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Hawke and Donner walked up the courthouse stairs and straight to the D.A.’s office. Terri’s husband didn’t sit on the bench outside the office. Hawke glanced at his watch. It was close to three. His stomach growled as if the time made it remember he’d forgone lunch to check out Bremmer’s house.
Terri sat at her desk. “Trooper Hawke, Detective Donner,” she said, glancing away from her monitor. “This office has had more police in it the last couple of weeks than we get all year.”
Hawke nodded to the hallway. “Where’s your husband?”
Her cheeks flushed. “I told him that no one has tried to do me any harm. He needed to get back to work.”
“I think you’re right. I also think that whoever hurt Dennis Brooks didn’t follow him into this office.” Hawke walked toward Ball’s office. “Is he in?”
“I believe so. He’s been going crazy because Ms. Wallen hasn’t shown up for work today. No one seems to know where she is.” Terri’s gaze flit back and forth between them. “Do you know?”
“Sorry, we don’t,” Donner said.
“Has anyone been in her office this morning?” Hawke asked.
“Thomas was in there for about an hour around ten, when we all realized she wasn’t coming in and hadn’t called in.” Terri’s face paled. “Do you think something happened to her?”
“We’re working on it,” Donner said, knocking on Ball’s door.
Hawke pushed by him, opening the door and walking in.
“What do you two want?” Ball asked, standing up behind his desk.
“Did you learn anything about Ms. Wallen’s whereabouts by searching her office?” Hawke asked. There could be a woman’s life in danger, there wasn’t time to waste taking a long path when there was a shorter one that worked just as well.
“No. Whatever she’s been doing, she must have all the files with her.” Ball dropped back into his chair.
“She didn’t tell you what she was up to? You two seemed to be close.” Hawke noted the cynical twist on the investigator’s lips.
“I’ve figured out she was using me to get the information she wanted.”
“What information did she ask you to get?” Hawke leaned against a file cabinet and pulled out his logbook.
“First it was gathering names of the people present at the party that Lange and his friend had crashed before having a fatal car accident. I asked her why she cared about his past. She said, because she might need it for leverage someday.” He grinned. “I like that she has high aspirations. The higher she goes, the higher I’d go, I figured.”
“And you talked to everyone who was at the party? Bremmer, Toby Gehry...” Hawke pulled out the list Herb gave him and rattled off the names.
“Not the last two.”
“What did you learn talking to these people?” Donner asked.
“That they were or are all locals. Back then they had a rule, no outsiders at parties. They were all unhappy that Lange and his friend showed up. I guess the only one who treated them nice was Sarah Price, who happens to be Judge Vickers’s secretary, Sarah White. Fancy the two of them, Lange and Sarah taking up again after all this time.”
“Did you learn anything else about that night?” Hawke asked. There had to be something that someone wanted hid. He wasn’t sure if it was drugging outsiders or something else.
“Everyone seemed to say the same thing. They didn’t think the two had had enough to drink to have an accident but when Sarah had wanted to go with them, her brother, Barney, threatened her to get her to stay at the party.”
Hawke shoved away from the file cabinet. “Barney Price, the hunter from the Portland area who ended up in jail because of Sigler?” He glanced at Donner. “Why didn’t he say he had family here or had lived here? He acted like he was a city slicker who didn’t know anything about hunting and the laws.”
“I’ll go see if I can find out more about Mr. Price,” Donner said, moving toward the door.
“And I’ll go have a visit with Mrs. White.” Hawke stopped at the door. “We still need to find Ms. Wallen. Have you called her family to see if she showed up there?”
Ball nodded. “No one has seen or heard from her for nearly a week.”
“She must have discovered something and is on the trail or she was discovered by the killer and...” Hawke didn’t need to finished the sentence.
“I’ll go to her place and see if I can dig up anything.” Ball rounded his desk.
“Keep us in the loop. This person has killed three times.” Hawke stared into Ball’s eyes.
“I will.”
Hawke decided to make a stop before talking with Mrs. White. He motioned to D.A. Lange’s door. “Is he in?”
Terri nodded and pointed to the phone. There was a light on.
Hawke nodded and strode to the door. He knocked quietly and entered.
Lange was scribbling on a pad on his desk. He glanced up, put up a hand to wait, and said, “Can you repeat that? Thank you.” He put the phone down and motioned for Hawke to take a seat.
“I don’t have time.” Hawke let out a breath and started in with what he had to say. “It’s starting to look like all these deaths stem from the night you and your friend went to the party and had the accident.”
Lange’s face pinched in anger. “Why do you say that?”
He laid out everything they knew to this point.
“You told me earlier I’d been drugged. You think Toby Gehry did it?” He tapped his pen on the tablet on his desk. “Is he related to Earl, our janitor?”
“Yes.”
“That means he would have access to the courthouse.” Lange tossed his pen down. “What about Rachel? Any word on her?”
“We’re still looking. I want to talk to Sarah White.”
Lange nodded. “She was there that night. She’s the one who invited us.”
“I’ve learned that. Did you also meet her brother?” Hawke watched the man.
“That night is a bit of a blur. I’m not sure. But I know she wanted to come with us when we left and someone grabbed her. I thought it was a boyfriend and she’d invited us to make him jealous.” Lange’s gaze snapped up to his. “You aren’t telling me Sarah was involved in my drugging that night or involved in the deaths now?”
“All I can tell you is, it was her brother who kept you from taking her with you when you left that night and it was her brother who had your elk tag.”
The minute it all sunk in, Lange’s face went from pink, to red, to purple. “What in hell! Has she been setting me up to take the fall for all of this?”
Hawke raised his hands. “No. I think you and her getting together again set off her brother. We’ll know when we get our hands on him. I’m headed up to talk to Sarah right now. I think it would be best if you stay here. But don’t take this anger out on her. I think she’s been a pawn for forty years.”
Lange nodded his head, but his face was still as red as a Christmas ornament.
Hawke left the D.A.’s office.
Terri’s face was white. She had to have heard her boss yelling.
“You’re okay. He’ll be calm in a few minutes.” Hawke reassured the woman before he headed down the hall to Judge Vickers’ office.
Mrs. White sat behind the desk, typing on the keyboard. She raised her gaze to the door as Hawke entered.
“Have they heard anything from Rachel?” she asked.
“No, we’re still trying to find her.” Hawke walked up to the desk and glanced at the judge’s door. “Is there a chance you could go with me to the bakery around the corner?”
She studied him. “What for?”
“We have a lot to talk about.” Hawke motioned to the phone. “Call the judge and tell him you have to run an errand and will be back in an hour.”
“Are you really taking me to the sheriff’s office to question me?” Her eyes were wide and fearful.
“No. We’re going to the bakery to have a talk away from where you work. You’re not a person of interest. I do, however, believe you have information that can help this investigation.” Hawke touched the phone. “You can call him or I’ll tell him I’m taking you for questioning.”
She picked up the phone. “Judge, I need to run an errand.” She paused. “Probably an hour. I know. I’ll have that done tonight.” Sarah replaced the phone. “I have some important papers to finish typing tonight. I hope this won’t take too long.”
“I hope so, too.” Hawke helped her put her coat on. They walked down the hall, the stairs, and out the backside of the courthouse.
“This time of day the bakery isn’t open,” she said.
Hawke glanced over at her. “Is that why you thought I was taking you to the sheriff’s office?”
“Yes.”
He glanced up and down the street. “Where do you suggest we go?”
She pointed toward the park. “We could go to Olive’s Café or...” She pointed to the front of the courthouse, “the Treetop Café.”
“Let’s go to Olive’s. We’re less likely to run into anyone from the courthouse or police station.” Hawke walked beside her through the park and over to the overpriced, but quiet café.
They found a booth in the far corner away from the door or prying ears.
“I’ll have coffee and peach pie,” Hawke told the waitress.
“I’ll have tea with honey and a piece of chocolate cake,” Sarah said.
When the waitress hurried away, she asked, “What do you think I know? I’ve been spinning everything I think I know around in my head and can’t figure out what you want me to say.”
“I just want you to tell me the truth.”
The waitress returned with their drinks and desserts.
“Thank you,” Hawke said.
“About what?” Sarah squeezed honey into her tea.
“First, the night of the party where the locals were unhappy with Lange and his friend showing up.” Hawke saw the glint of awareness flicker in her eyes.
“Did they do something to Benjamin’s drink?” She leaned forward, anger flushed her cheeks and darkened her eyes.
“You didn’t know?”
She shook her head. “I wondered afterwards because he’d drank maybe one full beer. And then the crash.” She poked at the cake with her fork. “I wanted to go to him at the hospital, tell him I was sorry to have invited him, but Barney kept telling me to forget him. He was an outsider, I didn’t need to get mixed up with someone who would drink and drive and kill their best friend.”
“Who was Barney? A boyfriend?” He knew the truth but didn’t want to give all he knew away.
“My kid brother. But he always told me what to do.” She laughed. “The irony is for all his talk about outsiders, he went to college, met a woman, and now lives in the city. I ended up stuck in the county, marrying a decent man, having children, and staying, with the people I despised while growing up.” She shook her head. “Don’t get me wrong, I’ve made some strong friendships. But while I was in school, I didn’t like some of the ‘politics’ that happened in this county.”
She sipped her tea and set the cup down. “Like the accident. If it had been local kids who’d wrecked a car and one was killed, it would have been in the papers for months, and I would have learned what had happened to Benjamin. But it was in the paper the week after it happened and that was it. As if because it wasn’t someone who lived here, it was of no importance.”
She stabbed the fork into her cake. “It was important to me. I had fallen hard for Benjamin the week he and his family camped at the lake. He came into the ice cream shop every day, usually when it was time for my break, and we’d talk. It was my fault he had the accident. I encouraged him to come to the party. I knew it was the only way I’d get to spend more time with him. When I wasn’t at work, everywhere I went I had to take Barney with me. It was my parents’ way of making sure I had a chaperone all the time.”
Hawke understood her frustration and thinking she’d get more time with the boy. “What about when Lange became Assistant D.A.? Did you two recognize one another right off?”
“We did. But we were both married. Then my husband died. We kept our relationship as friends until his wife ran off with Travis.” She scowled. “I’m sorry his marriage didn’t work, but I’m glad she left. I wouldn’t have wanted to be the cause of their break up.” Sarah peered at him. “I think if I’d been responsible for another tragedy in his life, he would have never forgiven me.”
“Do your kids like Mr. Lange?” Hawke asked.
“So far, Jared is the only one who has actually met him. The other two have left the nest. But I’ve told them about him. They understand, it’s been five years since their father died, and they don’t want me to be all alone when Jared graduates and moves on.” She smiled. “This weekend when Benjamin stayed with me, we talked about him selling his house and moving in with me. He said all he has are bad memories living in that house by the lake.”
“Have you told anyone else about this arrangement?” He didn’t want to come out and ask if her brother knew. Which brought up another thought.
“Didn’t you realize the man arraigned on hunting with an illegal tag was your brother?”
She dropped the fork, clattering it on the plate. “He told me it was all Duane Sigler’s fault for giving him a bad tag.”
“When did you talk to him?” Hawke had a suspicion the man had still been in the county the night Sigler died.
“The night he was arraigned. He stayed with us.” She stared at him. “Why?”
“That tag had Benjamin Lange’s name and address. It had been purchased with a credit card set-up in Mr. Lange’s name. But it wasn’t purchased by the D.A. Someone tried to frame him for selling the tag to Sigler. Who is now dead. A phone that Ms. Wallen said was missing, was used to called Sigler the night he died. Dennis Brooks, the man, who was getting me the name of the person who had the phone, was killed.” He watched the woman’s eyes widen and her mouth form an expression of disbelief. “And Ralph Bremmer, one of the locals at the party that night long ago, was killed. According to Toby Gehry, it was Ralph’s idea to drug Lange that night, but I discovered it was your brother that kept you from getting into the car with Lange and his friend.”
“You think...You....” Sarah shoved the plate of cake away and stared at it.
“Of the ones who seemed to know what was going on that night, Toby and your brother are the only two still alive. Did you tell your brother you and Lange were back together?”
“He wouldn’t. Why would he? He has a wonderful life. He’d never want to mess that up,” she said, rather than answer his question.
“Do you know where he is now?” Hawke pulled out his logbook.
“As far as I know he’s gone back to Gresham. Isabelle, his wife hasn’t called and asked where he is.” She folded her hands on the table. “What should I do?”
“I don’t know for sure he killed anyone, but he is a possible suspect. I don’t understand how he could have had access to the courthouse.” Hawke had a lot to think about and more trails to find to get to the truth.
“He helped clean the courthouse when he was in middle school. Mom never said so, but I think it was a punishment for something he’d done at school.” Sarah slid to the side of the booth. “Can I go? I really have to finish that typing for Judge Vickers tonight. He needs the report for court in the morning.”
“Just make me a promise. If your brother calls, don’t tell him what I’ve told you and try to find out where he is and call me.”
She nodded. “He took Benjamin away from me once. I won’t let him do it again.”