Chapter 35
My phone buzzed with a call from someone I didn’t expect. Autumn‘s voice crackled through the speaker on the phone. Full of fear, she said, “Deputy Wild? I’m sorry to bother so late, but I think someone’s been following me all day. I’m scared.”
"Do you have any idea who?"
"No. And I don't want to know. I don't want to get involved in any of this.”
Music thumped in the background, filtering through the speaker.
"Any of what?"
Autumn was silent a moment.
"I can't help you if you don't tell me what's going on.”
"I know where Brooke is. She's hiding. She’s scared shitless. So am I. They’re trying to get to me so they can get to Brooke. I don't know what to do. I can't go home. I can't stay here.”
"Where are you right now?”
“I’m at Nomad.”
“What’s Nomad?”
She told me.
I took a deep breath. "Okay. Sit tight. I'll figure something out. We're in the middle of a situation right now. I need to call you back."
"Okay. But please, hurry. I'm frightened."
It was tempting to wipe my prints from the gun and the shovel and get the hell out of there. The construction crew would find the bodies in the morning, and the West Beverly PD would have to sort it out. But I had a bad feeling it would come back to haunt us if I did that.
Against my better judgment, I called the local FBI office.
Soon, the site was crawling with feds.
JD and I raised our hands in surrender, our badges on full display. Flashlights slashed the darkness as special agents swarmed, wearing windbreakers with yellow lettering.
With half a dozen weapons aimed at us, the supervisory special agent checked our IDs. "I want to know exactly what happened here."
They split us up and asked questions. It was standard procedure. I gave them the full story.
The SSA was in his mid 40s with close-cropped blond hair, brown eyes, and a tired face. "Want to tell me what you’re doing all the way out here investigating a case?"
"It's complicated, but here goes," I said, then proceeded to give him all the details about the string of murders and disappearances tied to RSS. I tried to make it not sound like a batshit crazy conspiracy theory.
I'm not sure I was successful.
"Hang tight," Special Agent Hawthorne said after I told him my story.
"I know this is going to sound crazy, but I need to get across town to talk to a potential witness who may be in danger.”
His brow wrinkled, and he looked at me like I was crazy. "You're not going anywhere."
"At least send special agents to check on her.”
Hawthorne looked irritated. "Like I said, sit tight."
He ambled away and conferred with a few other agents, one of whom had interviewed JD.
The LA County medical examiner arrived and began evaluating the situation.
The feds managed to track down the construction foreman and get him on site. He didn't look too pleased about it. He let them into the temporary office.
JD and I were detained, but we weren't in handcuffs. Professional courtesy. I pulled out my phone and called Autumn, but she didn't answer. I sent a text. It was almost 4:00 AM.
There was no reply.
After a few minutes in the office, a special agent darted out, found Hawthorne, and brought him to the office.
Another few minutes passed, then Hawthorne stepped out of the trailer and returned to me.
"Looks like your story checks out." He pointed to a security camera mounted on a high pole.
"That caught everything." He grinned. "This is going to burn the whole West Beverly Police Department down.
I've had my suspicions about them for a long time. Looks like you boys did us a favor.”
I breathed a little easier. “I take it we’re free to go?”
“I need full video statements from both of you.”
We told our stories again, this time for the camera.
Afterward, Hawthorne warned, "Lay off the police work.”
I smiled. "I'm just a citizen asking questions."
I found the medical examiner, gave him a card, and told him to let me know when he determined Molly's cause of death.
Her body was in an advanced stage of decomposition. Not skeletonized, but she had lost a lot of mass. Shriveled and mushy, sloughing skin, with lots of maggots and insect activity. The rank smell soured my face.
Molly was naked, and that told me she was likely in the middle of a sex act with Nick at the time of her demise. Maybe it was consensual, maybe it wasn’t. Maybe she OD’d. Maybe Nick had gotten violent.
JD and I left the scene, hustled back to the Ferrari, then headed for downtown.