by C. M. Sutter
We entered the bull pen at 7:50 a.m. and were the last to arrive. I was sure everyone was raring to go.
Jack exited his office holding a cup of coffee. “Good, everyone is here. I spoke with Jerry before he ended his shift. His conclusion was that there were enough similarities between the oil samples to call them a match. They were the same weight and color and had the same kind of sludge in both samples. He said the oil likely hadn’t been changed for several years.” Jack reached for my guest chair and took a seat. “That being said, I can use that discovery against Mark Peters. We have him dead to rights, but until the warrant is approved, I can’t interrogate him.”
My hopes of a quick resolve were deflated. “When will that be?”
Jack checked the time. “The judge is reviewing my requests now. We should have his answer before ten o’clock. Mark won’t know when we took that oil sample from his garage. All I have to say is we had a warrant to enter his property, and by that time it will be true. I’m sure he knows nothing about forensic science either. No matter what, I’ll tell him we have a confirmed match between the garage sample and what we found on the dirt road. His expression when I mention that discovery will definitely give him away. For now, I want to press on. Just so everyone knows, I also requested a warrant for the Cox home. Brian may have had his plans written down somewhere.” Jack pointed at Kate and me. “You two will go to Brian’s last known workplace, which was Bradford Tool and Die in Hartford. According to Trish’s family, Brian quit there six months ago because he has a hard time with authority figures.”
Kate shook her head. “Everyone who has a job reports to somebody unless you own the place.”
“True enough, Kate, but people who are disturbed don’t think like the rest of us do. Anyway, I want you to speak with the coworkers and every authority figure Brian reported to. Clayton and Billings, you two will talk to everyone who answers their door on the block where Brian lives. I want to know everything they saw and heard from Trish and Brian while they were still living together. I also want to know about Brian’s demeanor once Trish left and moved in with her parents and Brian moved back into their house. We’re going to be super busy later going through both houses, but with any luck, we’ll find something that will help.” Jack stood and returned the guest chair to the side of my desk. “Okay, everyone, head out, and I’ll keep you posted. Once I have the warrants, I’ll give Mark a chance to tell me where Brian is. If he lawyers up, we’ll move in on the properties.”
Kate rode shotgun and called out the directions as I drove toward Hartford. It would take us a half hour to reach Bradford Tool and Die, which was on the west side of town.
“I wonder what Trish is going through.”
Kate grimaced. “Don’t even go there, Amber. We have to stay positive.”
I shook my head. “Not every case has a good outcome. Bad people do bad things to others out of pure hatred. Sometimes law enforcement doesn’t get there in time. Believe me, between my old man and Jade, I’ve heard some sad stories.” The words came out of my mouth before I had time to think. My own father was murdered in our house while I was only twenty feet away. I was knocked senseless at the time, and Jade was chasing down a ghost, a well-thought-out plan orchestrated by Max Sims. I couldn’t save our dad, Jade couldn’t save him, and he couldn’t save himself either.
“Amber?”
“Huh? I’m sorry, my mind drifted off. What did you say?”
“Turn left at the next set of lights. Bradford Tool and Die should be about a block in on the right.”
“Got it.” I clicked my blinker and turned in to the driveway. I parked near the door with an Office sign on it. “I guess this is as good a place to start as any.” Kate and I exited the cruiser and walked in.
A thirtysomething young lady stood behind a counter directly in front of us. She wore her hair slicked back in a tight, high ponytail. She glanced our way and offered a friendly smile. “Can I help you ladies?”
“I sure hope so.” I pulled out my badge, and Kate did the same. “We need information and a few minutes of time with a handful of people. I’m hoping you, or possibly someone in personnel, can expedite that with a little background information for us.”
“This is a small company, Detective. Unfortunately, I’m the jack-of-all-trades.”
“And your name is?” Kate asked.
“Gillian Taylor.”
I nodded. “It’s nice to meet you, Gillian. So since you take care of everything, we’re going to need as much information as possible on a former employee named Brian Cox. We’d like to speak to his coworkers and his bosses during his employment here.”
“Do you know his employment dates?”
“No, but since this is a small company, it can’t be too difficult to find, right?” I gave her a wide smile and locked eyes with her.
She took a seat and jiggled the mouse on her computer. “I’ll see what I can do.”
Moments later, she spoke up. “It looks like Brian Cox had a short employment with us. He was here for five months before quitting around Thanksgiving last year.”
“That sounds right.” I pulled out my notepad. “Do you have the exact dates?”
“Yes, I’ll print out everything for you.”
“Does his file show why he quit?” Kate asked.
“It only says that there was a lack of communication between Brian, his coworkers, and the foreman.”
“Sounds like somebody is sugarcoating the fact that he didn’t play well with others and had a hard time with authority figures.”
Gillian looked worried. “Um.”
“You don’t have to comment, I was just thinking out loud. Okay, we need you to get his most recent foreman out here—or anywhere private—to talk to us.”
“That would be Doug Hanna.”
I nodded. “Sure, go ahead and give him a ring. We’ll just mill around.”
Gillian picked up the phone and made a call to wherever the foremen hung out. I imagined they had an office or a cubicle somewhere within the tool-and-die work area. From the corner of my eye, I watched as she covered her mouth with her palm and spoke into the receiver. She hung up seconds later.
“Doug will be right out. Is there anything else, Detectives?”
Kate spoke up. “Probably, but we’ll see what information Doug has to offer first.”
The door at Gillian’s right opened and closed. A middle-aged man walked toward us, wearing jeans and a dark green T-shirt with the company logo printed in white across the front. He appeared to be surprised, maybe because he expected to see two male detectives. I extended my hand and introduced myself, and Kate followed suit.
“Mr. Hanna, we have questions we need to ask you about a former employee. Is there a private area where we can talk?”
“Brian Cox, right?”
“Yes, sir,” Kate said. “We’ll have to speak with a few of his former coworkers as well.”
“Sure, let’s go in the lunchroom where it won’t be noisy. I’m afraid my office is dead center in the middle of the work area.”
I tipped my head. “Great, lead the way.”
We followed Doug down a nondescript dark-wood-paneled hallway reminiscent of something from the 1970s. One left and then an immediate right took us to a lunchroom that looked to be the same style. Two banquet-sized folding tables with four chairs on each side filled the small lunchroom. A sink and a paper towel dispenser, hanging from an upper cabinet, took up the left side of the room, and at the opposite wall sat two vending machines—one for soda and the other for snacks.
Doug pointed at the table farthest from the doorway. “How about over there?”
“Sure, that’s fine,” I said. We took our seats, Kate and I on the side that faced the doorway and Doug on the side that faced us, a deliberate move used by most law enforcement officers. We’d keep our eyes on our surroundings, especially the doorway, in case people came in. The person being interviewed would see only us, which would keep their focus on our q
uestions and nothing more.
“So what do you want to know about Brian Cox?” Doug folded his hands on the table and waited.
I began. “We need to know what his personality and mannerisms were like and what his conversations were about.”
Doug whistled and shook his head. “Ticking time bomb is the description that comes to mind. He didn’t engage in conversations with me. That would be a question for his coworkers. As far as personality, he was always angry about something. The guy had a hair trigger, and if somebody said something he didn’t like or gave him a questioning look, he’d go off on them.” Doug huffed. “Honestly, I’m glad he quit since I was about to fire him, anyway. At least we didn’t have to fight him about unemployment benefits.”
“How did he handle being told what to do?” Kate asked.
Doug rubbed his forehead and chuckled. “Everyone here is told what to do. I mean, that’s how work gets done, but Brian took orders to a whole new level. He cursed and spewed but still did the work. If he didn’t, he wouldn’t have lasted a week under my watch.”
“So what was the tipping point that made him quit?” I asked.
“The story was that he forgot his lunch one day and made his wife leave her own workplace, go home, and bring his lunch here to him. A coworker overheard the conversation Brian had with his wife and called him out on his demeaning manner. Brian nearly started a fistfight with the guy. Once Trish showed up, several other employees who were unaware she was Brian’s wife started the wolf calls.”
“I bet that didn’t go over well with Brian,” Kate said.
“That’s an understatement. Word around our company was that Brian took it out on his wife and beat the crap out of her when he got home that night. The next day, he was a no-show. The day after that, he came in, cleaned out his locker, had a few choice words with some of the guys, and quit. I’ve never seen him since.”
“We’ll need to speak to the employees who had negative encounters with Brian.”
“Tripp Daily, Sanjay Patel, and Ron Schilling come to mind.”
I looked at Kate. “Three guys should be enough. We’ll speak to them one at a time, and I’ll do my best to keep each interview under ten minutes. I know you have a company to run here.”
“Appreciate it, Detectives. Wait here. I’ll bring Tripp in first.”
When he and Tripp walked into the lunchroom together a few minutes later, Doug made the introductions. “I’ll go about my business, Detectives.” Doug turned to Tripp. “When you’re done, send Sanjay in.”
“Will do.”
Doug left, and Kate began the interview. “We hear you and Brian Cox didn’t get along very well. Can you expound on that?”
“Sure. Brian was a hothead and didn’t get along with anyone. He threatened bodily harm to at least five guys here that I know of.” Tripp leaned across the table and spoke under his breath. “There was more than once where different employees talked about jumping him in the parking lot and teaching him a thing or two, if you get my drift.”
“We do. Did anything ever become of that?” I asked.
“Nah.” Tripp swatted the air. “All talk and no show, but the jerk would have deserved anything he got. He had it coming.”
“Did Brian ever talk of his wife?”
Tripp huffed. “Yeah, all the time, but it was nothing I’d repeat in mixed company. He was a chauvinistic pig, a misogynist, I’d say. The only person he ever spoke highly of was his cousin.”
My ears perked. “Do you remember any particular conversations and the cousin’s name?”
“Hmm… let me think for a minute. Oh yeah, the cousin’s name was Mark. Brian mentioned how they would go out drinking on Friday and Saturday nights and pick up women. They’d have their way with them then shove them out of the car miles from town. Apparently that was funny to them. It sounds like the cousin is a piece of work too, and from the way Brian talked, neither of them respected women. The only time Brian seemed happy was when he told off-color stories about women or the hunting and fishing trips he took with that same cousin.”
“Really? Did Brian say where they’d go?”
Tripp shook his head. “I don’t think anybody went out of their way to engage with Brian. People nodded as if they were listening to him, but that was about it. All I remember hearing him say was that they stayed at the same cabin every time. He complained about how high the gas prices were since it was quite the touristy area and a great place for outdoor enthusiasts. I believe he said by the time they reached the cabin, their vehicle was usually on empty.”
I looked at Kate. “Do you have all that written down?”
“I sure do.”
“Okay, thanks, Tripp. We really appreciate your input.”
“Sure thing. I’ll get Sanjay.”
Over the next half hour, we spoke to two more men who gave us the same rundown of Brian that Tripp had. Brian was usually pissed off unless it involved something he had done with his cousin. We thanked the employees, Doug Hanna, and Gillian too before we walked out.
Chapter 16
Kate and I were in the cruiser and heading back to North Bend by ten fifteen. My phone rang as I drove. “Crap, grab my phone out of my purse, please.”
“Got it.” Kate handed the phone to me.
“It’s Jack.” I slid the green phone icon to the right and answered. “Hey, boss, what’s up?” I waited as he spoke. “Yeah, not a problem, we’ll head there now.” I clicked off the call.
“Whose house are we going to, Brian’s or Mark’s?”
I grinned. “You’re the psychic—you tell me.”
Kate pressed her temples, squeezed her eyes closed, and hummed. “Jack said to go to Mark’s house.”
I raised my brows. “Was that a guess?”
“Of course not, it was pure psychic ability, mixed with common sense and the fact that I could hear Jack through your phone.”
I frowned. “Maybe I need to adjust the call settings.”
“Maybe, but Clayton and Billings are already in Brian’s neighborhood. It only makes sense that Jack would keep them there.”
“True enough. Jack said a couple of deputies would be delivering the warrants to each address and they’d stick around to help go through the homes. We’re supposed to call him if we find anything suspicious. He’s checking with Forensics to see if they found any evidence in the Jeep, then he’s going to question Mark Peters again.”
Kate laughed. “I know, I heard everything he said.”
I made a quick turnaround in a gas station’s driveway and headed south on Highway 83. The timing of Jack’s call couldn’t have been better. I only had to backtrack a half mile. We reached Mark’s home ten minutes later, and everything looked the same as it had the night before. The garage, its overhead door still open, was where we’d found the evidence to get the ball rolling. I showed Kate our discovery before crossing the driveway to the house and waiting on the porch steps for a deputy to arrive with the warrant.
I looked out across Mark’s property as we sat there. Rolling fields in varying shades of green lay directly ahead of us. It would have been a beautiful view for a homeowner who deserved it. “There’s pure evil everywhere, you know. We’re sitting on the steps of somebody who willingly helped orchestrate a woman’s kidnapping. Only Brian and Mark know where Trish is being held and what she’s going through. We don’t hear of women committing crimes like murder, assault, and kidnapping against men as often as we hear of men doing it against women.”
Kate shook her head. “Women aren’t as strong as men, and guys are hard to overpower.”
“I suppose that’s true, but Aileen Wuornos killed seven men. That woman was hard core, but she was also an exception to the rule.”
“And she used a gun to kill them. You don’t need to be strong to do that, just nuts.”
I tore off a blade of grass and placed it between my thumbs. Kate did too. We both blew against our knuckles and made whistling sounds.
“I wonder
if Brian and Mark are staying in touch,” I said.
Kate threw a rock across the driveway. “I doubt if they’ve been communicating with each other. It would be too easy to track the phone calls between them.”
“Burner to burner? They could pull it off.”
Kate shrugged. “Not anymore with Mark sitting in a cell. I still think it would have been too risky. If they communicated with each other, we’d know exactly what Brian was up to and where he was hiding out, especially if he sent text messages, but Jack hasn’t mentioned finding anything helpful on Mark’s phone.”
I sighed. “I suppose you’re right. Maybe if we’re lucky, we’ll find brochures in the house about that cabin they go to. I’ll call Clayton and let him know to look for that type of thing too. They need to keep their eyes peeled, especially in Brian’s house. He obviously had the abduction planned.”
Minutes later, I heard gravel crunching. I looked up to see a squad car from our sheriff’s office coming down the driveway. Deputy Silver parked his vehicle next to our cruiser and climbed out. He waved the warrant above his head and wrinkled his brow.
“This place is empty, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, but we still need the warrant. It’s just a formality since we have nobody to hand it to, but regardless, it’s the law.”
Silver rubbed his chin. “Do we need to break in?”
Kate spoke up as she stood. “We haven’t tried any doors or windows yet, but let’s get started. The sooner we tear this place apart, the sooner we may find Trish.”
I mumbled under my breath. “That’s if Brian hasn’t already killed her.” I jiggled the knob on the front door, and it swung open. “That was about as easy as it comes. I guess arresting Mark and hauling him away before he had time to lock up paid off for us.”
Silver grinned. “That definitely made our job easier.”
We entered from the porch directly into the living room of the farmhouse. All the rooms led from one into the next. It didn’t look as though Mark Peters was the neatest guy on earth. I entered what was clearly meant to be a formal dining room and saw that the table was used as a gun reloading area. I jerked my head toward the table. “Check this out, guys.”