“Yeah…” Gibson took a sip from his coffee. “It seems more confusing than before. If someone killed them, why dump the car, but not the bodies? If they’re alive, why didn’t they come forward? If someone is holding them, why haven’t we found any leads as to where? There's been no ransom request... ”
“Yes,” Clark agreed, throwing her empty coffee cup in the bin. “Maybe we should change the way we work the case. Maybe we should approach it from a different angle.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Gibson said, and headed towards the car.
Chapter 7
Asa and Todd returned to the field office together and once again looked through the case files. There must be some hidden kernel of truth in them somewhere, but it was escaping their attention. She had memorized nearly every word in those files, but she still wasn’t able to fit the pieces together.
Gibson finally went back to his office, leaving Clark to deal with the case on her own.
She took an hour break for lunch and then returned to the office to plan her next move. She asked Ann for assistance and decided to move the investigation to the next logical place, the city morgue. She had already been assigned a car, so she drove the ten blocks to the morgue.
The place was just the same as the many other morgues she had visited over the years, but it still made her shiver. She hated the sight of death and the smell of it. In her mind, the smell of antiseptic was connected to the image of dead bodies. Asa took a deep breath and walked inside the building, heading directly to the front desk.
“Hello,” she greeted the woman behind the desk and took out her FBI badge. “Agent Clark, FBI. Can you tell me if any John Does have been brought in?”
The woman looked carefully at her badge, then lowered her gaze to the computer in front of her. “I will call the manager for you, Agent Clark,” she said politely. “I don’t have the authority to release that information on my own without a supervisor.”
Asa agreed to wait and walked in the direction the woman pointed. The smell of disinfectant here was even stronger, but the agent started to get used to it and resolved to ignore it. The manager didn’t make her wait for long, and the FBI agent was called into his office by the time she made it down the hall to his door.
“Agent Clark.” The middle-aged man offered his hand. “I’m Dr. Richards. How can I help you?”
“Nice to meet you, Doctor.” Asa returned the handshake and sat down in the chair he offered. “I need information about any unidentified bodies that have arrived at the morgue in the last week.”
“Sorry Agent, but we haven’t seen a body in weeks,” the man commented. “In fact, the last few months has been very peaceful, with only expected deaths of the elderly and such.”
“I see,” Asa said, both relieved and disappointed. The morgue was just another dead end. “Well, thank you anyway, and please, contact me directly if there is anything new to report.” Doctor Richards promised to do just that and accompanied Asa out of the morgue.
The FBI agent took her time walking to the car. The case was getting more and more complex without anything of note happening. The very few leads she had were leading her nowhere, so she went back over in her mind what she usually did when solving a case.
“What should I do now?” Asa asked herself, frustrated at the lack of evidence. Deciding that going back to review the files again would be a waste of time, so she headed towards the center of the city. Unsure of what to do next and wanting to clear her head, Asa decided to take a walk and look around the main street of the town. She rolled her eyes at the very idea of Asa Clark shopping for fun.
People were walking all around her and bemused, Asa wondered to herself as the people noticed her, smiled and often shared a nod, wave or cheery greeting.
“Enough,” she said to herself. “Back to the computer and searching the internet for connections to the fires, the disappearances and the missing agents.” She retrieved the car and went back to the office, wondering if there would be any staff available to help her search the web.
Chapter 8
The next morning, Asa woke up after a good night’s sleep, ready to start work anew. The incident in the bar from first night was forgotten, the dead ends of yesterday from the car and the morgue chalked up as part of the larger story. Her determination to solve the case had returned with a new force. She showered, dressed, ate her breakfast quickly and was already planning her tactics as she left the hotel. The walk to the FBI field office was relaxing and Asa used the atmosphere to gather her strength for the hours to follow. She had already decided what to do next, and that was giving her the confidence to face Gibson again.
“Agent Gibson, oh sorry—Todd,” she greeted him as she entered his office. “I’m all loaded up and ready to go out to the site where the car was found.”
She had already called ahead and informed him of her plans for the day and Gibson had agreed to take her out to where a local farmer had found the car.
“I’ll be with you in ten minutes, make sure we have everything we might need. We’ll want to take some food and drinks—we won’t find any cafes out there.”
Agent Clark walked back out, closing the door behind her and double checking the provisions.
Gibson was ready half an hour later and climbed into the car without another word. Asa put the car into motion and drove away, heading towards the national forest. She had already checked out the direction, so there was no need to ask questions or pick up a conversation. According to the map, it was going to take a good two hours to reach the site where the car was dumped. It looked as if it was going to be a long and potentially quiet drive.
After they left the city and drove out through the valley a ways, Asa couldn’t help but notice the towering mountain ranges on either side of them. She remarked on how wonderful the scenery was just to break the silence and Gibson agreed that it was magnificent.
“So, tell me about yourself.” Todd broke the silence as they drove on.
“What do you want to know?” she asked, surprised.
“We have a two-hour drive in front of us,” Gibson commented. “I'm just looking for something to talk about.”
“How’s your head today?” she asked in return, and he gave her a rueful grin.
“Come on… anything but that!” Chuckling, he said, “Turns out that was quite a crack he gave me, but apart from the headache, it seems okay.”
She drove in silence for a bit, obviously in thought, so he didn’t interrupt.
“Okay, let's see, what can I tell you about myself?” She decided to try to open up. “I am a big city girl, but as I told you the other day, my mother is from this area. She made sure to teach me about the earth and how important it is to stay connected to it. I am very proud of my origins, if that is what you want to know. When I was young, I used to spend every summer with my mother’s family by Flathead Lake. It was something I always looked forward to and taught me how to stay grounded.”
“Geez, I'm almost jealous,” Todd admitted. “The most exciting thing I did during my childhood was go to a space camp.”
“I am sorry to hear that,” Asa said, laughing. “But actually, I kind of always wanted to go to a space camp.” Gibson laughed at her comment and she continued.
“When I finished college, I went to Quantico and became an FBI agent. The rest, as they say, is history. So tell me, how long have you served at the field office here in Kalispell?”
Gibson easily started his own story.
“It's already been five years since I was sent to this office,” he shared. “But I really like it here. It's different here, you know? The atmosphere or something. There was a time when I longed for more excitement, but now I'm more than happy with the job. Small towns and knowing all the locals suits me fine these days.”
“Lucky you,” Asa commented. “It's not that often that I meet people who love what they are doing.”
“I never said I love it, just that I’m happy wi
th it. Content, I guess.” Gibson laughed at her assumption. “I'm just normal really. With the passing of the years, I have learned to be happy… no, content… with what I have.”
“And the people here? What do you think about them?” Asa continued to ask questions.
“Oh, the people.” He moved his head up and down, as if contemplating his answer. “They are something, aren’t they? When I first came here it was hard to see through the first impression, but with time I got used to it. To the chatting, to the complete lack of privacy, to the constant presence of someone who thinks they know me. Yet they clam up if I ask a question. They did come to accept me in the end, though. I think.”
“I can see that.” Asa thought about what he was saying. “I noticed what you described, although everyone is so nice. It’s like they go out of their way or something… yet—”
“Uh-oh, look!” Gibson pointed at a dirt road coming up on their right. “We're almost there. Turn right up here.”
Asa looked around at the tall trees and green bushes that surrounded them. Birds sang happily up in the branches and there was a soft wind blowing warm and fresh, lifting the leaves and making them dance. The place looked almost familiar to her, and Asa thought of the many days she had spent living with her mother’s family during the summer.
She parked the car beside a group of trees and they stepped out, careful not to miss anything. The area had already been searched already, and both of them had studied the photographic evidence, but there was always the possibility that something had been missed.
Everything looked straightforward, though. The car had been left on the side of the dirt road. The key was in the ignition, and one of the doors was open. Because of the dry conditions, there weren’t any particularly interesting prints in the dirt, but according to the forensic team, there had been another car which had turned around and went back the same way it had come.
Gibson had already called the local authorities and they were sending the park rangers, who were among the first on the scene. The two men soon arrived, while Clark and Gibson were still looking around.
“Hi, guys,” Gibson greeted them. “This is Agent Clark and I am Agent Gibson. We wanted to talk to you once more about finding the car.”
“Rangers Stevens and Fynn,” one of them said, as the four of them shook hands. “What do you want to know?”
“Just to confirm we understand the sequence and all, you were the first ones on the scene, after the farmer called nine-one-one?” Asa asked them.
“Yes,” Ranger Fynn answered. “We arrived less than an hour after the call came in. The man was still here, but he really had nothing to tell us. We ran the car numbers and found out that it was listed in the police bulletin, so we secured the area and called for the forensic team.”
“Did you notice anything or anyone out of the ordinary?” Clark asked again.
The two rangers looked at each other and used a few moments to think about the question. This time it was Ranger Stevens who decided to answer, “We noticed nothing strange, apart from the car itself. You can see the area, it's so out of the way here that it’s safe to say that only two or three cars pass by here in a week, if that. When we arrived, all we could see was the car. Nothing else, no people, no prints, no other objects. I still think that whoever dumped the vehicle here came in with another car and did the job quickly.”
“Yeah, that seems the most likely explanation, but still, it's never too much to ask new questions,” Gibson said, joining the conversation for the first time.
The ranger asked them if there was anything else they could do for them and left soon after. Clark and Gibson stayed at the site and continued to analyze it. Asa made sure to do the job properly and was rewarded with the finding of a few fresh hoof prints, clearly left by a horse.
“Is this strange?” she called to Gibson. “No one mentioned these prints before.”
“In Montana horses are more common than cars,” Gibson commented. “The forensic team probably thought they were unrelated to the case.”
Asa didn’t make the same mistake and made sure to photograph and measure the prints carefully. She also got a clear picture of the manufacturers mark from one of the horseshoes. After that, little else needed to be said. As if there was an unspoken agreement that the job was complete, both agents climbed into the car and they drove away.
Chapter 9
Once they arrived back at the FBI office, Asa was restless and felt as if she was on fire. The work day was almost over by the time they got back, but she wasn’t ready to give up yet. So, instead of writing her report for the day and going home, she followed Agent Gibson into his office with a copy of the hoof print she’d printed out.
“You should send this off to be identified right away,” she told him. Gibson had other things on his desk that needed his immediate attention, but he had been impressed by the way Asa talked the job. He bit back his instinctive retort about doing it the next day and took the folder that she was holding out.
“Our lab is pretty good,” he told her. “If I flag it as urgent they’ll do their best,” Asa thanked him.
“When agents are missing, everybody pulls out the stops,” she said. He asked if she would like to go to the lab and meet the team there personally. She thought that would be a good idea, plus she’d be able to see if they were likely to get the job done quickly.
“I’ll go back to the lot and have another go at the car after the visit to the lab,” she told him. “I can follow you in my car, and that way you can get back here to finish any other work you need to wrap up tonight.” He gave her a slow smile as he realized that she had in fact understood that he was putting off other priorities in order to get her request processed as soon as possible.
“Right then, let’s go,” he said, grabbing his jacket from the chair where he had dropped it on the way in. “You follow, and I’ll be coming back here as soon as I introduce you. Give me a ring if you come up with anything.”
The laboratory turned out to be an up to the minute affair with four people working in white coats and surrounded by what appeared to be excellent equipment. Asa was introduced to the staff, and as planned, Gibson left to return to his office. She held out the folder with the print of the horseshoe.
“This might be nothing, but we don’t have much to go on and I would appreciate your thoughts. We inspected the site where the car from the missing agents was left and I found some hoof prints. There is a mark on one shoe.” A man named Martin took the offered file and scrutinized the mark with a magnifying glass.
“It’s pretty clear, so we should be able to narrow it down somewhat,” he said with a smile. She found herself thinking that maybe this team would be a good one after all.
“Give me your mobile number and as soon as we come up with anything, I’ll give you a buzz.” She smiled back and gave him the number.
“I’m going back to have another look at the car. I’ll leave you to it. Thanks.”
Asa went back to the lot where the car was still being held. She proceeded to remove the brake and gas pedals, intending to analyze them in greater detail. She wanted to check for a possible boot or shoe print. One of the local police officers helped her with the removal of the pedals.
“Thank you. I appreciate the help very much,” she told him. “Did you know the missing agents?” The officer said that he knew Tom Smith, and that the man was a decent sort of guy.
“He was not particularly happy about going on with the investigation and he always liked backup.”
“So, they didn’t let anyone know where they were going?” she asked, and he told her that he hadn’t heard that anyone knew where they were headed. Asa tucked away that information and took the pedals they had removed.
“I’m hoping the lab might find a clue as to what sort of soil is on them, or there might even be a boot print,” she said. “It might narrow the search down somehow.”
“Everything’s worth a try,
” the man told her and waved as she drove away. The lab techs were still at work and said they would try soil tests straight away.
“Whoever drove the car to where it was dumped might have come from a particular area,” she said, and the forensic people agreed.
“We have to try everything,” Martin told her, and she left to go back to the office to update Gibson on what she done. He was still at his desk, but pushed the papers to one side when she entered the room.
“The lab was really helpful,” she told him. “I left them the two pedals from the car to test for soil identification or boot prints, and they said they would get straight on it.” Gibson agreed that they were always helpful.
“Come on, I’ll buy you a coffee or something, and we can think about what the next step should be.” Despite the work still on his desk, he made the suggestion, and she was happy to accept. It would be good to talk it over and she wondered what his opinion of Tom Smith would be. Settled in at the diner with a latte and a sinfully sweet muffin, she told him what the officer had said and asked him why the agents hadn’t kept anyone in the picture about where they were going.
“Come on, you’ve been at this for a while. You know what field agents are like.” he sighed. “I did try and talk to them, but Hollister always liked to play things very close. It was like pulling teeth trying to get anything useful out of him before an investigation was complete.”
“Can you remember anything that might give us a clue as to the general direction they were headed? They had written up the fire sites that they had visited, so maybe we can eliminate all of those and see what areas they hadn’t been to before.” Gibson thought that Asa Clark was at her best when she was completely obsessed by the investigation. This woman would not give up the search easily, and it had been many years since he had seen this sort of determination in action accompanied by the passion he could see in her eyes. He was impressed by her and actually found himself seeing her as a woman as well as an agent.
Family Ties Mystery Series Box Set Page 3