Chapter Fifteen Back to Business #2
“Chief Burton,” he introduced himself, shaking both the boy’s hand and his father’s.
They introduced themselves in kind, and Burton escorted them into his office.
“Please, have a seat.”
Once they were settled, Burton asked, “What brings you here today?”
The father was the first to speak. “My son has a deep fascination with nature and wildlife. We live on Hartshorne Road. Near the river. Ronin has several wildlife cams positioned in the area. They’re calibrated with a motion detection system, which means they begin to record when there is any activity. ”
Burton knew what motion detection meant and restrained himself from rolling his eyes.
Hoffman Sr. continued, “We’ve been away for the summer. Kennebunkport. Maine.”
A summer playground for the wealthy, Burton thought. And since they live on Hartshorne Road, they were, most likely, flush.
“I see,” Burton said, hoping the man would get to the point.
“Show him what you have,” the man directed his son.
Ronin Jr. nervously spoke up. “You see, Chief, as soon as the motion stops, the camera stops recording.”
“Yes, I am aware of that.” Burton nodded and smiled.
“So, I have a bunch of cameras set up. Everything gets uploaded to a hard drive in the house so I can keep all the footage and check it out when I’m home.
I figured there’d be a bunch of hours to go through, so I started as soon as we got back.
” The young man took a breath. “I was hoping to capture an American White Pelican, but got this instead.”
His hands were trembling as he handed the flash drive to the chief.
“I figured you didn’t want to see all fifty hours, so I copied and pasted the footage I thought you should see.”
Burton plugged the device into his computer. He stared at the scenes, rewound them, and stared again.
“Can I make a copy of this, Ronin?” he asked very calmly.
“You can keep the drive.” The boy was overly excited to share the footage with someone in authority besides his father.
“I’d also like a copy of all the footage. You can upload it to our Dropbox. Give me your email, and I’ll send you a shared folder invite.”
Burton didn’t want to show his excitement, but he now had extremely incriminating evidence. He needed all the footage so there couldn’t be any accusations of tampering with evidence down the line if this went to court.
The young man nodded and gave Burton his information.
“This is enormously helpful, Ronin. You did your civic duty today.” Burton stood. “Mr. Hoffman, you should be very proud of your son.”
“I am very proud.” He placed his hand on his son’s shoulder. The young man beamed.
“I’ll walk you out,” Burton offered. “I am going to ask you to please keep this under wraps for now. Once we crack the case, we can do a press release and mention how you helped solve it. So, keep your fingers crossed, young man.”
“I will, sir.” Ronin felt compelled to salute.
Burton shook their hands and said, “I’ll be in touch. Meanwhile, if you think of anything else you might want to share, please give me a call.” He handed both of them a card with his private cell phone number.
Back in his office, Burton watched the video several times. He made a copy and uploaded it to the department’s electronic file labeled:
FARRELL, DENNIS
DOD: 04/04/2025
COD: Accidental Drowning
Burton phoned the coroner’s office.
“Cal, I have something surprising for you to look at. I’m emailing it to you right now.” It didn’t take long for the coroner to bounce back on the phone.
“Where did you get this?” The coroner was incredulous.
“A boy brought it in. He was with his father. Apparently, the fella is an avid nature geek and has several wildlife cams around their property. All motion-sensitive.”
“What took him so long to show it to you?”
“They were on vacation. The kid just got home and was scrolling through the video. He was hoping for an American White Pelican, but got this instead.”
“This sure changes everything.” Cal let out a loose whistle.
“You got that right. I think you need to change cause of death from accident to unknown. This way, we can reopen the investigation.”
“Roger that. I’ll do it right away and amend the death certificate.”
“Thanks, Quincy,” Burton said. Quincy wasn’t the coroner’s real name, but Burton started calling him that several years ago, and it stuck.
“You’re welcome, Barney,” he said, referring to Barney Fife. It wasn’t that Burton was hapless; it was just because he was part of the police force in a small town.
After hanging up, Burton went back to the video. He took two screenshots and printed them out.
Burton studied the photos with a magnifying glass.
The rear bumper of a vehicle was almost off screen.
Burton thought enlarging the photos would show better results.
He sent them to the lab for some serious scrutiny with a high-powered microscope.
His next move was to head back to the hospital, show the photos to Mikey Farrell, and ask him if he recognized the man as the person who assaulted him.
There were a lot of moving parts that had to be handled carefully. And quickly.