Dead by Sunrise

by Richard Ryker

“What does this have to do with Lauren? Isn’t that why I’m here?”

  “What really happened the night she disappeared?” Brandon asked.

  “We already told you—”

  “But now it’s just me and you. I want to hear your side of the story.”

  “We had a few drinks, went to bed,” Justin said.

  “What about Adam and Lauren?”

  He spread his hands out dramatically. “How am I supposed to know?”

  “Did they argue?”

  “Like I said, not my business what other people do.”

  “So they didn’t?”

  Justin shrugged his shoulders. “Can’t say.”

  Wouldn’t Justin have heard the same argument Brooke did? If Justin and Brooke were colluding, they weren’t doing a very good job of it. The argument was a key piece of evidence against Adam, and they couldn’t agree if it had even occurred.

  “After you all went to bed, did you leave the tent at any time between then and when you woke up?”

  “Yeah. I got up to go piss a couple of times.”

  “You didn’t see her then?”

  “Nope.”

  Brandon leaned forward, elbows on the table. “Tell me, Justin. What kind of person was Lauren?”

  Justin frowned, and for just a moment Brandon caught a glimpse of sadness in the kid’s eyes. Justin looked down at his hands. “Lauren was pretty sweet. Nice. A good person.”

  “How long have you known her?”

  “About a year. We worked at the clinic.”

  “What’s your job there?”

  “A CDP…chemical dependency counselor. I’m a trainee, working on my license.”

  Brandon recalled the first interaction he’d had with Justin—the kid had been cradling a pipe, already stoned and probably drunk, too.

  “You help people with addiction problems?”

  “It’s a job.”

  Apparently being an addiction counselor didn’t require one to live a sober lifestyle. Not to mention the charge of sexual assault. But he hadn’t been convicted, so it wouldn’t be on his record.

  “And what does Brooke do? Is that how she knew her too?”

  “Brooke’s a personal trainer,” Justin said. “It’s why she has such a nice—”

  “Just one more question,” Brandon said, looking him square in the eyes.

  “Yeah?”

  “Did you murder Lauren?”

  Justin’s eyebrows rose, but otherwise his expression remained unchanged. “No.”

  Justin and Brooke hadn’t been gone for more than ten minutes when shouting broke the relative silence of the police station. Out in the hallway, Josiah led the intransigent man into the interview room.

  Jackson appeared a moment later.

  “What do we have?” Brandon asked.

  “Tow truck driver,” Jackson said.

  “The one who dropped Lauren off at the gas station?”

  “Yep. Though he didn’t admit it at first,” Josiah said.

  “Did he refuse to come in?” Brandon asked.

  “No,” she said. “Josiah insisted on the cuffs.”

  “Why?”

  Jackson pointed a thumb at Josiah. “You’ll have to ask him that. I’m just a reserve, remember?”

  Something had pissed her off. Or someone. Mild-mannered Josiah?

  “I’ll get started on the first part of this report,” she said. “We checked on four drivers and…I’ll let Josiah tell you the rest of the story.”

  Josiah had just finished cuffing the driver to the table.

  “Name?” Brandon asked Josiah.

  Before he could answer, the man said, “My name is Garrett Zornes. I told him I would talk.”

  “After you lied to us,” Josiah said.

  “Uncuff him,” Brandon said.

  “But—” Josiah moved closer to Brandon and whispered, “Nolan says never trust a suspect uncuffed—”

  “Is Nolan your supervisor?”

  “No.”

  “Then do it.”

  Josiah uncuffed the man. Zornes mumbled something about police brutality.

  “Mr. Zornes,” Brandon said. “I understand you gave Lauren Sandoval a ride to the convenience store on La Push Road the night she disappeared.”

  He nodded.

  “What did you do when you found out she was missing?”

  “I don’t get out of the house much—”

  “You’re a tow truck driver,” Josiah said. “Do you think we’re stupid?”

  Brandon put a hand up to silence him. There was a time to be a hard-ass and a time not to. It wasn’t something you learned in the academy. Knowing which approach to take took experience and intuition. What skills Josiah might have developed in his brief time on the job had been tainted by Nolan’s negative influence.

  “You gave her a ride, dropped her off. Then what?” Brandon asked.

  “That’s it. I went home.”

  “Chief,” Josiah said, “Can I speak to you for a moment?”

  They went out into the hallway.

  “He’s not telling you the whole story.”

  “That’s usually how it goes,” Brandon said. “You’ve got to keep your cool. Playing it rough won’t get you anywhere.”

  “But—”

  “Tell me what you know.”

  “We checked with the owner of the company,” Josiah said. “This guy was the only one on-call during the time she was killed.”

  “But the drivers have access to the trucks twenty-four seven. How do you know it wasn’t one of the other guys using the truck off-duty?”

  “The owner has a GPS system on these trucks. He pulled up the history and it showed our guy here at the gas station.”

  “Then what?”

  When Josiah didn’t respond, Brandon continued. “According to the GPS where did he go after the gas station?”

  “Home. But here’s the thing. At first, he totally denied having any contact with the girl at all.”

  “Okay. The GPS says he went home for the rest of the evening?” Brandon asked.

  “I know what you’re thinking, but he could have taken the truck back to his house, pulled the girl into another car, and then to the beach.”

  “What’s his other car?”

  “I’m not sure,” Josiah admitted.

  Josiah followed Brandon back into the interview room.

  “Mr. Zornes. You admit now you dropped the girl off,” Brandon said.

  “Yes.”

  “Tell us where you found her.”

  “I was coming back from my buddy’s house on the rez. It’s by the beach.”

  He meant the Quileute Reservation.

  “Your friend’s name?” Brandon asked.

  “Randy Troxel. A few other guys too. We were playing poker.”

  “Okay and you were on your way home—”

  “About a mile past his house, I see this girl sort-of swerving on and off the side of the road. Like there was something wrong with her. I pull up to her and ask if she needs a ride. She got in, and right away I could smell the booze.”

  “Did she appear hurt?” Brandon asked.

  “No. Just...pretty buzzed.”

  “Can you describe what she looked like?”

  “Ah. It was dark, but…you know, she was pretty. Young.”

  “What was she wearing?”

  “That was the weird thing,” Zornes said. “All she had on was shorts and a wind breaker.”

  “What else? About her clothes, I mean.”

  Lauren had been wearing a yellow and red bikini underneath her shorts. The only way he’d know that was if he’d seen her without her clothes on, meaning, in Brandon’s estimation, during a sexual assault.

  “Ah, no. Like I said, it was dark.” He cleared his throat. “I asked her if she wanted me to wait, if she needed a ride home. She said no, she didn’t.”

  “So, you left her there?” Brandon asked.

  “What was I supposed to do?” Zornes said.

>   “What did she talk about?”

  “Said she needed more beer. Something about men being useless, stuff like that. It wasn’t easy to understand her, the way her speech was slurred. I’m hard of hearing in this ear too.” He pointed to his right ear.

  “Anything else?”

  “No…wait.” Zornes’ face relaxed into a smile. “Before she got out, she looked in the window of the gas station and saw Ruby and said something about her being a real bitch. Can’t say I disagree.”

  This corroborated Brooke’s assertion about Lauren’s dislike of Ruby.

  “She say why she thought that?” Brandon asked.

  “Nah. Just said that and few more cuss words and got out. Didn’t even say thank you.”

  Brandon looked to Josiah. “Any questions, Officer Trent?”

  “Yes. Mr. Zornes. The first time we contacted you, you claimed you hadn’t been out. Now you admit that you were and that you had contact with the girl. Why did you lie?”

  “I didn’t want my wife to find out,” Zornes said.

  “That you were with the girl?”

  “No. That I was out playing poker. My wife goes to bed early, which leaves me time to go out spend a few dollars on beer and betting with my buds.” Garrett considered Josiah. “You aren’t married, are you?”

  “Why would that matter?”

  Garrett cast Josiah a wry smile. “Just sayin.’”

  Brandon tried his best not to laugh. Garrett was right. Josiah probably hadn’t had much experience wanting to hide anything from a wife, or a girlfriend, if he’d ever had one.

  “You’re free to go,” Brandon said. “We’ll be in touch.”

  He was pretty sure Zornes didn’t have anything to do with Lauren’s disappearance, but he wouldn’t rule it out. The information about the relationship between Ruby and Lauren was concerning. If Ruby was dealing to Lauren’s clients, and Lauren had threatened Ruby, there was room for motive.

  Was Ruby upset enough about Lauren’s threats that she’d be willing to kill the young woman?

  Brandon directed Josiah to go finish the report with Jackson. Jackson had several more years’ experience than Josiah, including a brief stint as a detective. He hoped some of her wisdom would rub off on the young officer, maybe even counteract Nolan’s influence.

  Back in his office, Brandon pulled out his cell to check for messages from Tori or Emma. He clicked the on button. His phone was dead. That explained why he hadn’t received any more calls or messages.

  As he plugged the phone into the charger, his eyes caught on a note taped to the bottom of his computer screen. It was a reminder from Sue—telling him to review the resumes and applications they’d received for Will’s position.

  Brandon logged into the human resources website where he could check for new applicants. He hadn’t been impressed with what he’d seen so far. Supposedly, the county’s HR department screened out unworthy applicants. They even performed the basic physical tests before sending the applicants along.

  Realizing the overtime gravy train was coming to an end, Nolan had pushed for Brandon to hire one of his friends—Steve Chilton.

  Chilton’s background wasn’t bad—he had some experience as an officer—but in Brandon’s eyes, being a friend of Nolan wasn’t a positive. Especially if Chilton had anything like Nolan’s approach to police work.

  Brandon clicked on the list of names and there was a yellow highlight indicating a new application. He smiled at the name.

  Isabel Jackson.

  She’d decided to apply after all. He wanted to let her know he was glad she’d applied, but he had to avoid any semblance of favoritism, especially in front of Josiah.

  Josiah was a good kid, but Brandon wasn’t sure how close he was to Nolan. The last thing Brandon needed was an ethical complaint from Nolan about unfairness his hiring practices.

  As if on cue, Nolan walked past Brandon’s office.

  Brandon stepped to his door.

  “Nolan. You got a minute?”

  Brandon sat down at his desk, but Nolan stopped at the doorway.

  “Good work on the background checks.”

  He’d gotten off on the wrong foot with Nolan and had to think of something positive to say. And truth be told, he hadn’t done a bad job on the reports. “I appreciate you contacting the prosecuting attorney too, to check in on Justin Tate’s charges.”

  “Just doing my job. Like I have for ten years now.”

  Nolan trained his eyes on Brandon’s computer screen. “You doing interviews soon?”

  “I hope to,” Brandon said. “My first priority is this case, though.”

  “You know, we’re not all country bumkins here. We know how to investigate,” he said.

  “Understood, but property crimes or DV cases aren’t the same as homicide. The case has to be airtight.”

  Nolan’s jaw clenched. “Anything else?”

  There was no point in pretending to like Nolan, but the fact was, he was still one of Brandon’s officers. “You have ideas about this case?”

  “I’ve been kept in the dark, how could I?”

  It was a fair statement.

  “Okay,” Brandon said. “We’ll debrief in five minutes. That work for you?”

  Brandon grinned at the surprise on Nolan’s face.

  “I guess,” he said.

  Five minutes later, Brandon gathered Nolan, Jackson, and Josiah in the conference room.

  He wiped off the whiteboard and summarized the case.

  “A young woman, twenty-four years old. Found the next beach over from her campsite. Scratches and fractures consistent with falling from a high place onto her back, then being dragged, presumably directly into the water. Bite marks on her neck, probably from vampire fangs. Metal or some other hard substance most likely. Had intercourse shortly before death. Unsure if consensual. Awaiting DNA results.”

  “How much longer for the results?” Nolan asked.

  “Not sure. Any day now if we’re lucky, and that’s being hopeful. What else? One of her friends, Justin, has a previous charge of sexual assault against his girlfriend Brooke. Garrett Zornes dropped her off at the gas station, where she bought beer and headed back toward the campsite. Some information suggested Lauren and Ruby didn’t get along. Despite the distance between town and the beach, the girl somehow made it back.”

  “And you think you’ve found where she was killed?” Jackson asked.

  “Maybe. The beer cans match the brand she bought. The necklace—Brooke says she doesn’t think it was Lauren’s.”

  “It seems obvious,” Nolan said, resting his arms behind his head. “The boyfriend did it.”

  “Because they argued?” Jackson said.

  “Yeah. I mean, they fought, he took her out at some point and killed her.”

  “The argument was hours before she died,” Brandon said.

  “So? I’ve argued with women longer than that,” Nolan said. “Time doesn’t heal all wounds.”

  “And does that make you guilty of homicide?” Jackson said.

  Nolan let his chair rest on the floor. “Not the same thing. I’m not a murderer.”

  “Adam is a suspect, for sure,” Brandon said. “But we don’t have enough to pin him down.”

  “So, what’s next?” Josiah asked.

  “Tomorrow I’m heading up to Port Angeles to see if I can talk to Lauren’s mother. I’ll pay a visit to Adam, too.”

  “You need company?” Jackson asked.

  Nolan rolled his eyes.

  “Sure,” he said, turning to Nolan instead of Jackson. “You feel like coming up with me tomorrow?”

  Nolan waved a hand dismissively. “My day off. I’ve got lots to do.”

  Brandon tried not to hide his relief. “You working tomorrow Jackson?”

  “Yes,” she said.

  “We’ll leave at nine.” Brandon turned to Josiah. “You and Will continue asking around town if anyone laid eyes on the girl the night she died. Oh yeah, and get ahold of
Ruby and see what she’s willing to share about her beef with Lauren. Don’t start with the drug dealing stuff. Just press her about Lauren knowing her from Port Angeles.”

  Brandon scanned the schedule board. He needed to get to work filling Will’s position before he found himself down an officer in an already overworked department.

  Brandon was already taking over too much of the investigation—work that detectives would handle in most departments. But a full-time detective wasn’t in the budget, leaving Brandon as the only person on the force, besides Jackson, with true detective experience.

  With the new evidence from the sea stack and Ruby’s history with Lauren, the investigation was going different directions, and he’d need every officer available to work the case. He’d have to trust those under his command. Including Nolan, despite the fact that every bit of intuition he had told him it was a bad idea.

  Chapter 14

  Brandon picked up takeout on the way home. If he kept eating like this, he would have to ask Sue to get him a new uniform. Not only a new shirt, but a larger pair of slacks, too.

  It was a warmer than usual June evening in Forks and Brandon had the idea to enjoy watching the sun go down, so he grabbed two beers and his dinner and parked himself on the front porch.

  He was halfway through the beef teriyaki and fried rice when a glint of orange sunlight caught his eye. Someone had opened a screen door across the street.

  Misty stepped out onto her porch, made like she was about to sit down, but then noticed Brandon. It was a bad attempt at pretending she didn’t know he was out here.

  Misty crossed the street, a beer in one hand.

  “You look lonely,” she said, reaching the edge of his lawn. “You want company?”

  Honestly, he wouldn’t mind being alone right now.

  He slid over as she squeezed herself into the narrow spot between Brandon and the porch railings.

  “How’s the new job?”

  “Great,” he said, folding the teriyaki container shut. He reached back for his beer and held it up to his mouth. Empty.

  He opened the other bottle.

  “Hard day, huh?”

  “Working a case.”

  “The girl from Sequim?”

  He glanced sideways. She was so close, it was impossible to look directly at her. “Nolan tell you about that?”