Jester wasn’t at the camp.
Brill searched for him in the crowd of campers that gathered around the ashy firepit to mutter and discuss among themselves.
The ME left with the third body, Jo had Sue off to one side, grilling her again and by the looks of it, getting nowhere.
But the climber was gone.
Des meandered over toward Brill.
“Crazy,” he shared.
“Crazy,” Brill agreed.
“You’ve got to wonder who would do something like that?”
He watched Brill out of the corner of his eyes.
“I do.”
“Do what?”
“Wonder what kind of person would do something like that.”
“A crazy person?”
Brill shifted.
“Maybe.”
He and Des stood in silence for a few moments. Watched as Jo finished with Sue and took Allie off to one side.
Brill wondered why she didn’t take them all down to the station and reminded himself to ask.
“What’s the town like?”
“Which one?”
“The one where the Sheriff’s office is located.”
Des thought for a moment.
“Map dot,” he finally decided. “There’s not much to it. Small store for the locals, I think Main Street has six buildings. A courthouse of course.”
“How many people?”
“I’m not from here.”
“Me either.”
Brill felt the man watching him.
“You know, these didn’t start until you showed up.”
“I’ve been told.”
“Don’t you think that’s funny?”
Des wasn’t laughing. Neither was Brill.
“Did you know them?”
“They were here when I got here. I’ve been here three weeks. But we climbed together, drank together. Lots of nights by the fire.”
“What were they like?”
Brill really didn’t want to know. They were dead and gone and strangers to him other than two lumps in a circle last night, and two bodies today.
But Des knew them.
Saw them.
Watched them with Jester and the others.
Maybe he witnessed something.
Jo could pull it out of him.
Or she wouldn’t.
People were guarded with cops.
Especially counter culture types. They had authority issues.
Brill knew.
He had them too.
Not as bad, perhaps. The South African Defense Force ripped that out of him and taught him to follow blind orders.
It took training and time to get beyond that line of thinking.
To question everything.
Like he said, a practicing paranoid.
He played the what if game a lot. Like chess, it was a matter of knowing the opponents next move.
So, he studied people.
Lots of people.
Assessed them. Evaluated how they stood, how they held themselves, what they did, what they said.
Everything studied and catalogued.
Just because he wanted to know if A happened, then B was the response.
Most of the time.
Because people were predictable.
Most of the time.
“Quiet,” Des said. “She was a hottie, but kept it all under layers. He was a good climber.”
“How good?”
“Won a bunch of competitions a few years ago. They were travelling off that money, stretching it out.”
Robbery wasn’t a motive. Dirtbags didn’t have much to begin with, and meager earnings had to last a long time.
Brill had more money in the van than all of them combined, he bet.
Maybe more than all of them had made in the last couple of years.
Designed to last until he could hit DC.
“Where were they before here?”
“Somewhere?” Des guessed.
Either a lie or they really were quiet. Didn’t share travel stories.
“Seen Jester?”
That was the real question he wanted answered.
Des surprised him.
“You’ve been waiting to ask me that?”
Brill looked at him.
“I can tell man, I’ve got this sixth sense thing sometimes. You had a look on your face, like you were wanting to ask me something, but building up to it.”
Brill ran through the responses in his head.
Most people had a certain reaction to him, and a lot of them said he was inscrutable. A poker face.
Des was different.
Or another lie, just messing around off the question asked.
“I haven’t seen him since this morning,” said Des. “He took off on the South Trail.”
The climber pointed his thick strong fingers toward the brown sign marked with white letters.
Jo shook Allie’s hand and ambled across the parking lot to the two of
them.
“You ready?” she asked Des.
“I always have time for you Sheriff.”
“Deputy,” she corrected.
Des smiled at the error and stepped
toward her.
“You need me?” Brill asked.
Jo stared at him a minute.
“Not now,” she said.
“I’m going for a run,” he told her.
Des glanced from Brill to the South Trailhead, but didn’t say anything.
“That a good idea? We have an unknown killer on the loose.”
“He looks like he can take care of himself,” Des piped in. “I bet you climb.”
Brill shook his head.
“Not trained in it,” he answered.
He turned to Jo.
“I’ll be fine. I’ll just outrun whatever I find out there.”
She locked eyes with him for a moment, trying to peer into him. She checked for crinkles around the eyes, for a set to the lips, signs the course she took told her to look for in people to get a read on them.
She couldn’t.
Brill could tell.
And it frustrated the hell out of her.
He could tell that too.
“I’ve got to go back when I’m done with him,” she said. “But we’ll talk.”
Jo motioned Des to follow her.
“Careful out there, dude,” Des called after him as the climber stepped with the Deputy.
He would be careful, thought Brill.
Careful to find Jester and bring him to the deputy.
Or justice.
Either way was fine with him.