“Par for today’s course.”
Hastings pointed at the screen. “Okay. His number bounced off five area towers that week.” We watched as the list appeared on the screen.
“But he didn’t call any of those on our list,” I said.
“Nope.” He looked at the numbers I’d given him. “Okay, checking on the location of Nora Leder’s cell phone on the nineteenth when she called Leanne Gosser. It bounced off a tower in Allandale.”
“Maybe she was looking for Leder, knew about Gosser, and saw his car there,” I said.
Smoke nodded. “We’ll have to ask her now, won’t we?”
“Lookie here, she’s answering a call now,” Hastings said.
We all studied the screen. “The number look familiar to you?” Smoke asked me.
“Oh my gosh. It’s bouncing off a tower here?” I leaned in for a second look.
“Hastings, can you get a location on the caller?” Smoke said.
“Uh, yeah.” He gave us the address.
“And where is Nora Leder?” I asked.
“Must have just pulled up to the same address.”
Smoke and I both thanked him, I grabbed the reports, and we sprinted off.
CHAPTER 25
Neither Smoke nor I spoke. We knew where we were going. He was a step ahead of me and a minute later we were climbing into his Crown Victoria. I was mentally processing what was said in the interviews we’d conducted and in the less formal conversations, the evidence we’d collected, and all we had learned in the two weeks since Gage Leder’s body was found staked out in his sister’s and brother-in-law’s soybean field.
Smoke stopped the car a block away from Nora Leder’s house. Two vehicles were parked on the street in front of her house: a gray Hyundai and a blue Taurus. I typed each vehicle plate number into the laptop and waited. Smoke shook his head. “Hyundai’s a rental car, huh? Makes sense. Let’s go.”
We were out of the car and in the driveway in seconds. The overhead garage door was open, so we went in that way and Smoke rapped loudly on the man door that likely led to the kitchen. Nora Leder came to the door. Her eyebrows furrowed, her lips pursed, and she looked at the ground before easing the door open.
“Where is she? Rennie? And Bridget, too, for that matter.” Smoke’s voice was quiet and no-nonsense.
Nora was mute, but raised her hand in a follow me motion, turned, and headed through the kitchen into the living room. Rennie Leder and Bridget Regan sat in there on wing back chairs. When we walked in behind Nora, they looked at us like the firing squad had arrived.
“It was an accident,” Rennie said.
“But we shouldn’t have done what we did after he, ah—” Bridget said.
“We weren’t sure what to do, but it seemed like the only way we had left to pay him back,” Nora added.
Smoke raised his hands. “Hold up. Before any of you says another word, we need to do two things. I am going to read the Miranda warning to each of you, advising you of your rights. And Sergeant Aleckson is going to get the tape recorder from my car.”
“In your trunk?” I asked.
Smoke nodded, and was pulling the advisory card from his breast pocket when I left to retrieve the machine. It took me a minute to locate it among all the stored items. I grabbed it, an unopened package of tapes, and extra batteries then jogged back to Nora’s living room. Smoke asked Nora if she understood her rights. She did. He looked at me. “They’ve all been advised, and understand their rights.”
“Good.” I set the recorder on the coffee table, inserted a new tape, and pressed the record button. I got my paper and pen ready. Nora and Smoke sat down on the couch and I pulled a chair from the dining area. I sat so I had a view of everyone’s faces.
Smoke recited the place, date, time, and each person’s name that was present. He asked each woman to state her full name and date of birth, then asked them to give their account of their involvement in the events that led to the death of Gage Leder. And for each to state her name before she spoke. The three of them looked down, then cautiously at each other.
“Rennie Leder. It was my idea. When I found what Gage Leder had done to my Morgan . . . our Morgan—and Lea—well that was just the last straw.”
“He laughed at us. Oh, Nora Leder.”
“Bridget Regan. We were trying to scare him, get him to confess to what he had done, but then he died on us.”
I leaned closer to the recorder. “Sergeant Corrine Aleckson. Ladies, we should start at the beginning, if you would. Explain what happened. Rennie Leder, you said it was your idea. Please explain.”
Rennie began the narration with an explanation of what Morgan had told her when they were in Mexico. Morgan had sworn her to secrecy, but it was a promise she couldn’t keep when she learned the sordid details of what Gage Leder had done to his daughter and stepdaughter. The three of them—Rennie, Nora, and Bridget—concocted a scheme to lure Leder to Nora’s house and get him to confess to his crimes, and humiliate him in the process.
Nora had tried to find him all day Saturday, but didn’t have his phone number. She had called Tonya’s house several times from various businesses so Tonya wouldn’t know who was calling, but each time Tonya said she didn’t know where Gage was. She remembered Morgan telling her she had been with Gage when he stopped by Leanne Gosser’s apartment in Allandale a few times. It was the only one of Gage’s women Nora had a name for.
She found Gosser’s address and phone number in the directory, and on a hunch, drove over there. Gage’s car was in the parking lot. She phoned and asked for Gage, saying it was urgent, that something terrible had happened to Morgan. She kept driving while she talked, both so he wouldn’t see her, and so she’d get to back to her house before he did.
Rennie, Nora, and Bridget were waiting. When Nora opened her door, and Gage stepped in, Rennie held a gun on him, and Nora told him to go into the spare bedroom. Gage complied. They told him to strip off his clothes and to sit on the heavy oak chair in the middle of the open space. He did everything he was told and didn’t ask what they were up to.
While Rennie kept the gun steadied on him, Bridget and Nora duct taped his hands to sides of the ladder back and his legs to the chair legs. They asked why he had done what he had to Morgan and Lea. He told them he had just given them a little experience, so they’d know what to do when they found boyfriends.
All three were silent for a minute after Bridget repeated Leder’s words, then she said, in barely a whisper, “I started shaking—I have never been more angry at anyone in my entire life.” Rennie and Nora nodded. Bridget had a video camera and started taping. They asked him to confess his crimes out loud, but he refused.
“Rennie Leder. I gave him an injection of sodium pentothal. A low dose, not so much so he’d go to sleep, but enough to relax him—you know, lower his defenses so he’d tell the truth. Didn’t work. We couldn’t make him talk, so we left.”
“So we wouldn’t hurt him.” It was Nora Leder.
“I taped his mouth shut so he couldn’t yell out.” Bridget Leder.
“Remember to say your name when you talk,” I reminded them.
“Rennie Leder. When we came back a few hours later, he was gone. Dead. We panicked.”
“Nora Leder. We didn’t know what to do. We knew we should call the police, or the sheriff’s department—”
“But we couldn’t let him have the last say. Bastard went and died on us without being punished for what he did. Oh, Rennie Leder.”
“Bridget Regan. He should have died in prison.”
“Nora Leder. We couldn’t make him pay in life, so we decided to make him pay in death. It took us a while to figure it out. We used what Morgan had told Rennie to help us decide. The first time Gage touched her was when they were snowshoeing on Donna and Willie’s property—through their field. And another spot was Roy Slayton County Park.”
“Is that why you used the snowshoes when you moved the body?” Smoke asked.
Al
l three women had flashes of surprise cross their faces.
“Not exactly, but it played into the significance. Bridget Leder.”
“Where did you get the snowshoes . . . and toboggan?” I asked, and again, their faces registered surprise we knew about that, too.
“My garage. Nora Leder.”
“And the rest of the equipment? Stakes, twine?”
“Nora Leder. The hardware store was closed and my stepsons have a shed with construction stuff, so we went there—the front door wasn’t locked—and we found what we needed.”
They described how they had worked in the cover of night. They wore surgical hair nets, gloves, and medical scrubs to avoid leaving fibers and hairs on Leder’s body, or at the scene. They took the equipment to the field first, then the three of them loaded Leder’s body into Nora’s van, drove back to the Nodings’ field, and laid the body on a six-foot toboggan. Nora and Rennie donned snowshoes, admittedly to cover their tracks, and dragged the sled the fifty or so feet. They struggled, but managed to carry Leder’s body the eight feet where they laid it on the ground, pounded in the four stakes, then tied Leder’s hands and feet to them. Bridget was the look-out person, in case.
They had pulled Leder’s car into Nora’s garage, and spent over an hour cleaning it, vacuuming, washing, even using a lint brush to pick up any remaining fibers. Then they drove it to Roy Slayton County Park, another place where Gage Leder had sexually assaulted the young girls.
“Did you withhold Gage Leder’s medication?” I asked.
“No. I asked him, and he said he had taken it. Like we said, we didn’t intend for him to die like that. Rennie Leder.”
“Do you have the tape of when you were questioning Leder? Or trying to.” Smoke asked Bridget.
“Yes. It’s here somewhere.”
“I’ll get it,” Nora said.
“I’ll go with you.” I followed her into her bedroom where she retrieved the tape from the closet shelf and handed it to me. We returned to living room. Smoke stood, then Rennie and Bridget did the same.
Smoke turned off the tape recorder. “Thank you for your honesty, ladies. Personally, I can see why you did what you did, but we’re bound by the law, and we need to place each one of you under arrest for the false imprisonment and interference with a dead body,” Smoke said.
“I’ll call for another car,” I said. I walked into the other room and phoned communications to dispatch a deputy to our location then returned to the solemn group in the living room.
“Two more questions. Where is the toboggan now?” Smoke asked.
“In my garage. I guess it’s been in the family for generations,” Nora said. The heirloom used in a bizarre crime.
“Okay. And the snowshoes you used?”
Bridget lifted her hands. “Gage had left them at my house. I knew they were old family items, too. I decided to put them in Tonya’s garage—you know after what happened—so the family would find them, eventually. It was late at night, and her dog must have heard me and started barking. I got scared and just left them there, and ran to my car that was parked out on the road. I know it was a dumb thing to do. I should have just given them back to Donna sometime. I wasn’t thinking.”
Brian Carlson was at the door a minute later and kept his expression blank as he took in the scene. Smoke asked him to transport the women to the jail. We applied handcuffs, and walked them to Carlson’s car. When they were secured in the backseat, I said I’d ride along, and Smoke said he would collect the toboggan, video tape, and tape recorder, and lock the doors behind him.
All three women were crying when we climbed in the car. “How can we ever explain this to the girls?” Nora said.
“They’re the two that will understand the best,” Rennie said.
CHAPTER 26
Nora, Rennie, and Bridget made their first appearance the next day in District Court before Judge Adams. Assistant County Attorney Eric Stueman said that despite the seriousness of their crimes, he had taken many factors into consideration in making a bail recommendation. The women had led exemplary lives (with the exception of Nora’s one traffic offense), and he did not consider any of them to be flight risks. They had willingly confessed, and provided details of their crimes. They knew what they had done was wrong, and were willing to accept the consequences. Eric said that if the judge was not comfortable in releasing them on their personal recognizance, he recommended bail be set in the amount of one thousand dollars for each.
Judge Adams studied the criminal complaints, the women, the courtroom full of their supporters, and followed Eric’s recommendation to release them on their promise to return. Their next court appearance was set for three weeks later.
I walked back to the squad room with Smoke. “Three women, in the prime of their lives, get pissed enough that they take matters into their own hands, and look what happens,” Smoke said, shaking his head.
“I know. Even when I started to know they—at least Rennie and Nora—were the strongest suspects, it was a little tough to believe they did what they did. I guess a phone call to the sheriff’s department didn’t seem satisfying enough.”
“So you’re back on the road Friday night, eh?”
“Yeah, and Eric finally gets that ride-along he’s been asking for.”
“He’s a decent guy. Handles himself very well in court.”
“Yes, to both counts. What are you doing the rest of the day?”
“Going home early. Sheriff’s orders.”
“Me, too.”
Eric smiled as we approached my squad car in the department lot Friday afternoon. “I’ve been looking forward to this all week.”
I reached for the door handle. “Don’t get your hopes up for anything too exciting now. It’s not all high speed chases and breaking up fights.”
“I know that, Corinne.”
“Plus, you need to stay in the squad car if something big does go on, don’t forget that.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
We climbed into the car. When I turned the ignition key, the sheriff’s radio and other instruments came to life.
“Six-oh-eight, Winnebago County.”
“Go ahead.”
“I’m ten-eight with my ride-along.”
“Copy ten-eight at fourteen fifty-one.”
“You have any special routine?” Eric asked.
“Not really. There are no calls pending, so we patrol until a deputy has a question, or needs assistance. Or we may get a call, or find someone doing something illegal. Or needing help.”
Eric gave me a rare smile. “That keeps you on your toes.”
“Pretty much.”
We drove north on County Road 10 and I pulled into a small county park. “I like to drive through all the little parks. There are nine of them in the county, and we come upon a drug deal from time to time.”
“That’d be a good arrest.”
“Yeah, and if that happens I’ll be calling for back-up, and you’ll stay in the car.”
“Winnebago County, six-oh-eight.”
“Go ahead.”
“A couple requesting you stop by when you have time. Sending the info to you.”
“Ten-four.” The words appeared on my screen. Dean Engen of 8539 Abbott Avenue Northwest, Dayton Township phoned and requested a visit regarding Parker’s escape.
“Oh my gosh, I tried to call them last week when we heard about Parker, but their voicemail was full. I figured they were out of town since they didn’t call back. Not good news to come home to.”
“They can’t catch Parker anytime too soon.”
“Every minute he breathes free air is one too many.”
“At least there have been no reports that some poor woman has been found—another victim—somewhere,” Eric said.
“I know. And they say Parker won’t stop killing and dismembering, according to Kent Erley. He was the FBI profiler who helped our department with that case.”
Eric nodded. “I remember. And Parker’s ex
tremely bright. He hasn’t been spotted since he escaped. My best guess is he’s in a faraway country by now.”
“The FBI had him on their ten most wanted list the day after his escape. Every major and local TV network has run the story with their photos—Parker and the totally nutso officer who helped him escape. Not to mention all the Internet coverage.”
“You think she’s with him?”
“If she’s still alive, probably. It means he’s not done with her yet. He can use her to do his errands—get false IDs, food.”
“In disguise, no doubt.”
“They’d have to be.”
“They can run, but they can’t hide forever.”
“We will hold onto that hope.” I turned back north onto County Road 10, heading toward the Engens.
“What are you going to tell them?”
“Have to wait and see what they ask. I don’t have much to tell, that’s for sure.”
“I can go with you on this one?”
“Sure. Routine call. Good people.”
“I’ve been there before.”
“At the Engens’?”
“Yes. Well, not in their house. I drove by it, by Wolf Lake and their house, after the dismembered body was found there. After it was on the news.”
I nodded. “I always thought it was so picturesque when I’d drive by on patrol, before that incident. A neat yellow farmhouse set on a hill that rises up from the small lake, with Lake Pearl State Park bordering the west side of their property. Very pretty.”
“You don’t think that anymore?”
“It lost its charm after that awful crime, sad to say.” I drove past Wolf Lake and avoided looking at it. When I pulled into the Engen’s driveway, I was both surprised and not surprised to see a “House for Sale” sign in their yard.
“Six-oh-eight, Winnebago County.”
“Six-oh-eight?”
“I’m ten-six at the Abbott Avenue address.”
“You’re ten-six at seventeen-twenty-eight.”
The Noding Field Mystery Page 24