Chapter 15 #2
“Hey, before you leave, that deer head was likely placed there between midnight and four in the morning. I know Lauren left your aunt’s when you picked her up after your shift was over, but her bed hasn’t been slept in.
Do you have any idea where she may have been between midnight and the time she discovered the head this morning?
I could follow up with her, but I know you want her to recover from what went on here. ”
He looked at the woman from the medical examiner’s office, and one of two men here from animal control. They both looked in his direction, moving a little slower, waiting on his response.
He narrowed his gaze at Roan. He knew that information was going to be part of the investigation but wanted to protect his sanity from the shitstorm that information could cause him.
“She never went home after I picked her up. She stayed the night at my place.”
Roan grinned, walking backward toward Lauren’s house.
“You know I had to ask, we need hard facts when investigating a case. Now,” she said louder, she was definitely speaking loud enough for the people inside the house to hear.
“Can you confirm she was in your house all night or was she in one of the guest rooms, maybe in the living room on the couch? If she wasn’t with you, there’s a chance she left at some point and—”
“She was with me all night, in my bed, sleeping—emphasis on sleeping—beside me.” He refused to project the words louder than what was necessary for her to hear.
“Well, I’m glad you both finally got your happy ending. The way you two have been at each other’s throats, I’d say it was pretty inevitable.”
“You’re taking too much pleasure in this line of questioning Roan, but don’t worry, I’ll wait for my moment.”
He walked away without saying another word.
“Oh come on League!” Now she sounded concerned. Panicked even. “When are you gonna learn to take a joke!”
Never, he thought with grim satisfaction.
“Laughing on the inside,” he called out.
At the house, he thought about checking on Lauren before he left. Instead, he skirted the outside of the house and climbed into his cruiser.
A few minutes later, Santiago pulled up to Bailey Joe’s house. Steve Landry stood across the street in front of his own yard.
Landry rushed toward him as Santiago scanned Bailey Joe’s property. Bailey Joe lived on the outskirts of town, where wilderness transitioned into the more modern advances of small-town living. There weren’t any sidewalks out here and only one street light for the three blocks of street.
Just like his neighbors’, Bailey Joe’s yard was large. He had some overgrown grass in front, and a line of manicured mature trees on each side of the house. There was a gulch in the back of Bailey Joe’s yard that, once crossed, led uphill to a densely forested area.
“Afternoon, Sheriff.”
“Landry. I’ve been out here seven times in the last two weeks. Are you trying to make your neighbors dislike you?”
The old man’s weathered skin flushed.
“This time it’s something serious. I haven’t seen Bailey Joe leave the house in two days. Not to go to work, not to walk Dottie, not to take out his trash. And I ain’t heard a peep from that dimwitted dog in all that time. That ain’t normal.”
Over the years, Landry made several disturbing-the-peace calls because Bailey Joe’s Pomeranian, Dottie, would bark at a leaf falling from a tree in a town where there were more trees than people.
“Have you seen anyone coming or going?”
“Only one, that new gal that’s causing all the ruckus around here.” Santiago stilled. “I even checked my security video but it’s not always the best with the rain and the fog.”
“Hold tight here a minute Landry, while I go check things out.”
“Yes, Sheriff.”
Approaching the wraparound front porch, Santiago radioed Derry.
“Yes, Sheriff?”
“You heard anything on your uncle Bailey Joe?”
“He called out sick three days ago. Aunt Van is going to drop in on him this evening because he stopped responding to her texts.”
Santiago frowned.
“Since when did he start texting? The only time he’s not using a landline is when he is forced to use his work cell.”
“Happened in the last day or two. His home phone stopped working; he planned to deal with it when he felt better.”
So, Bailey Joe’s phone just happens to go down around the same time he goes missing.
“We’re almost done here; I’ll head over there with Roan instead of going back to the department,” Derry continued.
“You sure about that?”
“I’m sure.”
“Roger that, Deputy.”
Santiago looked in the front window of Bailey Joe’s house.
The curtains were drawn and too thick to see through.
Knocking on the door, he identified himself and after no response, turned the handle but the door was locked.
Santi banged on the door three more times, unable to ignore how quiet everything was around this house.
It wasn’t just the absence of Dottie’s manic barking; it was like a vacuum of stillness. The kind that only death left behind.
Guns firing, bombs exploding, bodies dropping, voices screaming, then a dome of silence as death extracted the spirits of the dead that were willing to be removed.
Looking behind him, Landry still stood beside the cruiser but was joined by the Mongs, the only other neighbors on this block.
Walking off the porch, Santiago headed around the carport where Bailey Joe’s car was parked in front of the covered Jacuzzi. Santi placed his hand on the hood of the car. Cold to the touch.
Circling the house, he noticed a disturbance in the fallen leaves, cutting a path toward the ravine. He continued his walk around the house checking for obvious signs of breaking and entering. He’d have Roan follow the tracks to the ravine when she got here.
As he rounded the house to the front, Derry and Roan had pulled up, and Derry instantly began to take statements of the three residents standing there. Roan walked directly to Santiago, pausing as a blue minivan pulled up across the street.
At fifty-five, Van was the youngest of Bailey Joe’s four siblings. She got out of her vehicle and nodded to Santiago, her arms wrapped around her chest, hugging herself as if she were bracing for the worst.
“Van’s got the keys to his place as well as his alarm code. She’s willing to let us in to do a wellness check,” Roan stated.
“There’s a path cutting from the back of the house toward the ravine, could be Bailey Joe used it regularly to take Dottie out, but I don’t think so.”
“I’ll check it out. Let me go get my camera out of the car.”
Santiago waved Ms. Vanessa over as Roan headed toward the back. Derry separated from the neighbors and headed over as well.
“Thanks for coming Van, makes things a lot easier.”
“Of course, Sheriff. Just wish I would’ve come by sooner. The whole texting thing, it didn’t sit right but…”
“We all know how Bailey Joe can be,” Derry said. “As much as he’s our family, all he ever wants is to be alone with his numbers and his dog, the rest of the world seems to irritate his soul.” He smiled, which had the intended effect of making his aunt smile.
“Does anyone besides you have a key and the code to his place?” Santiago asked.
“It was a miracle he let me have them. But even he knew that at his age accidents could happen in a snap, and he’d need at least one person who could get to him.”
She gave him the keys and the alarm code and walked over to the small gathering of neighbors.
Santiago waited as Derry put a latex glove on his non-dominant hand, then they entered the house. Derry entered the alarm code on the wall panel because the alarm was still armed.
Santiago called out to Bailey Joe again, but only oppressive silence echoed back.
“Something’s wrong,” Derry said, hand moving to his gun. “Bailey Joe leaves a light on downstairs, night and day. That one,” he said pointing at the hallway lamp near the stairs.
“First floor sweep,” Santiago said. “You take right, I’ll take the left.”
Derry was just green enough that Santi didn’t want him taking a whole floor alone.
Making their way through, Santi heard Derry’s soft clears. Moving upstairs, it was almost the same outcome. Almost. Until Santiago opened the door to Bailey Joe’s study. The older man was splayed out, having fallen face forward onto his desk.
Papers littered the surface of the desk beneath him, some papers had fallen onto the floor. It looked like he’d been tackling a mountain of work.
“Is he...?”
Santi paused his approach to the large wooden desk and looked back to see Derry unwilling or unable to cross over the threshold into the room.
“I was waiting for you to say clear, but you never said clear, and...is he dead?”
Moving closer to the body, Santiago placed his hand on the side of the other man’s neck and confirmed what they both already knew.
“May the ancestors guide your soul to peace, Bailey Joe. Sorry for your family’s loss, Derry,” Santiago said, watching as his deputy wiped away a rogue tear.
“Sorry, I just thought Bailey Joe’s sheer grumpiness would have him outliving us all.”
“Cordon off the scene, then go be there for Van. When Roan returns, have her meet me inside,” Santiago directed. “I’ll contact Doc Cleveland.”
“Thanks, Sheriff.”
Not long after Derry left the house, Van’s high-pitched wail shredded through the heavy veils of silence, freeing what remained of Bailey Joe’s spirit now that the living could take care of his body.
Stepping out of the study, Santiago walked to Bailey Joe’s bedroom and immediately got on his hands and knees, flashing a light beneath the bed looking for a container of oil, herbs, and chicken hearts.
The relief he felt at seeing nothing said something.
He just wasn’t inclined to dwell on what that something was right now.
Bailey Joe was known to be more dedicated to his health than to his job, and there were no wads of tissue in the garbage bin near his nightstand.
No medicines or teas. Nothing, not in the bedroom, study, or any other room in the house indicated that he’d been sick as the text sent to Van may have implied.
Everything in the house was neat and organized, almost compulsively so. Everything except the office. But where was his cell phone?
“Hey League, we’ve got a problem,” Roan said from the doorway. “I found Dottie down by the stream. Dead. Her neck was broken.”
The sinking sensation in Santiago’s gut told him Dottie hadn’t died from natural predators on the mountain, but he had to ask. “Wild animal?”
“No external wounds. And there’s not a non-human predator I know that would take the time to bury the body so efficiently. If the rains had come as hard as they were forecast to, there’s no way I would’ve found that grave until the stream waters receded.”
Santiago couldn’t avoid thinking about the amount of death and conflict that seemed concentrated to Lauren’s arrival, and his gut told him that was no coincidence.
Her presence seemed to shake the foundation of living people’s lives, while simultaneously reaching through the veil just enough to touch Shrouded Lake’s dead and make a way for voices long silenced.
It was as if she walked into his life, stomped her foot on this land, and beckoned those who had a grievance to heed her call.
“Until we know otherwise, this is a crime scene,” Santiago informed Roan.
“Two dead bodies in this short of time…it’s a concerning thing. The folks here are going to be even more on edge.”
Santiago looked around the space, gaze focusing on the body.
“It’s only a mystery until we find the answers, so let’s find them.
Don’t mention anything about Dottie’s circumstances yet.
Gather all the evidence you can down there, then leave the body where it rests.
We’re gonna play this close to the vest, because if somebody killed Bailey Joe, and it’s the same person that killed Mrs. Willoby, we want them to believe that here at least, they’ve successfully left no evidence of foul play. ”
“I’ll have Derry contact Audrey; notify her that the mayor and city council will have to postpone the council meeting on account of Bailey Joe’s passing.”
“Thanks Roan.”
With Roan taking lead on everything outside, Santiago retraced his steps and began videoing and taking pictures upstairs and down.
Derry soon joined him stating he was ready to get to work.
Together they dusted for fingerprints, starting around the door, alarm, and light switch that usually remained on, and systematically began to gather evidence, Santiago leaning into Derry’s insight on what else looked unusual or out of place.
Derry took fiber samples around the area of Bailey Joe’s desk and carted off Bailey Joe’s paper files and electronics— minus the still missing cell phone.
After Doc Cleveland and his assistant took the body away, Santiago and Derry did a final walk through. Santiago planned to return tomorrow, but until then made sure to lock the doors and reset the alarm, ordering that none of the family return to the house until they had a cause of death.
Outside, the trio of neighbors had returned to their homes.
Santiago looked in the direction of Landry’s house and saw the front room curtain close quickly.
He checked his watch. It was after five o’clock in the evening, but he’d still reach out to Judge Jackson to request a warrant for Bailey Joe’s security footage as well as a warrant to search both Bailey Joe’s work and home computers.
He hadn’t eaten since this morning, and both his spirit and his body were exhausted, but before he headed home, he’d make sure Bailey Joe’s office in city hall was sealed off. Even though the offices were cleaned daily, he felt it was necessary to do so.