by W L Ripley
“But Doc hasn’t acted on it.”
“No.”
A father had access to evidence his daughter was raped but hadn’t acted on it. Tommy damned well better stay hid.
“What was Tommy’s reaction when you confronted him?”
“He was frightened and panicked. He denied it, said she invited him to her home for sex, even giving him bourbon and cocaine.”
Pam had access to cocaine. Her father had the rape evidence. Things becoming dangerous. Dangerous for everyone. Jake was running out of time. He had to report to Texas within the next 36 hours.
“Did he seem to be telling the truth?” asked Jake.
“How would anyone know that?”
“You watch them. They have ‘tells’. You’re a cop how long?”
“Three years.”
“Over that time have you had notions about whether people were telling you the truth or not?”
“Of course.”
“So,” Jake said. “The problem in this situation is you’re dealing with two manipulative people; well Pam’s manipulative and Tommy is just a spoiled shithead. When Tommy denied it, did his denials seem plausible?”
“You know, his reaction wasn’t what I expected. He didn’t try to act like it was no big deal. Told me she, Pam, asked him to treat her rough. Tear her dress. Said she bit his lips and clawed his back. Showed me the scratch marks.”
“Did she have any marks on her?”
Bailey shaking her head, perplexed now. “No. No, she didn’t. Just the torn dress.”
“Where did the rape take place?”
“In her bedroom.”
“He carry her in there? That was Pam’s story? And you weren’t supposed to say anything to Doc. But you did tell him, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Afraid to hold back.”
“You were concerned about Doc’s reaction if he found out about it and you didn’t tell him?”
“You bet.”
“So, you were more afraid of Doc than Pam?”
“That’s a good question. I need the job. Doc can be well, vindictive. But, Pam.” She stopped.
“Well?” Jake said.
“You ever meet someone looks at you, convinced they can just reach out and take a dump on your life? Someone so sure they’re above everything and everybody? It’s unsettling. Well, that’s Pam Mitchell, and yes, she scares me.”
The server returned with their order, setting down the coffee and Buddy’s pie. Jake trying to imagine Tommy over-powering Pam and forcing her into the bedroom risking his brother showing up and catching him. But maybe that’s what Pam hoped. When it didn’t happen, she called Bailey. Possible.
“How’s Doc taking it? Is he angry?”
“Boiling.”
“Why hasn’t he gone after Tommy?”
“I think...well, Pam talked him out of it.”
“Doc’s a father and therefore not restraint friendly. He’ll go after Tommy at some point. He made any threats against Tommy?”
Bailey looked at Buddy and said, “This is too much to ask, Buddy. I’m going to leave. I shouldn’t have told you anything, especially about Sheriff Kellogg. I’m sorry but that’s all you get. It’s bad enough people seeing me talking to you when you’re running against him. I’ll deny telling you any of this. I have a kid to look out for and I need this job. Don’t ask for more.”
“I win,” Buddy said. “You’ll have a job.”
“And if you don’t?” She stood and left without touching her coffee.
“What do you think?” asked Buddy, watching her leave.
“Everyone’s afraid of Pam Mitchell.”
“But, you’re not?”
“Wary of her. I’m not stupid. I’m interested in your thoughts, Buddy. You know Bailey, worked with her, she trusts you. What do you make of what she told us?”
“Bailey’s a good officer. She’s smart, smart enough to know where her best interests lie. I don’t see her as career law enforcement; doesn’t have the temperament, too nice, but she has decent instincts about people. Afraid of Doc because he can terminate her employment. She’s afraid to buck Pam because of the first thing, and also because of her, what is it? ‘Female intuition’ about Pam, which assessment you’ve had some experience with.”
“From what she told us, and I have shared with you, is Tommy telling the truth or did he rape Pam?”
“The day Tommy broke into Harper’s house, when I got there he was just standing there in the room. He wasn’t after her at that moment. They kind of pushed and shoved around but Tommy wasn’t violent with her, just drunk and wanted to see if she’d give him some. Sorry about the phrasing.”
Jake nodded.
Buddy continued. “Tommy didn’t rough her up, but he did grab Harper. He was more worked up about you being there than he was at Harper for calling me. Those Mitchell boys are possessive of their women, or they’re pussy-whipped and can’t let go. You know Pam, she slipped into your bed real handy, didn’t she? If she had a thing with Gage, that tells us a lot. I don’t like Tommy; he’s an asshole, but he gets plenty of trim around, him and Alex both, yet both are intimidated and manipulated by Pam and do little about it, unless Tommy did rape her which we have to consider. Pam is a tough, smart woman and has power in this community. She uses her sex appeal like a weapon and holds mortgages and deals the cards in the Mitchell businesses. People are truly concerned about such things. Alex doesn’t blame Pam for jumping your bones; Alex blames you.”
“And maybe he blamed Gage and had reason to kill Gage.”
“Pam has a lot going on but seems unconcerned. Confident she can walk past this. You don’t back away much from such things and I don’t know if you have the ability to watch out for yourself. The irresistible poontang meets the immovable asshole. You and Pam, huh? Man, you come back to town and it’s just like the old days. You and Gage stirring things up.”
“How’s that?”
“Gage always down for fun, not considering consequences and you always ready to take things on, even if it not smart. You never had an ‘off’ button, boy.”
“People change.”
“And you think you’ve progressed? Man, that’s funny shit right there.”
Chapter Fifty-Six
Harper was going to need a heads-up, thought Jake.
“The stuff with Pam on that night may come out and be talked about around town,” Jake said, sitting at the dining room table, looking at Harper, seated to his right. “I’m sorry.”
“Jake,” said Harper. “I’m a divorcee who was married to the biggest jerk in the county. You told me all about her and it doesn’t matter. It only matters how we react to it.”
“People will say it happened after I met you.”
“Let ’em talk. My mother ran off with the Methodist preacher when I was ten. Haven’t seen her since. I got through it.”
“Sorry about that. Hurt, didn’t it?”
“Yes. A lot. Just like you’ve been hurting about your dad. I had my father to get me through it. You had no one and kept it bottled up inside like you do most things. Your mother died and you and your father were left alone in close proximity to each other, each bearing the loss, stoically, and I’ll bet neither of you talking about it.”
“Alfred was—”
Harper held up a hand.
Jake amended his words. “Dad was drinking heavily. I didn’t like the way he was.”
“You ever think he was in pain about his life, maybe about the loss of the woman he loved, watching her die a little bit at a time? We all have a life and we’re the only ones who know everything about ourselves. Everyone holds things back. You don’t know what was going through his head and heart, what dramas he had sustained he couldn’t or wouldn’t talk about. If Alfred was like you then he held things inside just like you.”
“I do that?”
She wrinkled her nose and laughed. “Oh, Jake. I don’t know anyone like you.”
“That a good thing?”
“We’ll see.”
Jake left to check with Cal about the progress of the case against Barb and Warner before bringing in Haller.
Cal wasn’t confident. “The prosecutor is hesitant to take this on. She won’t proceed until she talks to Haller and Tommy. Barb and Warner are out on bail and walking around. Doc is already primed to fry Terry Bill Pennell and some mystery ‘big man’ with Pennell for this and Haller for Vernon.”
“Kellogg coming up with a phantom co-conspirator to help Pennell makes me think Doc Kellogg is blocking us. Convenient he quickly swallowed that bit of information in order to hold Pennell. You find it odd Kellogg is not out beating the bushes for Haller?”
“In the immortal words of my childhood hero, Randolph Scott. Yep.”
Jake absently reached into his shirt pocket forgetting he didn’t have cigarettes. He wiped a hand across his mouth. Cal offered Jake one of his cigarettes, Jake shook his head.
“This isn’t getting us anywhere, is it, Cal?”
“Tough go but it’s a marathon not a sprint.”
Running out of time. He’d have to report back to Texas. He wanted this finished and now worried Gage’s killers would walk and life would go on in Paradise as it had before, the guilty unpunished. It was a sickening realization.
“I leave they’ll get away with this.”
Cal sighed, leaned back in his chair, exhaled. “Jake, you could be right. Probably are. You know how these things go. I believe we have a decent case against Barb and Warner for assault and maybe we never know what happened with Gage. I don’t know what you’ll do with Vernon’s murder.”
Jake saying now, “That’s unacceptable.”
“But a possibility you may have to embrace.”
“There is no one, except you and Buddy, who will look into this or care about it. Vernon’s death is already in Kellogg’s hands and he will never allow Pam to take the fall.”
“You don’t know she did it.”
“I feel it.”
“That’s hardly grounds for an indictment let alone an arrest, and as an investigator you know better. You may have to give up on this unless you produce Haller, and you need to do that right now.”
Jake thinking he could not leave Paradise without tying the killings together in some fashion. He didn’t report, he was out with the Rangers.
“You’re right. I’ll bring in Haller.”
“And he may still go down for killing Vernon. Turn him over and let it go.”
Jake had an idea, but it must’ve shown on his face because Cal said, “What’re you thinking about? Or do I want to know?”
Things moving faster now. Harper said something that kicked free a thing gnawing at Jake and it came to him in a revelatory flash. The strength of a father’s thoughts.
Sheriff Robert Burnell, Gage’s dad.
Gage’s dad coming home every night with the weight of the sheriff’s office on him, talking about his day at the dinner table. What had Gage heard during those years? Sheriff Burnell handing off to Doc Kellogg. All those files and investigations in sheriff’s department now accessible to Kellogg. Kellogg would remember the disappearance of Frank and Caroline Yoder. He would remember the Yoder investigation.
Kellogg and Vernon Mitchell became close after Alex and Pam married. Kellogg knew what Burnell knew about the Yoders. Vernon could’ve told him that Christine McKee was really his daughter by Caroline Yoder. All these years Kellogg covering for Vernon. Kellogg winning re-election every time.
It was supposition. Occam’s razor suggested that the simplest explanation was generally the truth. Despite the complexities the entire scenario may boil down to lust, petty jealousy, and the hidden, never talked about stress of life in a small community where ugly resentments percolated below the surface.
But, if Doc knew, did he say something to his daughter caused her to seek Christine McKee? Blackmail Vernon? Tommy telling him Alex was treated special and Tommy was mom’s favorite, defending Tommy against Vernon’s favoritism.
Incidents of seemingly little consequence had a way of festering and burning into the wounds of people’s psyche.
Kellogg may know about Christine McKee. Pam did.
The question was, did Alex know?
Time to find out.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Jake called Alex at the Mitchell Chemical plant and offered to buy him a beer.
“I don’t hang out with bastards.”
“If you don’t like what I tell you or find it interesting I’ll give you a free swing and I’ll walk away.”
“I’ll be at Hank’s in twenty minutes,” Alex said, jumping on the offer, Jake figuring he liked the idea of getting a free shot. Couldn’t blame him. “And I’m thirsty.”
Jake got to Hank’s ahead of Alex and told Hank what he had in mind.
“Are you gonna get in another fight in my place?” said Hank. “You’re as big a pain in the ass as the Mitchells.”
“Whatever Alex drinks or eats,” Jake said. “When he’s done, I want the glass or the flatware he uses.”
“You think I give that stuff away?”
“I’ll pay you. Name your price.”
Hank shook his head. “There’s something wrong with you, no doubt about it. But I will be more than happy to gouge you at retail prices plus a surcharge due the fact they have memorial value.”
“Whatever, Hank,” Jake said.
Alex arrived, his face set in a scowl, his eyes red from lack of sleep.
“Have a seat, Alex.”
Alex jerked a chair from the table and sat down hard not moving the chair back to the table.
“What the hell is this about?”
Jake saying now, “What’re you drinking?”
“Beer. Sam Adam’s.”
Jake nodded at Hank who brought over a bottle of beer and a frosted mug. Alex ignored the glass and drank from the bottle. Hank frowned seeing a payday pass away.
Alex downed half the beer in one swallow, set the bottle down and said, “Well?”
“I need honesty here,” Jake said.
Alex snorted, looking disgusted. “You need honesty. That’s something, isn’t it? There’s no bottom to you, is there? You are the boldest motherfucker. Your audacity is staggering. You cheat on me with my wife and then ask for honesty.“
“Wait. Your terminology is off. I didn’t cheat on you. Your wife did. I was wrong and I’m sorry.”
“You’re sorry. I feel so much fucking better now. Who asked you to come back here and spread your shit? I cannot wait to punch you in the face.”
Jake nodded. “Have you talked to Pam about the night of our encounter?”
“I did.”
“How did she describe it?”
“Said you talked her into meeting you.”
“Where?”
“Out on Puck road.” Puck road was a rutted dirt and gravel road no longer in use except for the teens that used it for romantic trysts. “Said you came on to her and she resisted at first, but she was drunk.”
“Nothing like that. She snuck into my place at three in the morning, stripped off and got on top of me. Had a key to my place. I didn’t give it to her.”
“You’re lying.”
“Want to see the DNA results?”
Alex looked confused and said, “DNA?”
“I have resources others don’t. Got a match proves she was at my house. Not the first time she was there, either and not with me. You knew that already.”
Alex deflated now, eyes closing briefly, rocking in his chair, nodding slowly. “Gage.”
“Did you know about Haller and Tommy taking Gage’s dog?”
Alex inhaled and let it out slowly. He stared glassy-eyed at the table, his face reflecting the realization his world was changed forever. His father murdered; his wife unfaithful. “Knew something when I saw them with the dog. Said they were playing a joke.”
“You didn’t stop them?”
/> “I was angry with Gage because of the thing with Pam. I hated him for it, I’ll admit that, but I would never, well couldn’t do that. Gage was a good employee and we were friends, hell, he’s a fun guy, always kept things lively, but the thing with, well it was too much so I fired him. He didn’t argue. He knew why.”
Jake watched as Alex took another long drink, draining the bottle. Jake nodded at Hank who brought another bottle and set it down in front of Alex. Hank took the other bottle and rather than tossing it in the trash, set it behind the bar, looking at Jake afterwards. Good boy, Hank.
“We talked about Pam before,” Jake said. “Right here two days ago. You were hammered. You remember any of that?”
“Bits and pieces.”
“We both have had experiences with Pam Kellogg.” Leaving out her married name for effect. “Neither of us has had an even road with her.”
“All right. So?”
“We both have had occasion to regret that experience. And, we both have known her to manipulate, even lie to us.”
Alex nodded, listening intently.
Jake saying, “Did you know she bailed out Haller?”
“She wouldn’t do that. How do you know she did that? Wait, you know where Fat Boy is, don’t you?”
Jake nodded. “I might.”
Alex’s shoulders sagged. “Why would she do that?”
“Not sure.”
Awareness came across Alex’s face. “You know, Tommy told me he didn’t think Noah killed Dad.”
“When did you talk to him?” asked Jake, worried now that the idiot didn’t listen to his warning and Jake may have waited too long. This would speed up the countdown.
“He called an hour ago. Hadn’t seen him since the funeral and didn’t know where he’d gotten off to. I asked him why he thought Noah was innocent, but he wouldn’t say.”
Jake said nothing. Alex lost in thought.
“Take another drink,” Jake said. “In fact, hey Hank, brink a couple of shots of bourbon. And bring me a beer.”
Hank brought the beer and whiskey and sat it down on the table.
“What’s this about?” Alex said.