Back at the sheriff’s office, we were told that the two deputies experienced in back country tracking, Donaldson and Conner, had already headed out with overnight packs. They would sleep in tents and reach the mountaintop first thing in the morning. We would have the shell casings in hand by tomorrow but would have to figure out a way for the deputies to lower the evidence to us on the trail floor rather than hike all the way down with the casings. Sheriff Burke offered to arrange that in the safest and most effective way.
We were in a holding pattern. Byron and Tara had gone home to Bozeman, and Jane was still in a coma. The swelling had gone down in her brain, and there was a chance that she would wake up tomorrow. As far as the casings, we wouldn’t have them in our hands to check for prints until then. I prayed that tomorrow might bring us the promising results we’d hoped for. As long as nobody else died before then, we would be in good shape.
We were about to call it a night, have a relaxing supper, and check into a hotel when Renz’s phone rang. He said it was Taft.
“Hey, Boss. What’s up?” He set his phone to Speaker so I could join the conversation.
“We’ve received the auction customer lists from Kansas and Utah’s departments of livestock. Several of the same names showed up that we got from Jeff Andrews in Helena.”
“That’s great news and a solid clue,” I said.
“It is, sort of. One is an actual person’s name, and the other is listed under a corporation, which will make it harder to learn who really owns it.”
“Let’s have the info on the person with a name.”
“We’ve looked for him in the criminal database, and he doesn’t have a record anywhere in the country, not even a driving violation. His name is Peter Landry, and he has a five-thousand-acre spread in Broadview.”
“Well, I’m sure our killer doesn’t have a criminal background either, or he would have been enjoying Club Fed for some time now.”
“True enough. How far is Broadview from White Sulphur Springs?”
I quickly looked it up on my phone. “Just under two hours, ma’am.”
“We don’t have a single thing on the man, so there’s no way a judge will give us a warrant to search his property.”
“So?” Renz asked.
“So let me do a little more checking. I’ll see what I can find on that corporation too. What’s the status on the shell casings?”
Renz answered, “Two deputies are on their way up the mountain as we speak. They’ll spend the night up there, retrieve the casings first thing in the morning, and somehow lower them to us below the ridge. We’ll get the county forensic lab to print them, see if they get anything viable, and run the results through the database. It would be a significant lead if they got a hit.”
“And the girl?”
“We’ll check on her again tomorrow. If she wakes up with full brain and recall strength, the case can blow wide-open as soon as we talk to her.”
“Don’t get overly excited, Lorenzo. You know how long it takes for a brain injury to heal. Let’s work with what we know for sure and hope for the best with Jane Doe. I’ll call you tomorrow as soon as I have more news.”
We said our goodbyes, and Renz hung up.
“Come on. Let’s go have supper before I go into a starvation coma.”
I laughed. “Yeah, that makes two of us.”