Cold Case Recruit (10 page)

Junior scrutinized him some more.

“I’m the best, remember?”

At last Junior smiled again. “Yes.”

Brycen would give him time for all that to sink in. Maybe he’d made headway, maybe not. He hadn’t felt pressured to catch a killer in a long time, but this time the importance hitched up a few notches. All for a boy. Drury’s son. An alien feeling for a man ordinarily hardened to the horrors of violent crimes, a piece of his steel barrier chipped away. Try as he might to put it back in place, he figured he’d lost it for good.

Chapter 6

T
wo days later, a snowstorm descended on Anchorage. Drury loved to watch the big, heavy flakes propelled to the ground by a driving wind, but she didn’t look forward to getting out of Brycen’s SUV. By the time she adjusted the hood of her jacket and slipped on gloves, Brycen appeared outside the passenger-side door, braving the weather in a jacket and nothing else. His eyes squinted against pelting snow.

Drury climbed out when he opened the door. Putting her foot on the runner, she slipped and might have fallen out of the SUV if not for Brycen wrapping his arm around her and setting her firmly down.

“Oh.” With her hands on his sturdy chest, she stared up at his handsome face and decided to make light of the instant heat the close contact caused. “Well, I couldn’t have staged that better.”

He grinned. “Do you always fall into your men?”

“Are you my man?”

His grin dimmed a bit, but at the same time, a biting gust of wind whooshed snow in their faces and pushed the door open wider.

Keeping his arm around her, he manhandled the door shut and shielded her from the wind as they walked toward the state troopers’ Bureau of Investigations unit. Carter had been out of the office until today, so they’d had to wait to speak with him.

Opening the terminal building door for her, he ushered her inside and made sure the door closed with the next gust. Out of the noise and fray, he heard an officer behind the reception counter finish saying something to a woman standing on the other side.

Drury stomped her feet and pushed her hood back before stepping farther into the building.

“I demand to talk to someone who can help me!” The fortyish chubby woman with short, curly dark hair and busy, multicolored long shirt over leggings slapped her hand on the reception desk. “My friend is missing. Don’t you care about that?”

Drury slowed, something about the woman’s urgency and her mention of a missing woman compelling her.

Brycen slowed with her. “What’s the matter?”

“We have the report, ma’am. We’re looking into her disappearance.”

He followed her look just as the woman slapped her hand again. “You aren’t listening to me. I want to talk to the person in charge of her case.”

“He isn’t here right now, as I’ve told you. I’ll pass along your number.”

“I want to talk to someone
now.
Every day Evette is missing is another day she could wind up dead, if that monster of a husband hasn’t killed her already.”

“Evette Cummings?” Drury asked.

The woman turned, green eyes bright and surrounded by healthy white and a layer of mascara. “Yes.” She approached them. “Are you in charge of her case?”

“Not exactly.” Drury glanced at Brycen, waiting for him to answer. Some details should be withheld until they learned what this woman knew.

“You’re that detective.” The woman pointed at Brycen, her gold loop earrings swaying. “The one who came to solve that trooper’s murder case.”

“Brycen Cage. This is Drury Decoteau,” he said. “You are...?”

“Juanita Swanson.”

“Are you sure Evette is missing?” Drury asked.

“Oh, I’m sure. I’ve called her, and I’ve gone to her house and Melvin keeps telling me she isn’t home and he doesn’t know where she is. I reported her missing yesterday and nobody is doing anything.” She sighed her frustration, glancing back at the desk officer in annoyance.

“When’s the last time you saw her?” Drury asked.

“Two nights ago. She called me in a panic. Melvin smacked her around real good. He’s a regular at that.”

“Why did he beat her?” Brycen asked, even though he probably already knew.

She humphed. “Melvin needs no excuse or reason to beat Evette. It all depends on his mood or the amount of booze he’s had. But it so happens, this time he had a reason. It goes way back to when that state trooper was killed. He beat her bad then, too. Told her if she ever called the cops again, he’d kill her. I went to see her two days after. She said he was mad because the state trooper came when he had a meeting with someone. She should have gone to the hospital after that beating.”

A man had arrived between the time of Evette’s call and the state troopers’ arrival? They couldn’t reach people who needed help in a matter of minutes when they lived in remote areas as Evette and Melvin did.

“What meeting?” Drury asked.

“Don’t know what it was about. Neither did Evette. She spent most of her time trying to stay out of the way of Melvin’s fists.”

“Who was the man?” Brycen asked.

“Don’t know that, either. Evette didn’t know him and Melvin didn’t tell her his name. He never talked business with her. He only threatened her with her life if she told police he was there.”

For a fisherman, he had secretive business meetings. Something didn’t add up. “But...you said the troopers arrived when the meeting was scheduled.”

The police report said Evette showed no sign of abuse when Noah and Carter had answered her call for help. Melvin had beaten her after Noah and Carter left. But Noah and Carter hadn’t seen the stranger. Or had they?

“That’s why I reported her missing. After that trooper was killed and I went to see her again. I asked her why Melvin beat her. She brushed it off into something insignificant. I asked her if it had anything to do with that trooper’s death and she said no, even though he was the same trooper who answered her call for help. She told me she was mistaken that the man had been there when the trooper arrived. She said he left before that because Melvin told him to.”

She kept saying trooper and not troopers.

“There were two troopers who answered that call,” Brycen said.

“She only mentioned the one.” Juanita didn’t seen troubled by the discrepancy, but her loop earrings wiggled as she looked from Brycen to Drury.

Why would she only refer to one of the troopers? That also didn’t add up. Carter had been there, or so he’d claimed. Why hadn’t he been killed if Noah’s murder had anything to do with that call? Had only Noah seen the stranger? Why would he not tell Carter? Had he gone off onto his own investigation? Kept it secret?

If so, why hadn’t he told Drury anything about it? They’d had a good marriage. They talked about everything. Or so she’d thought. Maybe their communication hadn’t been as spot-on as she’d believed.

“Do you think Evette lied about the man not being there when the troopers arrived?” Brycen asked.

“Not lied. Beaten and battered, she was too scared to say. I forgot all about it until now. She came to see me the day before yesterday. Scared to death again, because of
him
. Saying Melvin was paranoid over a detective who’d taken over that trooper’s murder case.” She inspected Brycen. “You.”

Drury could tell Brycen had to hold back his temper knowing Melvin hadn’t heeded his warning—that he’d been unsuccessful in protecting Evette. “And are you certain Evette only referenced one trooper?”

“Yes. She said a trooper came to the door, not troopers.”

Brycen glanced over at Drury, who grappled with all that implied. Had Noah gone on that call alone, and not told Carter? Why?

“Thank you, Juanita.” Brycen took out a card and handed it to her. “If you have anything else for us or have questions, just call.”

She took the card and removed a pen from her big leather purse. She wrote a number on the back of the card and handed his card back to him. “Why don’t
you
call
me
when you find my friend?” She met his eyes dead-on.

He smiled slightly as he took his card back. “That will be my pleasure, Ms. Swanson.”

When the woman turned to go, heading through the doors, Drury said, low enough for only him to hear, “Is it possible Noah discovered something about Melvin and went alone because he suspected Carter’s involvement?”

“Quite possible.” He turned to meet her look and she didn’t like the certainty she saw in his eyes.

“Why would Carter lie about being there?”

“So he could say no other man was present when they made the call.”

“He didn’t write the report. Noah did.” Noah hadn’t included a stranger present at the Cummingses’ residence in the report.

*

In a blue state trooper uniform, Carter smiled when he saw them approach down the well-lit hall. Brycen noticed no insincerity, but he’d learned long ago not to trust a man who might have secrets to protect. He shook the man’s hand.

“Drury.” Carter opened his arms.

She leaned in for a guarded hug, something Brycen hadn’t seen in previous exchanges. While she hadn’t yet accepted the possibility that Carter knew more than he let on, she didn’t discount it, either.

“Let’s go in here.” Carter gestured toward an open conference room. “What brings you by? Did anything come out of the Cummingses’ visit?”

Brycen entered the room ahead of Drury, not missing how Carter always sequestered them when they came for visits. He went halfway inside the room and stopped alongside a rectangular table. He turned and faced Carter, Drury doing the same on the other side of the table.

“Evette said she overreacted when she called for help the night you and Noah went to her house,” Brycen said, laying out where he intended this conversation to go.

“The scared ones always have some excuse.” Carter put his hands on his hips above a duty belt packed with handcuff case, gun, cross-draw TASER, magazine pouches, portable radio and collapsible baton.

“Did you talk to Juanita Swanson after Noah’s murder?”

“Who?” He shook his head, hands still on his hips. “Name doesn’t ring a bell. Who is she?”

Brycen kept his face steady while he thought the oversight anything but. What good cop would miss talking to one of Evette’s closest friends after his partner’s murder? He could see not talking to her after the domestic violence call, but not the murder. Family and friends of those last in contact with a victim could reveal things important to a case.

“A close friend of Evette’s,” he finally said. “Juanita went to talk to Evette after Noah’s murder, but Evette downplayed the connection to the domestic violence call, and Juanita forgot about it until now.”

“She reported her missing,” Drury added with a subtle edge to her tone, maybe even a challenge.

Carter looked from Brycen to Drury, his pause indicating he’d noticed. “What connection?”

Brycen didn’t know why he asked.

In his pause, Carter said, “You said Evette downplayed Melvin’s connection to Noah’s murder.”

Either Carter had just made himself appear guilty or semantics had. “I didn’t say Melvin. I said the domestic violence call.”

Carter laughed slightly, nervously. “I meant the same thing. Evette called because of his abuse. What connection? I don’t see one.”

Or was he trying to find out what they’d discovered?

“Did you know Evette has been reported missing?” Drury asked.

He turned to her. “Yes. I was going to tell you.”

Was he?

“Evette told Juanita a man was at her and Melvin’s house when Noah arrived in answer to her call for help,” Brycen said.

Carter frowned, lips curving down and eyes clueless, or appearing so, as he shook his head. “I didn’t see anyone. Who was the man?”

“Were you there?” Brycen asked, all in a calm, even tone, unfaltering.

“Of course I was.”

“Evette told Juanita only one trooper answered the call,” Drury said accusatorily.

Carter’s face softened. “Drury, I was there. Evette and Juanita must have miscommunicated. It’s all in Noah’s report.”

Yes. Noah’s report. Brycen didn’t like the smell of this.

“Did Juanita say who the man was? Did Evette tell her?” Carter asked.

“She didn’t know and Evette didn’t tell her.” Brycen hoped Drury wouldn’t give away that Evette had claimed to be mistaken.

“Is it possible that Noah saw someone there?” she asked.

Carter took a few seconds to think on that. “I don’t know how. He was with me the whole time. But I suppose anything is possible. Could Evette’s friend describe the man?”

“No. Evette didn’t tell her much about him,” Brycen said. “Did Noah investigate Melvin after you left the Cummingses’ residence?”

“Not that I’m aware. What reason would he have had?”

“Depends on what he discovered about the stranger,” Brycen said.

Carter took several seconds before he responded, “I didn’t notice anything unusual.”

“About Noah?”

“About Noah, about the Cummingses. It was a domestic violence call and the wife was too scared to press charges.” He sounded certain, which convinced Brycen he told the truth.

“Noah didn’t go off on his own at all?” Drury asked. “He didn’t seem preoccupied with something he wasn’t telling you?”

Carter shook his head. “No.” He lowered his hands. “He never mentioned anything to me.”

Drury looked down and off to the side, her disappointment showing. Did she believe him? Brycen didn’t. Carter might not have noticed anything unusual about Noah or the Cummingses at first, but if Noah had unearthed something that might implicate him in illegal activities, he’d sure notice then. But Brycen didn’t think he’d caught on until after he discovered Noah had gone on the domestic violence call alone.

“If you want, I can check his last movements again,” Carter said. “Maybe I missed something.”

“That won’t be necessary.” Brycen walked around the table to Drury’s side, putting his hand on her back. She looked up at him and he heard her soft intake of breath as the chemistry between them heated. Just like that, out of nowhere, intense magnetism sparked.

He had to shake off the building heat and desire and turn to Carter. “I’ll take it from here.”

As he guided Drury toward the door, he couldn’t be sure if Carter’s hardening eyes were from insult or menace.

After a few steps to cool off from his hand on her lower back, Brycen noticed she had done the same.

“I can’t believe he’d have anything to do with Noah’s murder,” she said as they made their way to the reception area.

“Maybe he didn’t.”

“He and Noah were close. He came to our house for dinners and football games.”

Most people don’t suspect friends and relatives capable of the crimes that get them arrested. Most criminals play nice to avoid detection, and they’re good at deception.