basement room were secured.
The light was beginning to fade a bit. They had spent several hours there.
McGaven had two trail cameras in the trunk of their vehicle and put them in places where they could view both the front and back of the property—just to be safe.
As he placed the cameras, Katie walked the perimeter of the property.
Something tugged at her. Most of their clues seemed to lead back to the Collins family and property.
They needed to go back to it—this time with Cisco.