I drove out to the spot where they found the car. Another four miles and I would find myself at Grandpa’s cabin. I thought briefly that the suspect would have gone there, but there was nothing left of the place- the floors, the walls, the roof, it was all destroyed in the fire. There was a shed that might still be there, but after twenty years of neglect, I doubt that it still stands.
Tam came up to greet me. Kelly had beaten me to the scene. He followed Tam and I laughed to myself about what Kat had said- Kelly did look like a little puppy, bounding after Tam, so happy and jumpy. Tam turned to him before they got too close and Kelly headed off in the other direction, just as happy as the second before.
“Hey there, Boss. Anything new on the home-front?”
“Besides Kelly beaming with helpful joy?”
“Really? He did good? He just got here, too. Didn’t say much. He just grinned.” Tam looked into the direction Kelly went and shook his head in wonder of the kid.
“Well, he didn’t do bad. The information he gave me may be very useful, I just don’t know how yet.”
Tam laughed. I followed him over to where the car had run into a large Maple tree near the side of the road. Skid marks, footprints, no blood. Tam had taken photos of everything. He gave the tour; footprints lead to the North, they gave a good lead in the snow. Two units were already sent to follow them. Inside the car left little for detail except for the fingerprints on the steering wheel. In the trunk he found small bits of blood and blond hair. There were also bits of torn cloth, chunks of still frozen and melted snow, and one small toy in the shape of kitten, pink, attached to a hook that kids, in general, like to hook to their backpacks. I’m sure she snatched it off of her backpack so that she could have something that would comfort her as she was being taken from the world she knew. Now that we have the kitty, I wonder if she had anything that would comfort her now.
“Boss? Come over here and take a look.”
“What is it?”
“It’s a burn mark on this tree. The car itself doesn’t look like it burned, just smashed, but the tree here- look- it’s burned about one-foot square, just about the impact.”
“Could it have happened before the crash? At another time or another accident?”
“Ah, that’s what I thought, but feel it- it’s still warm.”
That is was. Warm to the touch as Tam had said. Tam had turned his attention away from the tree as another squad car pulled up behind us.
“Molly,” he nudged at me. I glanced behind me to see the squad car pull up with its bright lights still on. I was more interested in the burn mark than who this joker was. I growled under my breath at the interruption. I swallowed my annoyance as I turned to greet the approaching officer.
“Mark Gaunt, from County,” he introduced himself.
“Mark, how are things?” I stretched out my hand and he took it.
He shrugged his shoulders and continued. “I have a message from Tom. He has a few questions about the body found on the hill.”
“About Mr. Brown?”
“Yes.”
“Tom sent you fifty miles to find me? Why didn’t he call?”
“He said he did, but no one answered.”
“At the station?”
“Yes; I called the office and a... Colleen answered. She said she paged you, but you never answered. She said she was sure you were in the office, but, like I said, no one could get through to you.”
“Oh.” It must have been during my time on the floor. I blushed a little, but then felt the blood quickly flood away.
“You ok?” Asked Tam.
“What?”
“You look a little pale.” He moved closer to me and put his hand on my arm.
I looked at him like he was crazy. “Yes, I’m fine,” I lied. “I had stepped out. I guess I just missed him.”
“Can you come down?”
“What?” I had another feeling of not quite knowing where I was.
“Down to County, can you come down to talk to Tom?”
“Now?” I didn’t want to go. I was so tired, hungry, confused, and slightly miserable. I knew that if I went, it would be hours before I could sleep, even longer before I ate, and it seemed like forever until I could get some alone time. But I didn’t tell him what I was actually thinking, so I lied and said that I wasn’t comfortable driving the distance that late at night with the weather so volatile.
“He really needs you tonight.” He sighed. He had come all of this way for nothing.
“I’ll be there first thing tomorrow morning.”
Tam chimed in, “I’ll drive you.” I looked at him with gratitude.
“Tam and I will be there by 8 a.m.”
He didn’t want to give in, I could see it on his face. He was on a mission and didn’t want to leave empty handed. Mark sighed again and gave a resigned “Ok.” He got into his car. He immediately flicked on the lights, which blinded us. I thought it might be rude to just leave and go back to the tree, so I waited until he pulled away, Tam stood vigilantly by my side. We had to shield our eyes from the bright glare. Mark moved around a little inside the car, probably called Tom to tell him that I wasn’t coming. After a few minutes he backed up and pulled away. Tam and I stood there and quietly watched him drive away. I knew he wanted to ask me why I didn’t want to go tonight- ordinarily I would have jumped into the car and sped away with the excitement of something in fruition. He could tell, though, that this time, there was something holding me back. If he had asked, I would have had to lie to him. How can you tell someone who looks to you for leadership that you’re tired and you just don’t want to. Kat will yell at me when I tell her what happened tonight.
“Tam, do you have all of your photos?” I asked with dry lips.
“Yes, Boss,” he said solemnly.
“Can you have the car towed back to the station?”
“Yes, Boss, I can do that.”
“Ok,” I let Tam do his job and turned to find the man-child. “Kelly?”
“Yeah?” He ran over to us.
“I’m leaving you in charge of this. Tam and I will be heading down to the County Morgue tomorrow. I want you to follow up on the units out there already and I want you to follow those tracks, take backup if you need them and see if you can borrow a couple of Daniel McCreeny’s dogs. We’ve used them before. They know the area well. I want you to call me the second you hear anything or come across anything. And I mean anything- do you hear me? I don’t care how insignificant you may think it is, I want to know everything you see and everything you don’t see. All right?”
“You got it, Molly.” Kelly gave me a little salute, which I ignored.
“Ok. I’m going home. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“Ok.”
“Tam?”
“Yes, Boss?”
“Thanks.”
“Your welcome.”
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