Issaquah was less than an hour from downtown Seattle but was rugged enough to have trails that were challenging even for seasoned hikers. Maclean and Verraday spotted the Ford Econoline near a guardrail with a King County Sheriff’s department patrol car parked nearby it. A solitary deputy was at the scene. He waved to them as he spotted their vehicle approaching.
Maclean spoke quietly to Verraday as they pulled up. “The good news is that this is under the jurisdiction of the King County Sheriff’s department. They’re not particularly tight with the Seattle PD, so having you along won’t raise any red flags. Even so, it will be best if you leave the questions to me.”
The Deputy led them down a steep trail toward where the body lay. It had taken a beating during the fall and was crumpled like a rag doll at the bottom of the rocky canyon, one hundred feet below the trail. But there was no doubt about the identity. The battered face was that of Cody North.
“I didn’t touch the body except to remove the wallet for identification purposes,” said the deputy. “It was in the pocket of his down-filled vest. The registration for the van was in there too. So was a set of keys. He’s got a cell phone on him too. I heard it ringing just after eight o’clock, but I didn’t want to touch it in case whoever was trying to reach him could be part of an investigation.”
“Good call, Deputy. Did you examine the van?”
“Just a cursory inspection. It was locked, but one of the keys that the deceased had on him fit the vehicle. I had a look inside. Not much to see though. Just the usual stuff: junk-food wrappers, empty coffee cups.”
“Mind if we take a look?”
“Be my guest.”
After climbing up out of the steep ravine, Verraday and Maclean walked over to the Econoline. They donned latex gloves and leaned in through the open side doors to inspect it. As the deputy had described, there was nothing much visible except food wrappers and empty coffee cups. Then Verraday looked up toward the ceiling at the same moment as Maclean.
“You see what I see?” he asked.
“Oh yeah,” she replied.
Tucked into the driver’s sun visor was a dream catcher. The same small dream catcher that Rachel Friesen had worn as a navel ring in her Assassin Girls page. Maclean turned to the King County officer.
“Deputy, this site is now part of a homicide investigation.”
* * *
“I’ll need to have a Seattle PD forensics team go through Cody Walker’s apartment,” said Maclean as she and Verraday headed back to Seattle in her Interceptor. “I’d love to have you there to have a look, see what it tells you about Cody, but it would raise a lot of questions. Sorry.”
“No worries,” said Verraday. “I have several days’ worth of e-mails from students to read when I get home. That ought to keep me busy and in a bad mood.”
“Well, hopefully I’ll have something to cheer you up with after we’ve finished the search. I’ll be in touch again as soon as we’re done there.”