Mystery at Deadfall Lake

by Terry McGhee

  “If we are lucky enough to find complete hair samples, how long would a DNA examination take?” I asked Dr. Potter.

  Dr. Potter was a middle-aged woman and very slender with silver-gray hair. The doctor definitely had the professorial look. She wore what I used to call “Ollie Owl” black horn-rimmed glasses. Actually, she did look somewhat like an owl. She folded her hands in her lap and replied. “Well, I can’t actually run the analysis here. We can FedEx any findings overnight to my lab in Sacramento at the university. We can have results in less than two days. Agent Jenkins has requested our FBI lab in Denver secure a DNA sample from our suspect in Boulder. They will run a test and send the results to us here to compare with what we get back from my own lab. Within two days, we should be able to tell if what we find at the gravesite was from your Mr. Al Jerkovick or your suspected victim, or with luck, both.

  “We also should be receiving a DNA sample taken from Roy’s parents. The finger bone and other skeletal parts will also be sent to my lab. This DNA analysis will confirm for sure if our burial victim is in fact Roy, or some other missing person. Finding a skull with in-tact teeth would be best. Roy’s dental records are needed. If it is someone else, then you boys will have an entirely different challenge.”

  “If we have a match, then our case is pretty much a wrap. The evidence will be irrefutable and should lead to a speedy murder conviction for Jerkovick,” Sam said.

  I couldn’t help but think about this terrible tragedy finally getting resolution. I said a silent prayer that the gravesite skeletal remains were Roy’s, and that Dr. Potter and her helper would find hair samples that conclusively identified Al Jerkovick as the killer.

  My phone rang. “Excuse me, this is my wife.” I opened the phone and said, “Hi, Barb, we’re driving back right now. We picked up two people at the airport. We found a makeshift grave at Deadfall, and a human bone. These folks will sift through it with a fine-toothed comb. Glad your home safe. I’ll call later.”

  An hour later, we pulled in behind the police station. Having given Sarah our ETA beforehand, she and Hannity were waiting for us in the parking lot. Agent Simpson was just coming out. Introductions were made and we headed inside to the, by now, very familiar “closet” of a meeting room.

  We all plopped into our folding chairs as Hannity shuffled some notes in front of him.

  “OK, folks, we need to plan our trek tomorrow to the lake. This assumes Dr. Potter’s tools make it here in the morning as we expect. First, just a few action items to bring you up to speed. I called Officer Jordan in Boulder to tell him the grave we found at the lake turned up skeletal remains of a human.

  “Jordan has given me some bad news. Al Jerkovick was not present for an inmate ID check last night. He says that the discovery was made within a half hour of Al being present for a group meal in the cafeteria. Jordan says he can’t have gone far, and they have all roads blocked, and a local team of eight mountaineers have started to search the nearby low forested hills. There were no delivery vehicles of any kind leaving the facility. A routine perimeter patrol at the prison before the inmate missing report was filed reveals that there were no unauthorized vehicles or persons anywhere near the prison. Let’s discuss this situation further when I finish these action items.”

  Just great, I thought. How in hell can an inmate just walk out? The sometimes expected result when people are hired at a barely livable wage. Those responsible for guarding the very worst offenders should be paid a wage that encouraged applicants to apply for guard positions in our prisons. How about a photo and fingerprint check on any inmate that is released? Maybe Sarah should also be in charge of this procedure.

  Hannity continued. “Also, Darrel Jerkovick has been released from the hospital and remanded to our county prison until a sentencing date can be set. He has admitted that the Glock handgun used in the attack against me and Sam was a street gun he bought in Cleveland. We are also holding the deer rifle he stole from a local residence. The owner is not too happy, as it has kyboshed his hunting trip. Darrel’s truck has been impounded and moved to a lot here in town. The old cabin Darrel was renting at the lake is being guarded at this moment until we decide we are finished with gathering evidence.”

  Sam posed a question. “Alright, what are we to make of our Boulder murder suspect’s escape? Jordan feels he can’t get very far, even if he heads into the mountains. Jerkovick has no warm clothes and the nights back there now are still dipping into the twenties. He only ever had but two visitors to the prison. One was a woman who turns out was an on again, off again girlfriend. She was contacted and believed not to be involved. The other visitor was a guy that used to work with Jerkovick at a local lumber yard. He also was contacted and told us that he visited our suspect only three times just because he considered him a friend. This guy became engaged and was married a few years back. He made a decision that he could no longer involve himself in maintaining a friendship with our guy. He said Al had become surly, bitter, and never showed any remorse for his crime. The friend agreed with his wife that they didn’t need a ‘friend’ like Al Jerkovick.

  “Officer Jordan practically guaranteed that Jerkovick would be back in custody within forty-eight hours if not sooner. We hope he is right.”

  Sam continued. “Jake, you are invited to go with us tomorrow if you wish.”

  Jake shook his head from side to side. “I’d like to go, but my wife has come back to the house, and I think I need to be with her tomorrow. I can’t be of any real help now anyway.”

  Sam nodded. “I understand completely. I just thought that since you were the one to discover the grave, you deserved the opportunity to witness Dr. Potter’s work at uncovering our victim. I would bet the ranch that if we find any evidence that can provide a DNA profile, it will turn out to be Wendy’s boyfriend Roy. But you are right, being at home is more important right now.

  “Thanks, everyone. Let’s meet tomorrow morning about nine o’clock.”

  Chapter 22

  I walked into the house and Murphee was on me like white on rice. The big guy had his paws on my chest, his tail wagging—the tail that had knocked its share of glasses, vases and other items off a low coffee table. “Hi, Murph, I missed you both too. Where’s Mom?”

  Mrs. Sherlock stood in the kitchen, holding two glasses of wine. “Take a load off, Detective, and give me all the low down.” I took the wine glass and we did a one-armed embrace and twirled around the kitchen.

  Both of us plopped down on the couch, with the Murph’s head resting on my knee. I gave him a good double-ear scratch and told him to go lie down. He went to his plush bed in the corner and lay down, but kept his eyes on me.

  I began to give Barb a catch-up on all the happenings. Something seemed different about her. “Are those leather pants?”

  “Yes,” she replied. “One of my many San Francisco treats, and I don’t mean Rice-A-Roni. Do you like them?”

  “When do you get your nose and belly button pierced?” This comment didn’t go over too well. Barb jumped off the couch and had me in a headlock giving my scalp a virorous knuckle rub I pretended to be hurt. Murphee picked up his head with his ears on full alert. “Get her, Murph!”

  I later piled some kindling in the wood stove, and within a few minutes, we had a warm fire going. Murphee had decided that no harm would come to me. He rolled over onto his side and started to snooze. All was now quiet on this western front.

  Barb resumed questioning me about the case. “Do you really think that Al Jerkovick will be caught? That prison in Boulder doesn’t sound very secure. I wonder how many murderers they have locked up there.”

  “It doesn’t appear like he has much of a chance at getting away. They probably have search teams with dogs on his trail. A “be on the lookout” with his picture has to be plastered everywhere, including local TV stations. They don’t think he had any outside help, so it’s just a matter of time. Anyway, there is nothing we can do. Our concentration now has to be on uncovering the hu
man remains in the grave at Deadfall Lake—doing a DNA on the bones or whatever, and comparing them with Roy’s parent’s DNA profile.”

  With the bottle of Chardonnay empty, and the fire down to glowing embers, we clicked glasses again and headed upstairs. We were both tired. “Good night, Murph.”

  ***

  My phone rang at nine the next morning. It was Hannity, just giving me a heads up. They were going to depart for the lake within the half hour. “Hi, Jake, just calling to see if you had changed your mind about coming with us.”

  “Naw, I’ve got some correspondence to catch up on, and some bills to pay. I’ve recovered from the shock when I opened Barb’s credit card statement. San Francisco’s an expensive place to shop. I’m kidding,” I said and laughed. “She bought me a pair of leather pants to match the pair she bought for herself. There’s no way I will wear these in town and have folks say ‘there goes ole Detective Leather Pants.’”

  “Enough already” I said to suggest to Hannity I was ready for some serious talk. What have you heard from Jordan on Jerkovick’s escape?”

  “It looks like he stole the ID tag from another inmate who was being released. He just walked out. The system is faulty.”

  Jake replied, “Do ya think? The hiring and training policy stinks. Why in hell do they have fingerprint records on the inmates if they don’t use them? The industry I retired from has been using photo facial recognition and retinal scan software for the last ten years— successfully. Jerkoff would have never beaten this new technology. I’d say the inmates are running the asylum back there.”

  “Yeah, well maybe you missed a golden marketing opportunity. OK Jake, I’ll get back to you on our progress.”

  “Tell Dr. Potter I said ‘good hunting.”

  ***

  Sam, Hannity, Agent Simpson, Dr. Potter, and her assistant stepped out of the police SUV at about ten forty-five. Hiking staffs were handed out, and the group hiked up the trail to the lake. They followed the Orange Glo ribbon markers up to the gravesite. Dr. Potter had her assistant spread out a large nylon tarp next to the site. Sifting screen boxes, brushes, small hand picks, trowels, and other tools were neatly placed on the tarp. At least a dozen large and small plastic bags were set next to the dig site. Sam had two fold-up shovels ready to follow Potter’s instructions. The marker rocks and branches were removed.

  Dr. Potter kneeled down to inspect the place where the finger bone was found. “We’ll start here.” She grabbed a small trowel and a brush and began pulling away the earth, gradually uncovering more bones. Deeper digging revealed the skeletal remains of an arm. She stood and announced, “It looks like this body was buried on its side. This is a left arm and hand that we have uncovered, and I would speculate that this grave is not more than two feet deep.”

  Dr. Potter meticulously placed the soil in one of the wire-screened sifter boxes. It reminded those standing next to the site of someone panning for gold. The dirt was sifted through to the bottom of the box. What remained were a few larger stones. She reached in with her gloved hand and held something up to the sunlight. “It’s a plastic button. Maybe off a shirt or jacket.” She dropped the item into one of the evidence bags. Her assistant was closely examining the sifted soil with a magnifying glass, as well as the finger bones now inside the clear plastic bag.

  “We have what looks like human hairs under two of the finger bones,” her assistant announced.

  Simpson zoomed in with the camera and snapped some pictures.

  The two scientists stood back and Dr. Potter gave instructions to start digging carefully with the shovels. “This soil will allow for easy digging, and I want to take out as many skeletal remains as we can. If we can prove this body is Roy, it will allow this poor boy’s parents to give him a proper burial.”

  Sam and Agent Simpson began with the shovel work. Within a half hour, most of the remains were uncovered. Before the bones were lifted out and placed in bags, Dr. Potter closely examined the area. “Here are several more buttons, and what looks like a pant zipper that is rusted and falling apart. Not much would have survived seventeen years in this locale.”

  She reached down and said, “These appear to be pieces of leather. Probably from a hiking boot. We might assume that Roy was wearing hiking boots, but a guess is as close as we will ever get to connecting Roy to these rotted pieces. There will be teeth surviving the burial. If we can get several teeth, this would be our first action. Getting a copy of Roy’s dental records for identification purposes will be the quickest path to at least a partial solution to your crime.”

  As she was speaking, Dr. Potter reached down and carefully lifted the skull out of the grave. She held it up and brushed off most of the soil. “Severe blunt force trauma is what killed your victim. The damage to the front side of the skull tells me that our victim was hit very hard with a large rock or heavy wooden branch. Most of the teeth are here. We are very lucky. Once I can study Roy’s dental records and compare them to this jawbone and teeth, I can almost guarantee we will have a positive ID. Based on what you have told me, I would be shocked if this body is not Roy’s.”

  Everyone was still and silent for several seconds as the skull was shown to Sam, Hannity, and Agent Simpson. Hannity said, “Doctor, if you think you’re finished here, I suggest we pack up everything and head back.”

  Simpson started taking more pictures of the scene, as well as close ups of the evidence bags. Dr. Potter’s assistant was writing in a notebook, describing what was found. The doctor was dictating into a small digital recorder.

  The short hike back down to the SUV was made in complete silence.

  All loaded up, the SUV slowly moved out and headed to the road that would take everyone back over the mountain. Breaking the silence, Sam said, “I’ll try to reach Officer Jordan when we get back. Let’s hope he has some news on the whereabouts of Al Jerkovick.”

  Chapter 23

  The next morning, I walked into the police station and handed Sarah a latte, her favorite. “Good morning Jake, and thank you very much. I can barely see where your forehead made contact with your desk. The boss told me that he doesn’t need the pain meds anymore. I’m glad that two of my favorite people are on the mend.

  “Everyone is back in the storage shed. They cleared the large table and are unloading all the stuff from the burial site. You can walk straight through. I’m so sad about all this. It just has to be Roy.” Sarah was sipping her latte as I rubbed the smaller bump on my forehead. This young officer was really turning out to be a good friend. After this mess was over maybe throwing a grand summer deck party would be a good idea.

  I thanked Sarah and made my way out the back door, across the parking area, and knocked on the door to the storage room. Everyone was standing around the items on the table, and Simpson was taking more pictures. Hannity said, “Come on in, Jake.” I nodded to all. “This is what Dr. Potter pulled out of the gravesite. I’ll let her give us a summary of what we have.”

  Potter was sitting on a high stool next to the table. “What you see here is the almost complete skeletal remains of a young adult male. The good news—if this scene can have any good news—is that we recovered the skull, complete with all teeth. The inspector called Roy’s parents this morning to tell them what we found. I have the name and contact info of their family dentist. I will talk to him this morning. He can fax us Roy’s dental records. I will also ask that he send a copy to my lab at the university. You all should know that both parents seemed to take the news well, and I could sense that this will bring a final closure to their sorrow.”

  Hannity said, “If what we have are positively Roy’s remains, his mom and dad are thinking about flying out here to have Roy buried next to Wendy. They are talking to Mrs. Johnson about this.”

  Dr. Potter passed her hand over the material on the table and said, “I’ll help box up these remains. We can keep them here until we know what Roy’s parents want to do. I will take the jawbone and teeth with me back to my lab. The denta
l records will be our first pass at identification. Sam has asked the FBI office nearest to their home to take some sample swabs and hair follicles for the tests, just in case we need them. They will be mailed directly to me at my address.”

  “Thanks, doc,” Hannity said. “Sam has volunteered to drive you back to the airport this afternoon. I have left word in Boulder for Officer Jordan to call and give us the current situation with the hunt for Al Jerkovick. He had been working with the mountain rescue team and dog in a sweep again of the foothills. They think Jerkovick might have headed into the forest as the road blocks, and nearby home searches has turned up nothing. An Officer Smith at the Boulder police station said he expected a field progress report any minute. He will call us with any news.”

  I had something to say. “Everyone, I just want to thank you all for the outstanding work that has been done. I was in way over my head at times, but Hannity and Sam always came to my rescue. Sarah also was a big supporter and boosted my spirits when they needed boosting. I am very proud to have assisted in this investigation. It wasn’t much fun being shot at, having my car trashed, and being stalked by a sociopathic mad man, but knowing that Wendy’s and Roy’s parents will finally be able to put their sorrow away for good is a real reward for me. We all need to have lunch, and it is my treat at the local burger restaurant down the street. How about it?”

  Simpson spoke up. “I vote for that. I’m starved.” Heads were nodding all around.

  Hannity raised his hand. “Hold on just a minute please. When the old news of this cold case got re-run again in the newspaper, I was doubtful that anything would come of it. Then one day,” he said, pointing at Jake, this old retired guy shows up and volunteers to help us re-open the investigation. I really thought that pigs would fly before anything would come of it. But our intrepid detective here brought a ton of enthusiasm to the task. Jake, I am in your debt. Thanks for everything.”