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After Price was put in the back of Deputy Alden’s car. Hawke asked Toby, “You want to ride to the sheriff’s department with me?”
Toby stared at Price. “I don’t have to be with him, do I?”
“No, you’re only being questioned. He’s under arrest.” Hawke turned to Officer Profitt. “Don’t let anyone in or out of the house or near the Jeep. I’m going to get a warrant. We need to find the gun and the evidence that proves he kidnapped Ms. Wallen.”
Hawke led Toby to his pickup. “Did you see Barney with a gun?”
The man nodded.
“When?”
“He gave it to Dad before he went to work. He told him to put it in D.A. Lange’s office. Where it would be found.” Toby stared at his feet. “Dad didn’t want to, but Barney laughed at him and said, ‘Toby is all you have old man.’ I don’t know what he meant, but Dad’s face went white, and he took the gun.”
“Come on.” Hawke closed the door on his passenger and rounded the hood of the cab while talking on his phone.
“Donner. Write up a warrant to search Earl Gehry’s house and Toby Gehry’s Jeep. We arrested Price but need to find all the proof against him.” Hawke slid behind the wheel of his pickup and followed Deputy Alden to the Sheriff’s Office.
At the jail entrance to the building, Hawke told Alden to hold Price in booking and have Toby wait in the interview room. He’d be back.
Hawke walked over to the courthouse and tried the back door. It swung open. Did Earl always leave the door unlocked?
The rumble of a cart rolling on the second floor drew Hawke to the stairs. Halfway up, he heard voices. A man and a woman’s. He slowed his ascent and listened.
“What are you doing?” the man’s voice, Earl asked.
“Looking for that gun.”
Hawke tensed. What was she doing at the courthouse so late?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Earl said.
“The gun Barney Price gave you. I know you have it. Toby told me.” The authority in Ms. Wallen’s voice proved she’d known more about the whole thing than she’d ever let on.
“Toby takes drugs. He doesn’t know what he’s saying most of the time.” Earl said the words almost convincingly. But not quite. He couldn’t talk bad about his son.
Ms. Wallen laughed. “Who do you think gives him the drugs?” A pause. “Don’t look so surprised. He’s the one who’s been helping me build a case against my boss. He’s the one helping me get the District Attorney position.”
“I don’t understand?” Earl said, the rumble of his cart excelled. He appeared at the top of the stairs and continued on down to the first floor.
Hawke burst by him and found Ms. Wallen digging through Earl’s cart.
“What are you looking for Ms. Wallen?” he asked.
Her body stiffened, and she swung around. “That man, Earl, I believe he is the one who has been killing everyone.” Her hand continued to dig through the trash bag hanging on the cart.
If she got her hand on the gun, he knew she’d use it on him and blame it on Earl.
He pulled his Glock for the second time in one night. “Get your hands in front of you where I can see them.”
She slowly pulled the one in the bag out. It was empty.
“Next to the wall, both hands on the wall above your head,” he said, walking closer.
She walked over to the wall and placed her hands as he’d requested. “I’m not the criminal here. It’s Lange. He had the janitor take his gun. I bet if you look in his office, you’ll find the files and my computer. He’s the one behind all of these killings.”
Hawke grabbed one hand and slapped his cuff on it, then the other one. He walked her over to the top of the stairs. He started to holler for Earl when the janitor and Deputy Alden appeared at the foot of the stairs.
“Earl, come show me where the gun is.” Hawke handed Ms. Wallen over to Alden. “Take her to a holding cell, but far enough from Price they can’t talk.”
Alden nodded and escorted the Assistant D.A. down the stairs.
“The gun’s in that tool box.” Earl pointed to an old rusty tool box on the bottom of the cart.
“Toby told me Price threatened killing him if you didn’t put the gun in the D.A.’s office.” Hawke pulled out his phone and took a photo of the box. Then he picked up the tool box and opened it. The gun sat on top. He snapped another photo and closed the lid, tucking the box under his arm. “I’ll need you to give a statement, just like Toby.”
Earl nodded.
“Can you unlock D.A. Lange’s office? I think Ms. Wallen left incriminating evidence in there.”
The janitor walked over and unlocked the door.
Hawke walked in, flicked the light on, and scanned the area. The man had everything in its place. Which meant the files sitting on the file cabinet had to be what the woman had planted. He took photos of that and then picked up the files, flipping through the papers. Bingo.
“Come on Earl, let’s go put all the pieces together.”
«»«»«»
Hawke sat in the room with Price. It was noon the next day. They’d let him sit in a cell while they processed the house, Jeep, and the weapon.
Donner was talking with Ms. Wallen, whom they’d let stew overnight in a cell as well.
Price had his lips clamped shut.
“We have the gun. The one you told Earl Gehry to plant in District Attorney Lange’s office. The one you stole from Lange’s vehicle.”
Price shook his head.
“No? We have both Toby and Earl’s statements that say you threatened Toby’s life if Earl didn’t put the gun in Lange’s office. And since you had possession of a weapon that has been proven to be the gun that shot the bullets that killed, Duane Sigler, Dennis Brooks, and Ralph Bremmer, we have you on three counts of homicide.”
“I didn’t take the gun.” Price stared at him. “Toby did.”
“I know. You bullied him, just like back when you told him to take that beer to Benjamin Lange at the party. A beer you’d put a large dose of cocaine in.” Hawke studied the man. He didn’t show any remorse.
“Why did you do that? He was causing no harm.”
Price leaned forward, slamming his handcuffed, fisted hands on the table. “He was an outsider. My sister and Millie acted like they’d never seen a boy before. They both hung all over him. He was nothing. He’d be leaving in a few days. They needed to pay attention to those of us who would be there for them.”
“Are you sure you weren’t jealous? Jealous that he had a car and could summer at the lake and live somewhere else? You were stuck in the county, with parents who lived like hippies, and a sister who was happy with the way things were. But you weren’t, were you?” Hawke knew a bit of the jealousy the boy felt. He’d had it whenever the sport teams would travel to other towns and he’d see nice houses, a nice school, and bleachers filled with parents cheering for their kids. Few of the reservation parents attended the sporting events. They were the minority and didn’t like to deal with non-reservation people.
“I hated it here!” Price spit the words out. “I hated my parents, was jealous of Sarah who fit in.” He slammed his hands down again. “I made it out. I used a track scholarship to get the hell out of here and make a new life.”
“What do you think your wife and children are going to say when they discover your jealousy and hatred killed three people?” Hawke never did understand the craziness that made a person with so much, do something that ripped not only their world apart but their family’s world as well.
He dropped his face into his hands and sobbed.
“The best thing to do for you and for them is to tell me everything.” Hawke had already started the recording device. He pulled over a pad of paper and poised a pen over it.
Price finally pulled himself together. “It started when Ms. Wallen contacted me. She wanted to know about the party her boss attended the night he’d killed his best friend. It brought back all that anger I’d felt. Then a couple days later, Sarah called and was telling my wife about how she’d reconnected with a boy from her past. When I heard who it was... I had to make sure he suffered.”
“That’s what I don’t understand. Did you or Ms. Wallen get the credit card in Lange’s name? I’m assuming it was she who used a computer at the La Grande library to purchase the elk tag and the person who sent it to Sigler, trying to implicate her boss in impropriety.”
“Yes, the tag was all her idea. I went along because I wanted him to feel what it was like to have something you wanted ripped away from you.” His red-rimmed eyes stared at his hands.
“Why did you kill Sigler? Did he figure out something was wrong when he called Lange and the D.A. denied knowing about the tag?” Hawke had puzzled out a lot of what happened. But they needed Price to say it.
“He did call Lange. But the secretary wouldn’t let Duane talk to him. She put him through to Rachel. She told Sigler she’d get to the bottom of it, then called me and told me something had to be done about Duane. And she knew where Lange kept a gun.”
“That’s when you bullied Toby into taking the gun from Lange’s car.”
“He’d always been a wuss. It helped Rachel was supplying him, so he did anything we asked him to do.”
“Except kill.” Toby had said the two had tried to talk him into killing the first man.
“Yeah. I knew he was too much of a coward for that.” The whole time Price was talking, he kept his head bent, his gaze on his hands. It was apparent now that he’d been caught, he wanted to unburden but not see condemnation in anyone’s eyes.
“Dennis is the one I don’t understand,” Hawke said, opening the door for that murder.
“He figured out that Rachel had lied about losing her first phone. She’d started using it to call me and Sigler and realized it could be traced to her. So she said she’d lost it and was given a new phone. Brooks called her and asked her about the first phone. Said he wanted to know the truth before he saw you. She set up a meeting with him in the high school parking lot. But I rolled up and acted like I was just going to ask him a question and...”
Hawke hated it was his curiosity over the phone that caused Dennis Brooks’ death. “And the killing continued.”
“Yeah. That damn Duane had told Bremmer about the elk tag. He called Rachel trying to blackmail her. She set up the meeting at the barn. Figured we got away with one murder there, might get just as lucky with the second.”
“What I don’t understand is why did you turn on Ms. Wallen?” Hawke had been trying to make sense of his attack on the one person who’s help he could count on.
“She said she had enough to get what she wanted. That I needed to go home and forget what had happened. But I’d done all the killing. She wasn’t near as dirty as I was. When I told her I wanted her written word she’d not turn me over to the police, she laughed. ‘It’s your butt in a sling not mine.’ Those were her words. She would have turned me in as soon as anyone thought to look at her.”
“But you didn’t kill her?”
“I didn’t have the gun. It was at Toby’s. I figured no one would find her before she froze to death.” He glanced up. “I figured sure as shit when I heard she’d been found the cops would have been all over me.”
“She said she didn’t know who attacked her.” Hawke studied him. The man was astonished.
“Why do you think she didn’t turn on me?”
“Because she is just as much a part of the murders as you pulling the trigger. She knew that, but you didn’t.” Hawke leaned back in his chair. “Are you happy knowing you will be locked up for life and your sister will go on living her life? One you tried to ruin because of your unhappiness?”
Price stared at him as Hawke walked to the door. He called in the deputy standing outside the door. “Watch him until I get back with his statement to sign.”
He walked over to the room where Donner was questioning Ms. Wallen. A door at the end of the hall opened and Donner walked toward him.
“What did she tell you?” Hawke asked.
“That Price coerced her into helping him.” Donner’s eyebrows rose.
“Do you believe her?” Hawke believed Price’s version. He had nothing to gain by lying.
“Not all of it. She was not only after Lange’s job but she also felt she was getting revenge for her cousin’s loss of life at the hands of Lange. Her words.”
“Before you take her statement in to be signed, you might want to read Price’s.” Hawke said.
“Better yet, you print out Price’s and go have a talk with her.” Donner ripped up the pages he had in his hands.
Hawke liked the idea of seeing how the woman wiggled her way out of the truth. “I’ll just use my notes. I want to conduct my interview before she has time to think about what Price might have said.”
He stepped into the room.
Ms. Wallen stopped picking her cuticles and smiled. “I really don’t understand what is taking so long for Trooper Donner to get my statement to sign.”
“While we’re waiting, I have a couple more questions that came up during my interview with Price.”
Her eyes widened before she hid her feelings. “What questions are those? You know he is the one who hit me and left me to die?”
“How do you know that? You didn’t know who hit you when we found you.” He smoothed the notepad as he placed it on the table in front of him.
She trained her gaze on the paper. He’d been sure to leave a blank piece on top, allowing him to flip through the pages underneath for his notes.
“I was so cold and he’d knocked me in the head. They do say the head is a computer. I think the hit short circuited my memory. But I remember it now. Price was the one who hit me and left me to die. Will that go on his arrest sheet? Attempted murder?”
“That along with you being an accomplice in the other three murders.”
“I what? You are mistaken. I had nothing to do with him killing those people.” She tried to look innocent but to Hawke it only made her look more guilty.
“How did Price know where to find D.A. Lange’s handgun?” Hawke watched her.
Her hands were clenched tight enough to give her white knuckles. “I’m sure his sister told him.”
Hawke shook his head. “She didn’t know about the gun.” He flipped a page on the notepad. “And you were the one who contacted Price about getting information on Lange to put him out of office and hoist you into his place.”
“I started my investigation to help my mom find closure.”
“Started it for that. But when you realized it was a way for you to move up the ladder quicker, and get money to help with your mother’s doctor bills, you began the campaign to discredit the district attorney.” Hawke picked out each word she misused and used it against her.
“He is a killer. He should have been charged with manslaughter for my cousin Wally’s death.” Her indignation didn’t fool Hawke.
“He was a boy. A boy who by your own records was drugged and didn’t know. Several people told me he only had one drink. Not enough to impair him as much as the accident details show. And the records from his hospitalization back then showed he had drugs in his system.”
“I’d like a lawyer.” Ms. Wallen stared at him her mouth crimped shut.
He could tell there would be no more coming from her, but she knew they had all they needed to get her charged with the murders as well as Barney Price.
Hawke turned off the recording device and picked up his notebook. “It’s people like you that give lawyers a bad reputation.”
He walked out of the room.
Donner met him, waving some papers. “Price signed his statement.”
“She did break. Lawyered up.” Hawke tapped the notebook. “She didn’t like what I was asking her.”
“I read through Price’s statement. All of this stemmed from his unhappy childhood.” Donner shook his head. “I’m surprised we aren’t putting more people behind bars if that is all that sets them off.”
“Everyone has their own way of dealing with their past. Just like a rattlesnake they can choose to change their path or they can strike. Price chose to strike.”
Hawke drove to the office in Winslow and typed up his report.
“You have three days coming to you,” Spruel said, stopping by Hawke’s desk.
“I was hoping to get a full two.” He’d had to cut his days off short since the murder of Sigler.
“Take three. The large game season is winding down. The others can handle things. You just solved a triple homicide.” Spruel walked away and stopped. “By the way. Good job.”
“Thanks.” Hawke turned off his monitor and his phone buzzed.
Dani.
“Hello,” he answered.
“Hi. I decided to have a dinner party tomorrow night. You interested?” she asked without preamble.
“Who all is invited?” He wasn’t sure he wanted to spend one night of his time off with people he didn’t know.
“Kitree, Sage, Tuck, and Justine.”
At Kitree’s name he was interested. He missed the girl. Sage and Tuck made sense since they were now Kitree’s family. Justine....
“That’s an interesting group.”
“I just wanted my closest friends.”
He heard something in her voice. “Since when is Justine a close friend?”
“Since we bonded over our friendship with you.”
Hawke groaned.
“Is that a yes?”
«»«»«»
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Coming Fall 2019
Chattering Blue Jay
Book 4
Killer on the loose.
Tracking Rivalry.
Conceit could get them killed.
Fish and Wildlife Oregon State Trooper Gabriel Hawke is teaching a Master Tracking class at a law enforcement conference in Idaho when a dangerous inmate breaks out of prison. The man was last seen floating down the Snake River headed to Hells Canyon.
Hawke is enlisted to find the escapee, but a rival at the conference takes off on his own to try and find the man before Hawke. The man’s over confidence has the trackers becoming the tracked.