CHAPTER 14

 

The morning after her tour of Sheriff Foley’s antiques, Amanda sat at her uncle’s kitchen table drinking a cup of coffee. Earlier she had given Ken her account of what had happened and realized in the process that she would have to level with Alan as well. Although Alan would no doubt be pissed that she’d gone against his order not to mess with the sheriff, he would be even angrier with her for holding back on him and not being truthful. Not a good way to begin their new partnership.

Her uncle had been shocked and vengeful after hearing of Foley’s attempted assault on her. His first impulse had been to report Foley and “make the bastard pay for trying to molest my niece.” But Amanda pointed out that having the incident to hold over the sheriff’s head would be much more valuable and that the case could potentially be compromised if she reported the incident. Her uncle had reluctantly agreed.

Amanda started to call Alan with her report but decided to put it off until after she phoned Nick. She hadn’t spoken to him since their first meeting and was curious how he was holding up. She picked up her phone and punched in his cell number. She got his voicemail and left a message for him to call her.

Heaving a sigh, she called Alan.

“I was just getting ready to call you,” he answered.

“How’s it going in Massachusetts?”

“Pretty well. I’m heading back to Columbus actually—my flight’s in twenty minutes. Got a lot to tell you, but first you tell me how the case is going.”

“Well, I think Blaine is a bust. I found out that he was in fact mowing lawns the morning of Jodi’s murder. That is if we can believe his Facebook posts.”

“That’s how you corroborated his alibi—social media?” Alan said, the cynicism obvious in his voice.

“Well, yes—I did. You don’t think that’s viable? Do you want me to use a more traditional method instead?”

Amanda knew she sounded defensive because she was.

“Oh, no—that’s fine. Just a little subject to uh, some doubt. I mean, the guy could just as easily have posted that the world was going to end at midnight. That’s all I’m saying.”

“I guess you’re right. But I just don’t think that Blaine—”

“Is bright enough to fake his whereabouts on Facebook in order to create a solid alibi? I agree—the guy’s a freaking dimwit. In fact, I think you probably just saved a lot of time by going that route.”

“I’m glad you said that. For a minute I thought you were making fun of me. And I was going to remind you that using Facebook was how I found out what he looks like. That saved a lot of time, too.”

“It no doubt did. So what else have you been up to?”

“Well, I checked out the memory card you found in Jodi’s trunk and it was blank. Another dead-end, I’m afraid.”

“Shit. Oh well, anything else?”

“You’re gonna be mad at me.”

There was a brief pause. “Why’s that?”

“I sort of did a little investigation of the sheriff.”

“Don’t tell me he found you out,” Alan said dismally.

“Oh, nothing like that. I didn’t tail him or anything—I just sort of happened to run into him at one of the local night clubs.”

She proceeded to tell Alan all that had happened, up to the appearance of the sheriff’s son, before they had left Foley’s house.

“Brilliant!” he said. “So you practically threw yourself at the guy just to pump him for information? Don’t you think that was a little risky, Amanda?”

“Maybe a little. At least I found out that he has no eyewitnesses who saw Nick around Jodi’s that morning. It was just a rumor after all. That’s pretty important if you ask me.”

“I agree—assuming that Foley is telling the truth. But even if he is, you shouldn’t have put yourself in harm’s way like that—especially after I specifically told you not to get mixed up with him.”

“I’m pretty sure he’s telling the truth, first of all. He has no reason not to when you think about it. What would he have to gain? Secondly, yes I went against your orders and I apologize for that. But I wouldn’t have done it if I didn’t think I could handle myself. The man is gargantuan, and therefore incredibly slow on his feet—especially after a few drinks. I knew I could handle him and I did. It’s all good, Alan.”

“Okay, I’m not gonna make a big deal out of this. And I’d be lying if I said that what you found out isn’t important. But you have to promise me that you’ll lay off and let things cool down with the sheriff, okay? He could give you a real hard time, trust me—especially now that you have basically emasculated him.”

“I promise, I’m done with the sheriff. Now for the interesting part. Right before we left his home, his son suddenly showed up. Name’s Mark. Mark said he’d just dropped by to pick up some beer and it was quite obvious that the sheriff was not pleased with his lousy timing. Now guess what his son was driving.”

“What?”

“A sheriff’s department patrol car—and he is not on the force.”

“Hmm. So you think he could be a suspect.”

“Could be. I mean, we know that there was a cruiser in the area of the Wilburn home that morning and that the sheriff seemed put off when he’d heard that. Maybe his son has something to do with all of this.”

“Sounds like a long shot. But on the other hand, not a total impossibility. You going to follow up on it?”

“Yup. I’ve already found out where Mark lives. But before I do anything else I’m going to see what I can find out about him. Uncle Ken told me he’s pretty sure that Foley is a realtor. Works for Chapter/Palmer Realty on the hilltop. I think I’ll go do a little snooping around their office.”

“Sounds good. But be careful if you tail him—if he sees you he might mention it to Daddy.”

“I sort of doubt he’d do that. The two don’t seem to get along very well. In fact, I don’t think they’re particularly fond of one another from what I saw.”

“Well, keep me informed. Without going into details, I’m going to do the job for Ron Fleming. I’ll tell you more but I can’t right now.”

“Why do I have a feeling you’ve sworn to not speak about it on your iPhone?”

“Because you’d be absolutely right. Since I’m now working for the man, I have to abide by his rules.”

“Can I ask you something?”

“Sure, what?”

“Do you really think I can handle this case? Or are you just letting me go through the motions until you can come back down and take over?”

“That’s ridiculous—of course I think you can handle it or I wouldn’t have left you there. In fact, I’m impressed with how much you have accomplished in just twenty-four hours. I’ll admit I was a hesitant at first about doing this, but now I truly feel that the case is in capable hands.”

Amanda wondered if he could tell she was beaming right now. “Thanks for saying that, Alan. It really means a lot to me. And I promise I won’t let you down.”

“I know you won’t. I do miss you, though.”

“I miss you, too. So hurry up and do whatever you have to do for Fleming and get your ass back down here to God’s country, okay?”

“You got it. Better go now. I’ll call you when I’m back in Columbus. Take care.”

“Okay, bye.”

Amanda took a sip of coffee, relieved that Alan hadn’t raked her over the coals about the sheriff incident. She felt that part of the reason he hadn’t been overly angry was because he already knew first hand that she was capable of defending herself. She could still see the shocked look on his face after she had overpowered the murderer in his last big case. Those self-defense courses had saved the day—and quite possibly her life.

No time to gloat, she thought guiltily. After draining her coffee she showered, got dressed and started up Ken’s Jeep.

 

After ending the call from Amanda, Alan stood up, awaiting the call for first class passengers to board. It had been a whirlwind morning from the moment he had awakened to the sound of waves crashing the shore through Ron Fleming’s open spare bedroom window. He had no sooner arisen to scope out the view than there was a knock on the door. It was Natalie calling him down to breakfast.

The meal, consisting of eggs Benedict, English muffins, crisp bacon, hash browns and freshly ground gourmet coffee had been delicious but brief. As they ate, Fleming had apologized for ending Alan’s visit so hastily and promised to invite him back after he had completed his work in Columbus. Alan expressed his regret for not having more time to stay and agreed to return to make up for it.

Half and hour later Natalie had driven him to the airport and wished him well. On his way to the terminal he wondered if there was more going on between her and Fleming beyond her caregiver/housekeeping relationship. He sort of doubted it, but one never knows.

He boarded the plane and throughout the flight reflected on the game plan Fleming had devised and focused on what he was to do when he arrived in Columbus. The first thing on the agenda was to make contact with some of the people who were actively using children for sex—the clients, so to speak. Fleming had hacked his way into a deep web chat room where local participants traded stories about their sexual escapades with kids as if they were discussing their best game of golf on the links. In the transcript Fleming showed him, the dialogue was detailed and disgusting, nearly making him sick to his stomach. To read in detail the blow-by-blow account of an adult man sexually assaulting a child as young as seven years old had been mind-numbing. Then reading another man’s reply that he had had an even better experience doing this and that with yet another child had left Alan’s heart heavy and filled with anger.

Somehow he was to mingle with the likes of this subhuman species in this chat room and act as though he was as demented as they were. Alan’s first thought was that he couldn’t do it. He was no actor by any stretch of the imagination and they would be on to him as soon as he typed his first text. Fleming promptly countered; telling him that all he had to do was remember what he was doing this for and that would be sufficient to get him through.

Alan still had his doubts.

At any rate, if and when it seemed he had been accepted as one of the group, he was to attempt to find out the source for these exploited children. Fleming informed him that contact info regarding the suppliers was never discussed on the chat line and would therefore have to be initiated in person. It was Fleming’s hope that after Alan gained their trust he could set up a meeting with these people. Then he would attempt to find out how to go about procuring a victim for his own use. He would “place his order,” so to speak and hope to hit pay dirt.

Alan knew this plan was rife with potential problems. To present himself as a pedophile in search of some action would be difficult enough. Then to do it convincingly enough for somebody to share his source of child victims was even more of a stretch. Furthermore, this all had to be carried out as quickly as possible, before the trail went cold.

But there was yet another problem. Due to recent local media coverage resulting from a couple of his cases, there was a good chance he would be recognized and the whole case would be compromised. When he had mentioned this possibility to Fleming, Alan’s client had simply smiled and replied, “then just do whatever it takes to make yourself unrecognizable.”

Right.

This had set Alan’s wheels turning into overdrive.