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The snow was coming down and Hawke had found fewer and fewer hunters as he’d ventured to the usual camp sites in the Minam Unit. The rest of the year, this unit would only be open to youth hunts. With only ten tags issued for the area, there was no sense in him coming back up on the mountain.
This being the last weekend of regular season hunting, he’d checked more of the animals hanging in camps. When it came down to the end of a hunt there was more likely to be illegal kills in a last effort to put meat in a freezer.
He’d gone to the elk beds where Tuck found the game cameras and took them all down. Fish and Wildlife said they hadn’t put them up and no one had applied for permission to use game cameras for any wildlife study.
When he was headed back to the trailhead, and low enough to get cell service, his phone started buzzing.
Donner, Mr. Gehry, Ball, and Mr. Donaghey.
He dialed Donner first. “It’s Hawke. I’m headed down the mountain, so the connection may be lost.”
“I’ll be fast. The info on Ms. Rachel Wallen came in. I sent the report to your email. She has a connection to Lange.”
“Yeah, a college friend of his is her uncle.” Hawke said.
“You’ll want to look at the file.” The call ended.
Hawke wondered why the detective was being so cryptic.
Next, he dialed Donaghey. “Mr. Donaghey, this is Trooper Hawke. You called me?”
“Yes. Something is going on at Benjamin’s house. There has been music playing loudly since last night and his lights have been on all night. I knocked on his door. He’s not answering.” The man’s worried tone troubled Hawke.
“Did you call the police?”
“I did. You.”
Hawke sighed. “Did you see any other vehicles there?”
“No.”
“I’ll send someone to check it out and get there as soon as I can.” He hung up and called Sheriff Lindsey.
“Lindsey.”
“Sheriff, D.A. Lange’s neighbor called. He said there has been music and lights on all night at Lange’s house. He knocked and no one answered. You might send a deputy by to check on things.” He didn’t think the steadfast district attorney would take his own life, but if there was a death, Hawke figured it would be another murder.
He called Ball. “Hawke, why did you need to talk to me?”
“Bremmer is getting pushy about me not doing anything to help him blackmail Lange.”
Hawke blew out a disgusted breath. “Tell him if he believes the district attorney killed his friend to take it to Sheriff Lindsey or the State Police, that you won’t help him blackmail anyone.”
“But that will hurt Lange,” Ball insisted.
“Not as much as the person who has been framing Lange for the two homicides.” Hawke hung up on the investigator. Ball needed to get his mind off his dick and into doing his job. Hawke was pretty sure Ball was stalling not for the sake of his boss, but to help Ms. Wallen.
Last he called back Mr. Gehry. “Mr. Gehry, this is Trooper Hawke. We talked the other day and you called me.”
“Trooper, I think Mr. Lange is going to do something.”
“What do you mean?” The hair on the back of Hawke’s neck tingled.
“When I cleaned up his office Saturday afternoon, I found half started notes in his trash can that looked like suicide notes.”
“Did you hang onto them?” Hawke’s mind started spinning. The only reason Lange would kill himself was because he had gone against all he believed in and killed two people.
“Yes.”
“Call Detective Donner.” Hawke rattled off the detective’s number. “Tell him you’ve talked with me and what you have.”
Hawke was just about to the trailhead. As he’d talked with each person, he’d urged Jack to go a little faster to where they were now traveling at an extended jog which was dangerous on the slick trail.
He called back Sheriff Lindsey. “Has a deputy checked on D.A. Lange?”
“He arrived and found the house all locked up. A neighbor came over and offered a key. They were just entering the house the last I talked to them.”
Hawke told him about the note and asked to be notified with whatever they found.
He’d reached the trailhead parking area. Hawke swung down off Jack, loaded the horse and mule into the trailer, then he and Dog jumped into the cab of his vehicle.
The drive from the trailhead to Eagle felt longer than the thirty minutes it took.
His phone buzzed. Hawke hit the speaker.
“Hawke.”
“This is Deputy Novak. There is no sign of Lange at his house. His vehicle is here. Every light was on and a radio on high volume.” The deputy’s tone said he was wondering what was up.
“Did you talk to the neighbors, see if anyone knows when he came home and if there had been any other vehicles on the road?”
“Doing that now. The sheriff said to give you an update.”
“Thanks. Let me know what the neighbors say. I’m taking my horses home. I’ve been up Minam all weekend.”
“Copy.”
He disconnected, and on a whim, took the road to Sigler’s house. On the street in front of the house sat Bremmer’s pickup.
What was the man doing here? Looking for items to sell to get his money back? Hawke parked his vehicle and trailer behind Bremmer’s pickup.
He checked out the Ford. It wasn’t locked. A folder sat on the seat.
Hawke headed to the house. The front door was locked. He peered in the windows as he walked around to the back of the house. That door had been unlocked before.
A twist of the knob, shove of the door, and it swung open.
“Ralph? Ralph, are you in here? It’s Trooper Hawke.”
No reply or any other sound.
The sun was setting, throwing corners into darkness. He flicked the light switch. The interior lit up. No one. From the small film of dust, it didn’t appear anyone had been in the house since the death.
He checked each room to make sure Bremmer wasn’t hiding, thinking he’d be arrested for trespassing. The place was empty.
Hawke returned to the door, switched the lights off, and exited. He headed to the barn. The man had to be around here somewhere. He wouldn’t have parked his vehicle here and driven off with someone else. That didn’t make sense.
The interior of the barn was dark. Hawke grabbed the flashlight off his duty belt and clicked it on, moving the beam of light around the inside of the building. The elk that had been hanging up his first visit to the barn was gone. He figured Jed, the butcher, was instructed to pick it up. At least the meat would go to good use at the senior center.
Lowering the beam of light, he discovered a dark shape on the floor. He walked over and heaved a sigh.
It was Bremmer.
Hawke put his fingers to the man’s neck.
No pulse.
A slow skimming of the light over the body revealed a hole in the man’s jacket.
Hawke backed up and took photos from every angle before he rolled the body over. Blood covered the front of the man’s shirt. The body had flopped over, unhindered by stiffness. Which meant it had lain here long enough for rigor mortis to have come and gone.
He straightened and pressed the button on his radio mic.
“Hawke. I have a twelve-forty-nine A...” He rattled off the address. “We’ll need spotlights to check the crime scene.”
He should have been off duty by now, but it looked like it was going to be another week of overtime.
While he waited for Donner, a deputy, and the medical examiner, he returned to his vehicle and grabbed a pair of gloves, evidence markers, and evidence bags. Back in the barn, Hawke took photos and videos the best he could with a flashlight. He searched the area around the body with his flashlight. It had to be the person who killed Sigler and Brooks. But if Bremmer had called Ball, trying to get him to roll on Lange, who else had the man called that would have met him here and killed him?
And where was Lange?
As if his thought conjured up an answer his phone buzzed. Deputy Novak.
“We located D.A. Lange. He was with Sarah White. She apparently picked him up shortly after he got home on Saturday afternoon. He has no idea why his lights and music were on or how anyone got in and turned them all on.”
This was interesting. “What about the note the janitor, Mr. Gehry, says he found in Lange’s office?”
“I don’t know anything about that,” Novak said.
“Where is Lange now?”
“At his house.”
“Tell him to stay there. Donner and I’ll be by to see him when we can leave this crime scene.”
“Copy.” Novak ended the call.
Hawke glanced down where his beam was shining and spotted a glint off something metal. He reached down and picked up the shell casing. The same markings, right down to the dent from the firing pin. He dropped it into an evidence bag, placed a marker in the spot, and heard sirens coming.
Donner arrived in the door of the barn. “Who is it?”
“Bremmer. The man I believe Sigler told about his attempt at blackmail.” Hawke looked at the detective’s empty hands. “Didn’t you bring some flood lights?”
“They’re coming with a deputy.” Donner walked in and noticed the marker. “What did you find here?”
Hawke handed him the bag with the bullet. “Smith and Wesson three-eighty. Same firing pin mark as the others.”
“We know where Lange was. He has an alibi.” Donner had a scowl on his face.
“You don’t believe he was at Mrs. White’s the whole time?” Hawke found it hard to believe the woman would lie for Lange. But then people in love were the hardest to find fault with their loved ones.
“He’s the logical person to have committed all three homicides. Yet, he always has an alibi. And his gun that fits the make and model of the weapon used, is missing. Kind of a convenient coincidence.” Donner pocketed the evidence bag and pulled a flashlight out of his pocket. He began sweeping the light beam across the floor. “You haven’t found anything else?”
“No.” Hawke crouched at the body and checked the man’s pockets. He came up with a receipt from the Rusty Nail and a paper with several phone numbers. The first two numbers he recognized. Ball and Lange. The other one, he didn’t know.
“I think Bremmer called these three numbers trying to rattle the cage of the person responsible for the murders. I don’t think he knew who would show up. My guess is the third number I don’t know, is our killer.”
“Why do you say that?” Donner walked over and took the paper.
“Because Lange has an alibi and Ball called me and told me Bremmer had called him and was trying to blackmail him or Lange, I couldn’t tell which.”
“I’ll get someone checking out this third number and have Ball brought to the sheriff’s office for questioning.” He walked out of the barn, pulling his phone out of his belt holster.
Hawke returned to scanning the floor for more evidence.
Donner returned, a scowl on his face. “The DNA on the gum you found here at the first homicide came back without any hits anywhere. But it was male. We could connect it to the shooter if we have enough evidence to get a DNA sample.”
Hawke wasn’t surprised, while the killings had been premeditated and well executed, he had a feeling this wasn’t someone who had a criminal record. But a person who did, could be orchestrating it.
“What did you find out about Ms. Wallen’s family?” Hawke stood as the sound of vehicles arriving floated into the barn.
“The young man who died in the accident Lange was involved in was a cousin to Ms. Wallen’s mother.” Donner studied him.
“Does Lange know of this connection? If he and the lawyer are friends, you’d think the topic would have come up at one point or another, wouldn’t you?” Hawke didn’t know what to make of this. Had Lange known about his connection with Ms. Wallen? Was his past what always had them arguing?
“I would say Ms. Wallen should be brought in for questioning as well as Lange.” Hawke stepped aside as Dr. Vance and the paramedics carrying a gurney entered the barn.
“Over there,” Donner said, pointing the beam of his flashlight at the body.
Another vehicle pulled up and Deputy Corcoran carried in a flood light. Hawke hurried over and set it up as the younger man hauled in a generator.
Once the place was lit up with two floodlights, Dr. Vance knelt by the body, giving her short detail of what she could see.
“Gunshot, similar to the last two homicides. Will know better after the autopsy. He’s been here a good twelve hours, possibly longer. His body temp is the same as the barn, no rigor, the discoloration on his face...” she looked up at Hawke. “He was face down when you found him?”
“Yes. I rolled him over.”
Donner gave instructions to Corcoran to see what the neighbors saw and heard the last twenty-four hours.
Once the body was removed, Hawke and Donner did another sweep of the barn looking for clues before they headed to Alder to talk with the people they had pulled in.