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Greenfield, Massachusetts—April, 2023
Karen knocked on the Chief’s door. He grunted in acknowledgment, and she walked in. “Yesterday, Steve Wyman was spotted by campus security at Virginia Tech. They tried to chase him on foot, but they lost him. The Blacksburg police got involved, but they couldn’t find him or his car. They’ve alerted the Virginia Staties.”
Chief Reyes’s phone range and he answered it, holding up his finger for Karen to wait a moment. He said, “Cuff him,” and hung up the phone. “Steven Wyman is out front. Wants to turn himself in.”
Karen spun around and quickly walked out to the front desk. “Steven Wyman, I’m arresting you on suspicion for the murder of Paul Combs.” She cuffed him, read him his rights, and escorted him into an interview room. “Can you afford an attorney?”
“I don’t need one.”
“Yes, you do. This is a murder charge. Can you afford an attorney? Can you call your father and have him get an attorney down here?”
“I definitely don’t want any lawyer my father sends. This is all his fault. I can’t afford a lawyer, I’m just a college student.”
“You will be assigned an attorney.” She had an officer escort Steven to the lockup, while she called for a public defender.
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KAREN CARRIED OUT THE interview alone. The Chief didn’t want it to appear as though they were intimidating the young man. Chief Reyes and ADA Chen observed from behind the one-way mirror. Karen re-read Steven his rights while being recorded, and acknowledged the presence of the public defender, Cicily Barnes. Mr. Wyman, you are here because you are suspected of killing Paul Combs and burying him in a tunnel.”
Steven looked at his lawyer and she nodded. He said, “I admit that I killed a guy and buried him in the tunnel. I killed him because he was about to kill Katrina Ryu. If I hadn’t killed him, Katrina would be dead.”
“Please tell me everything that happened, leading up to your killing of Paul Combs.”
“I was home from school for a long weekend, staying with my father in Shelburne. I overheard a conversation there implying that someone was being sent to Greenfield to kill Katrina. They expected her to be going to the police station there. I grabbed a rifle from my father’s gun safe and drove to Greenfield. I parked at the High Street end of Stone Farm Lane. I walked up the Poet’s Seat Mountain trail to a spot where I could look down on the police station, on High Street.”
Steven took a few gulps of his Mountain Dew. “I could see Roo walking up High Street on the other side of the street from the police station.”
“By Roo, you are referring to Katrina Ryu?”
“Yes, Katrina Ryu. I don’t think there’s a sidewalk on the side with the police station. I saw leaves shaking in the bushes in front of the far side of the police station parking lot. I looked through my rifle scope and could see a guy aiming his rifle at Katrina, so I shot him.”
“How many times did you shoot?” asked Karen.
“Once. Just one shot to his head.”
“Why didn’t you report the incident to the police right then and there?”
“I probably should have. I wasn’t thinking clearly. I had just killed a man!”
“Why did you turn yourself in today?”
“After I shot the guy, I waited till dark and pulled the guy out of the bushes and into my car. I was right in the police station parking lot! I was really stressed out. I drove to the tunnel access on Oak Street. I dragged him into the tunnel and buried him with my bare hands. Then, I took off and drove to school.”
“That’s Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia?”
“Yes. When I got there, I saw that the police were after me. They chased me. I realized that if I can’t go to school, and I can’t live my life, what’s the point? I didn’t do anything wrong. I need to clear my name.”
“Who was involved in the conversation you heard that implied that Katrina Ryu would be killed in Greenfield?”
Steve hesitated and looked at his lawyer. She shook her head. “No comment,” he replied.
“Mr. Wyman, the person who is behind the attempt on Katrina Ryu’s life is not in custody, and therefore, they are in a position to try again. Maybe they’ll succeed the next time,” said Karen. “Just like you said, if Ms. Ryu can’t go to school and can’t live her life, what’s the point?”
“No comment.”
“Did you participate in the construction of unauthorized tunnels in Greenfield?”
“Um, yes, I did.” Steven hung his head.
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LILI SHOWED GIL THE latest family tree chart she had received from Jeanie. “This is so intriguing,” said Lili. “I’m anxious to see what Martha’s whole family tree looks like.”
Lili, Gil, Karen, and Karen’s husband Jeff went to dinner at The Farm Table restaurant in Bernardston, Mass. “Here’s to solving the case of the mole people!” said Karen. They all clinked glasses. “That was one of the strangest cases I’ve ever worked.”
“What about Kevin Clarion’s murder?” asked Gil.
“There’s an arrest warrant on Keith Wyman for murder and conspiracy to commit murder, but he’s in the wind,” said Karen. “We think that he was trying to kill his son’s friends because they knew too much about the prepper tunnel he was building. Special Agent Davis said that, when they catch him, Wyman might be eligible for less than a life sentence if he testifies about whatever scheme was being been cooked up by Representative Borden Ritchie. That’s still under investigation, and it’s bound to be big news sometime over the next few weeks. Oh, and there’s some bad news for you, Gil. The Chief says that, since you found the gold artifacts as a police consultant on state land, the state owns the artifacts. However the good news is, since the items were stolen from the Indigenous Americans, it’s been agreed that the items should be returned to them.”
“I think that’s very good news,” said Gil. “That’s exactly what I recommended to Chief Reyes.”
“I think there will be some sort of ceremony,” said Karen.