Did she think something funny was going on?
Toni couldn’t have gossip starting in this small town. She got out her FBI credentials and laid them on the counter too. “In case you need additional ID.”
“Oh…oh. FBI.” Joy’s eyes flashed open. “Wow. Are you investigating something?”
“We are,” she said and left it at that.
Joy’s head bobbed one time, and she started entering Toni’s credit card number into her computer. “You let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”
Toni hadn’t planned to pick this woman’s brain, but she might have information on Lisa’s disappearance. “Have you lived in town for long?”
“Me and my Earl have owned the hotel since the mid-seventies.”
“Then you might remember the disappearance of Lisa Long from her grandparents’ house.”
“Oh sure, she…wait.” Her mouth dropped open. “Long. Are you related?”
Toni didn’t answer.
“None of my business then.” Joy waved her hand. “It was the talk of the town. Her parents stayed right here for nearly six months looking for the poor little thing. She came to visit and disappeared. Sheriff Raintree decided she’d washed out to sea, but Earl and I don’t believe it.”
Interesting. “What do you think happened?”
Joy leaned closer. “I think a vagrant was involved. Told Sheriff Raintree as much, but never even saw the guy’s name mentioned as a suspect. So I got back to Raintree. He said he ruled that man out, but I don’t see how. He was kind of a creepy guy. Former military. Living on the beach back then. Not sure what happened to him.”
“What was his name?”
“Sheldon Sharkey. Ain’t that just a name?”
Toni did her best not to react. “I appreciate the information.”
“Maybe you can do something with it. God knows that the old sheriff would rather sit in his office than do his job. An outsider, he was. Came in as a highfalutin deputy from the big city and made pals with the mayor. Got himself elected by promising all kinds of good things. Didn’t do anything he promised.”
“Tell me about Lisa’s parents,” Toni said, feeling weird talking about her parents like this.
“Interesting couple. The mom was moody. Sad most of the time, as you can expect. He was a doer. Didn’t sit still for a minute. Spent every second looking for Lisa.”
“Didn’t the mom help?” Toni asked.
“Sure, yeah, but she was really depressed. I think the doc had her on tranquilizers, and she couldn’t cope like the dad. He was a DEA agent and had the skills to conduct a search. Left his wife to fend for herself most of the time in the early days. But he finally convinced her to accompany him, and she gradually pulled herself together.”
Toni couldn’t imagine her parents going through such a difficult time, but Joy had described her parents as Toni had known them, only with less intense emotions. She finally understood so much about them. Maybe her dad had been so hard on her because she wasn’t Lisa. Or maybe he wanted to make sure she was tough enough to withstand anything, even learning that he’d hidden her sister from her or being kidnapped like he’d feared had happened to Lisa.
Joy slid metal keys and a small map across the counter. “This time of year we aren’t as full, so I gave you our best rooms. They’re on the third floor with a balcony.”
“Thanks so much.” Feeling emotional and vulnerable, Toni tucked her card and ID into her purse and grabbed the keys.
“Elevator’s over there.” Joy pointed over Toni’s shoulder, but Toni had already seen the elevator when she took in the eighties lobby décor. Bad décor or not, the hotel was clean, and that was all Toni cared about.
She exited the building and slid into the SUV.
Drake smiled. “All set?”
She nodded. “But turn the SUV around. We’re heading back to your parents’ place to look at Ziegler’s old files before Blake and your brothers get back there.”
23
Clay tapped his foot under the conference room table as Trent wrote the suspects’ names on the board. But Clay couldn’t concentrate. Not with the way he let Toni down. Everything tasted sour in his mouth. He was desperate to know what she was doing—if she was okay. Sure, Drake would do his best to keep her safe, but safety could depend on more than just one person having her back. Because Hibbard was still on the loose, and he—along with any number of men he assigned—could be out to kill her.
Please keep her safe.
Trent finished printing Sheldon Sharkey, Rich Hibbard, Jason Rader, and Fritz Rader in sharp red letters, then grabbed a black marker and added Naomi Dawson under Fritz Rader’s name.
Trent tapped on her name. “The girl Kelsey identified from the high school. Her photo was also found at Rader’s place.”
“How did Kelsey find the girl’s ID?” Clay asked.
Trent faced the group. “After Kelsey dated the bones, we searched that timeframe for missing girls and narrowed it down to two girls. DNA officially confirmed the identity.”
“Do we have any information on her?” Aiden asked.
“She’s a runaway from Portland,” Trent said. “I talked to her parents last night. A typical scenario. Naomi was troubled and acting out after her parents’ divorce. She wanted to live with her dad and fought with her mother. Mom said no. Girl took off three years ago.”
“Can we see her picture?” Brendan asked.
Trent unclipped a photo from his folder and handed it to Brendan. He studied it carefully, then shaking his head, he passed it on to Erik, who took a quick look and gave it to Clay.
“She’s definitely one of the girls in Rader’s pictures,” Clay said. “I remember the scar by her eye.”
“So now we know Rader had a connection to this girl.” Trent jotted Jason’s name with a question mark on the board. “I need to push Jason harder to see what he knows.”
“I keep thinking about Rader’s wife,” Aiden said. “Maybe she found out what Rader was up to and split before she got in trouble with the law.”
“If so, wouldn’t she have taken Jason with her instead of leaving him with a horrible father?” Trent asked.
“The kid couldn’t have been involved then, could he?” Clay asked. “He was only sixteen.”
“He does have a juvenile record for misdemeanors, so he was often on the wrong side of the law,” Trent said. “But he was never even on the radar for trafficking.”
Clay looked at Trent. “When you arrested Jason, did you look for the mother?”
He shook his head. “Didn’t seem relevant.”
“Not sure it’s relevant even now,” Blake said. “Unless she’s one of the bodies buried out back.”
“She’s not.” Trent wrote Six deceased girls under Rader’s name. “None of them fit Ursula’s build, and none have borne children. Kelsey said she would provide specifics for each girl by the end of the day. Age, height, hair color, et cetera, and hopefully an approximate time of death.”
“How does she do that?” Clay asked. “The time of death, I mean.”
“She’ll have to give you all the details, but she said she factors in the temperature and the humidity over the years to make her determination. And she said another element she uses is animal bites on the bones. Like bites from squirrels and rats.”
“Rat bites?” Erik shuddered.
“Yeah, apparently rats like greasy bones and tend to chew on the ends to gain access to the marrow. Squirrels prefer drier and more brittle bones. She said the squirrels use the bone’s calcium to ensure strong litters. To get dry bones, they would have to be fully exposed to the elements at some point.”
Clay didn’t want to think about these young girls and scavengers. “Hopefully we can match the DNA to the list of missing girls you provided us.”
Trent nodded. “Kelsey took samples yesterday, and one of Gage’s guys flew it to Veritas to deliver to your wife.” Trent looked at Blake. “Emory said she’d get back to me late
r today. But here’s the problem. We don’t have DNA for the girls who’ve been missing the longest, except for Lisa. So if it’s one of them, we’ll have to find a different method to make an ID.”
“And I’m assuming cause of death will take some time to obtain,” Blake said.
Trent nodded. “Kelsey has to transport the bones to her lab. She’ll review them and get the info to me as soon as possible, but she said that could take weeks.”
Trent turned back to the board and wrote the word photo under Sharkey’s name. “Naomi is also in the photos we found at Sheldon Sharkey’s house.”
Clay didn’t add that he and his brothers had already looked at those photos. “So that brings us up to date on the murder at the high school and the girls presumed murdered at Rader’s house, but where do you stand on the beach house?”
Trent wrote beach house and the initials RSL under Jason Rader’s name. “Your sister lifted prints from the note and sent them to Veritas for her assistant to handle. No match in the databases. No additional evidence. Though Sierra did lift other prints and DNA, and they’ve also been transported to Veritas.”
“Did she locate any twine at the scene?” Clay asked. “Or did Kelsey find twine in the backyard graves at Rader’s place?”
“Twine?” Trent’s dark eyebrows went up. “No, but Kelsey’s not done recovering the bodies. Why?”
Clay explained how the twine connected Heidi and Naomi Dawson with Rader and Sharkey’s Christmas tree operations.
“One of those details no one shared with me.” Trent shook his head and added twine under Sharkey’s and Rader’s names and put Heidi’s name under Hibbard’s listing. “What else have you been holding back?”
Clay told Trent about the unique carving on the bedposts that matched the bed in their prior investigation. “So Hibbard is very much a suspect in all of this.”
Trent jotted it down under Hibbard’s name. “The videos we found on the SD cards from Sharkey’s house also indicate Hibbard’s involvement.”
“Have you made any progress in locating him?” Erik asked.
“I had the Portland police check out his last known address. Place was vacant. Looked like no one had been there in a long time.”
“Guessing they went to the Hillsboro address on Baseline,” Clay said. “He moved out of there over a year ago.”
“I’ve put out a statewide alert,” Trent said. “If he shows his face, we’ll find him.”
“Mind if I suggest some of his prior hangouts for PPB to look into?” Clay hoped officers could check out the locations and ask a few questions.
“Already did that.” Erik leaned back, a smug smile on his face. “I’ve had one of my contacts at PPB scope them out the last few days. No sign of Hibbard.”
Clay looked at his youngest brother. “You didn’t tell me that.”
“Didn’t figure it mattered if they didn’t find anything. Besides, we all think Hibbard’s moved on to this area.”
“And yet, there hasn’t been any sightings of him or any sign of his business dealings.” Trent set down the marker.
“What about doing a public appeal?” Brendan asked.
Trent planted his hands on his hips. “Could send him even further to ground.”
Brendan crossed his arms. “Or someone might’ve seen him and come forward.”
Looking confident, Trent glanced around the table. “Who’s in favor of the public appeal?”
Everyone raised their hands, and Clay watched Trent to see how he handled being outvoted by his deputies.
He gave a sharp nod. “I’ll schedule a press conference today and get his name and picture out there.”
“I would’ve agreed with you if we hadn’t been looking for the guy for years,” Clay said. “I think it’ll take someone rolling over on him to catch him.”
Trent nodded again. “That’s settled. Let’s talk about Sharkey. I’ve interviewed him, but he continues to say no comment. It looks like it’ll take a deal to get anything from him. I don’t think the DA wants to offer a deal to a guy who possesses photos that seem to point to his guilt in multiple murders. Not to mention that he’s in possession of child pornography and the bird had Sharkey’s DNA on it.”
“Gives Sharkey a solid connection to Rader and puts him at the murder scene,” Clay said. “Plus, Sharkey has the strength to strangle Rader. We just need to prove motive, and we got Sharkey on this one.”
“Agreed,” Trent said.
“And we haven’t even mentioned Lisa Long’s disappearance. Her clothes found in Rader’s garage connects him there too.”
Trent ran a hand through his hair. “I’ve been considering reopening the Long investigation but there’s not enough manpower.”
“We’ve already reviewed Ziegler’s records,” Blake said. “Looks like he did a thorough job. Only oddity was that Sheriff Raintree was very active in the investigation. From what I’ve heard about him, that was unusual. Could be an issue to look into or it was a matter of a child going missing and he couldn’t sit back and do nothing.”
“Did Ziegler say anything about that?” Trent asked.
“No, but he never badmouthed Raintree no matter what others said. It was a high-profile case and an election year. Could explain Raintree’s behavior.”
“Could indeed.” Trent shared an insider’s look with Blake.
Clay couldn’t imagine what went into getting elected and reelected as sheriff. Never made any sense to Clay that the sheriff’s position was often an elected position. He’d seen men and women elected who knew very little about policing.
“Okay.” Trent clapped his hands. “That’s it. Let’s make assignments and get to work catching a killer and trafficker of humans.”
Toni felt Peggy watching her, but she kept on digging through the records, not commenting on anything to Drake to keep Peggy from overhearing. When Toni had turned the last page of the three-ring binder, she sat back to wait for Drake to catch up.
Unless she’d missed something in the four large binders, Sharkey hadn’t been mentioned in Ziegler’s files. Notes did say Raintree canvassed the hotel area as part of the initial assessment, but he claimed not to have learned anything. No mention of Joy at all.
Drake closed the book.
“We should get going,” she said before he could speak.
He didn’t question her but stacked the books on top of Clay’s investigation files and headed for the door.
“Bye again,” he said to his parents.
“Thanks for the coffee,” Toni added.
In the SUV, she turned to Drake. “You see anything about Sharkey in the books?”
“Nada.” Drake cranked the engine. “I say we go to the local newspaper office to review archives. We might even be able to search for mention of Sharkey or a homeless issue. Something like that.”
“Sounds good. And if we don’t find anything, we can talk to Joy again. I’m sure she’ll be glad to provide more information.” Toni got out her phone. “I’ll find the newspaper office’s address.”
“No need. It’s on Main Street. At least it is if it hasn’t moved since I was a kid.”
She swiveled to face him. “Sounds like you guys spent a lot of time here.”
“We each had a week alone with our grandparents every summer plus two weeks all together. We did chores for Grandma and Gramps, and they gave us an allowance. We’d save it up and ride bikes into town to buy saltwater taffy and souvenir junk. You should’ve seen our parents roll their eyes at it when we got home.”
He smiled and his eyes lit with warmth as if he had fond memories. “My favorite was a grabber with a shark’s head. I can’t tell you all the things I picked up with that thing. Or how many times I got socked from grabbing my brothers with it.”
He laughed, but she couldn’t. If she’d been allowed to see her grandparents, would she have had a similar experience? She might’ve even met the Byrd brothers. Been lifelong friends and not someone who had no idea what her future might
be with this family.
She could always forgive Clay. He hadn’t meant to hurt her. She knew that. But the hurt was still too fresh to consider anything with him. She had to find out if it was in his nature to act like this again. If something important came up that he wanted and she was in the way, would he cut her out?
“Main Street.” Drake turned onto a typical beach tourist road. Colorful restaurants, souvenir stores, a combo sweet and ice cream shop, and an arcade. She could easily imagine the Byrd siblings exploring the town.
“The paper’s just ahead.” Drake pulled into a parking space in front of a two-story building with a covered patio.
Inside, she could still smell the ink from days gone by, and a giant printing press with rubber letters took up the back wall. She doubted they’d printed the paper this way in eons, but it was fun to see.
An older gentleman with snowy white hair who was likely pushing eighty got up from behind a desk and came to lean on a scarred counter. “Help you?”
“We were hoping to look at your archives for the late eighties,” Toni said.
“Anything particular you’re looking for?”
“Lisa Long’s disappearance.”
He frowned. “Why would you want to see that? Was a sad thing for Walt and Gert Long. They barely survived it.”
Toni took a breath. “Lisa is my sister.”
“Never knew she had a sister.”
“It’s complicated,” Toni said. “We were hoping to read about the investigation.”
“Boxes are off-site in a storage facility. I own the paper and covered the incident. I can tell you whatever you need to know.”
She wondered if he would remember much, but it seemed like this was their best bet. “Did Sheriff Raintree get involved in the investigation?”
“He did. We didn’t see him much except at ribbon cuttings and official meetings. I was shocked when he took over the investigation.”
“Did he talk about suspects?” Drake asked.
“Weren’t any. He maintained from day one that the poor little girl wandered off and got swept up in the current. Nothing seemed to change his mind.”
Night Hawk Page 23