Dead By Dawn (5 page)

“We hit a dead end quickly. That case has always bothered me,” he said sadly.

“Any particular reason why?” she asked.

“Lack of cooperation mostly. There were no witnesses and my partner and I disagreed on the evidence,” he answered.

“What do you mean by no cooperation?” she asked, confused.

“The parents, all they did was squabble and point fingers. Most parents of victims want to do everything they can to help. The Dorans were fairly helpful but so grief stricken that they were not much help. The Davenports were just a nasty bunch,” he answered.

“What do you mean by nasty?”

“They blamed it on Shelly. Insisted that she was growing and selling drugs,” he said. “They were tenacious about their theory. Daddy Davenport was a bully. Every time we went off in a direction that didn’t point to his theory, he’d start throwing his weight around with local politicians. It made it hard for us to do our job.”

“I talked briefly to Carol Davenport. She didn’t seem to want all of this brought up again,” Lindsay commented.

“She was a piece of work. She’s a bully, just like her father,” Davis said.

“She mentioned the pot angle to me and the fact that David and Shelly had too much money in the bank and the house,” Lindsay said.

“That doesn’t surprise me. The money was explained by the Dorans. They proved to us that the money in the kids’ accounts came from them. It was a loan,” he said.

“Did you tell that to the Davenports?” she asked.

“You bet I did. They kept insisting it was drug money.” He shook his head. “There was no evidence anywhere on that ranch that the Davenports were growing, selling, or even doing drugs. We found a bag of pot on the kitchen table. In fact, that was one of the only things in the house we were able to pull fingerprints from.”

“Did the Dorans say why they loaned the kids money?” Lindsay asked.

“Yes. David inherited the ranch from his grandfather. They moved to the ranch with the intention of growing grapes and making wine. It turned out to be a more expensive venture than they’d originally thought. Shelly’s parents loaned them money to continue. At the time, they told me that this was Shelly’s dream,” he said.

“Calhoun and I went out there yesterday. It looks like no one has lived there since this happened,” Lindsay observed.

“I heard that Shelly Doran’s parents owned the home in joint tenancy with David and Shelly. It was part of their terms for loaning them money. Last I heard, the Dorans own the house,” he said.

“Do you remember what happened to Dayna Davenport?” Lindsay asked.

“The five year old? They found her strangled in the aqueduct out by Kettlemen City,” he said. “It was sad.”

“What do you think happened to Kelly?” she asked.

“I think those people probably killed her and buried her out there someplace,” he said. “Why is Jeremy Davenport bringing all this up again?”

“He thinks Kelly may be alive,” she said.

“Any evidence of that?” he asked.

“None, so far. He has been looking into the murders for a while. His grandparents told him that they all died except him,” she said.

“He ended up with the Davenports, didn’t he?” Davis said.

“Yes, he did,” she said.

“That’s sad. I liked the Doran family. It seemed like a home with a lot of love,” he said sadly. “I heard there was a bitter custody battle between the grandparents for that child.”

“I didn’t know about the custody battle. Do you remember what happened?” she asked.

“All I know is that the Davenports blamed the Dorans for the murders and they convinced a family law judge they were involved in the murders,” he said. “Rumor was that the Davenports bought the judge.”

“Do you remember who that was?” she asked.

“I don’t,” he said. “Tell me about Jeremy. All that tragedy. Did he grow up to be a nice kid?”

“He seems like a nice guy,” she said.

“I hate to seem like an oldsap, but I think about that baby from time to time. I wondered how he would turn out after an event like that. I’m glad to hear there is a happy ending.”

“You said that your partner and you didn’t agree on the evidence,” Lindsay commented.

Davis sighed. “Andy was hell-bent on pinning it on the ranch hand who found the bodies,” he said.

“You don’t think he did it?” Lindsay asked.

“The guy’s footprints were in the house, but I thought it corroborated his story about finding the bodies,” Davis said.

“Why was your partner convinced otherwise?” Lindsay asked.

“The drugs. The Edmunds guy had a couple of possession convictions,” Davis said.

“I looked at the file. There was obviously more than one killer,” Lindsay said.

“Andy tried to get the guy to give up the other killers,” Davis said.

“I saw there was a confession in the file.”

“I never felt good about that confession,” Davis commented. “Edmunds was a minor and his attorney thought he could get a reduced sentence if he was tried as a juvenile. He confessed and made a deal with the D.A. for five years jail time.”

“So his confession was part of the plea agreement?” she asked.

“Yes, but the judge didn’t like it. He threw out the plea agreement and ruled that he should be tried as an adult,” Davis said.

“So the confession was used against him at the trial?”

“Yes,” Davis said. “The confession doesn’t include accomplices.”

“I read it. He confesses, but the confession doesn’t look like it matches the evidence,” Lindsay said.

“That’s what I thought,” Davis said.

“Why didn’t you bring this up at the trial?” Lindsay asked.

“The higher-ups decided that Small’s theory was what we were running with. I was told to toe the party line,” Davis said.

“A good defense attorney should have been able to create reasonable doubt,” Lindsay commented.

“The key word in that sentence was good,” Davis said. “We rarely had murders in this town. No one had much experience with them, the prosecution or the defense. It was a crap shoot.”

Terri Doran Martin agreed to meet Lindsay at the Paso Robles Park. She was a slight woman; a little over five feet tall with dark hair, cut to her shoulders. Her green eyes were a striking contrast to the dark hair. She was dressed in blue jeans shorts and a tank top.

“I’m not surprised that Jeremy is bringing all of this back up,” she said. “It’s nice to see that the Davenports weren’t able to completely brainwash him,” she added in a snide tone.

“I’m surprised you live here after what happened to your sister,” Lindsay remarked.

“Well, that was a lifetime ago,” she said. “I haven’t seen Jeremy for a couple weeks. How is he?”

“He’s fine. You don’t keep in touch?” Lindsay asked.

“We do and we don’t. After the Davenports took him, we hardly got to see him at all. It wasn’t until he became an adult that he contacted my mom and dad. I think that was when he found out he had relatives beside the Davenports,” she said.

“I heard about the custody battle. Your family wasn’t granted any visitation?” Lindsay asked.

“Yes they were, but every time my parents went to court to enforce it, the judge sided with Davenports. They finally just gave up,” Terri said. “I know that Jeremy has visited my parents recently. My dad only has a couple months left,” she said, as tears formed in her eyes.

“I’m sorry Terri,” Lindsay said.

“It’s okay. It’s actually good that he’s in contact with them. My understanding is that they are in the process of transferring ownership of the ranch to him. I am going to be the head winemaker out there when he is ready,” Terri said.

Well, he certainly hadn’t shared that tidbit of information with her when he hired her. “Does he want to live there?” Lindsay asked in disbelief.

“No, he wants to follow his mother’s dream and start a winery,” Terri said. “He double-majored in college: crop science and agribusiness management. Jeremy told my mother that the Davenports are angry at him because he didn’t want to take over their business.”

“Do the Davenports know about the land transfer?” Lindsay asked.

“No. Jeremy is not going to tell them until everything is finalized,” Terri said. “You know, you should really be talking to my parents.”

“Could you arrange that?” Lindsay asked.

“No problem. Where can I reach you?” Terri asked.

Lindsay gave her the cell phone number. “How far is it to Fresno from here? Two hours?” she asked.

Terri looked perplexed at the question. “Oh, my parents don’t live in Fresno anymore.” She laughed at the mistake. “They live with my sister and her husband in Palos Verdes. My mom and dad live in their guest house. Dad’s getting better medical treatment in Los Angeles.”

“Is that why Jeremy moved?” Lindsay asked.

“Yes, they are putting all of the legal documents together and Jeremy decided he needed a couple months away from this area. I think he rented a place in Manhattan Beach for the summer,” Terri said.

“The Davenports think he is working down there,” Lindsay commented.

“That was probably the only way he could get himself out of town. Old man Davenport can be quite a bully when he wants to be,” Terri said in disgust.

“You know quite a bit about what he’s up to,” Lindsay commented. “Did you know that he thinks his sister Kelly may still be alive?”

“I think we all secretly want to believe that she is. You’re saying that Jeremy is actively looking for her?” Terri questioned with surprise.

“Yes. He had an age progression done on an old photograph. He was following a woman that he thought might be her,” Lindsay said.

Terri was looking down at the ground. “That’s sad. I hope he doesn’t get hurt.”

“The good news is that I live in Los Angeles. The sooner I can talk to your parents, the better,” Lindsay said brightly. She was trying hard to shift the mood. “So what do you do for a living up here?”

“I work as a winemaker for one of the small vineyards out here,” Terri said with a smile.

“I used to visit here as a child. It sure has changed over the years,” Lindsay said.

“That it has,” Terri said. “I am looking forward to my brother getting the winery up and running.”

“Doesn’t it take several years to get the grapes to the point that you can make wine?” Lindsay asked.

“Yes, we are buying in grapes and marketing it under our own label to get going,” Terri said. “There is some construction that needs to take place on the ranch.”

“I don’t know much about wines,” Lindsay admitted.

“I’ve been doing this for years,” Terri said. “I went to school at Cal Poly a few years after my sister. I planned to work for David and Shelly when I graduated.”

“The best laid plans,” Lindsay said and her voice trailed off.

“It’s okay. I did it any way. I’d like to think my sister is up there looking down at all of us and very proud that we moved on.”

Lindsay went back to the Inn and packed her things. She decided to take Interstate 5 home instead of the 101 Freeway. She wanted to stop at the ranch again. Heading the Range Rover out Highway 46, she drove slowly and took in all the sights. There were several wineries and old ranches that had been there forever, and to her surprise, a new water park. The water park looked like fun. She and her sister had ridden their bikes out to the one on Adelaide Road when they were kids. That park was a big swimming pool tucked into a campground. Paso Robles was so quaint back then.

She turned into Shandon and drove up to the ranch house, now that she wasn’t technically trespassing. This time, she was interested in walking the fields. She went out behind the barn and looked. There were broken posts and lines of wire where the grapes had been planted so long ago. Most of the land was now covered with weeds. She walked around the fields, having no idea what she was looking for or hoped to accomplish. She noticed the neighbors out here all had grape vines growing on their properties. It seemed like David and Shelly Davenport would have been one of the first people out here to decide that grapes were a good investment. What a shame their dream came to an end so abruptly. Lindsay turned around and headed toward the house. She saw movement to one side of the barn. Had that been a person? She no longer carried a gun, now that she was off the force. She suddenly felt scared to be out in the barn area by herself. She heard footsteps running up the driveway. She turned and started to follow. A teenager jumped into a car a sped away. By the time Lindsay got out to the road, he was long gone.

She got into her Range Rover and took a couple deep breaths. Her adrenaline was pumping. She had to calm down. She took a drink of the bottled water from the console. It was just a coincidence. Just kids playing around. That’s all it was, she convinced herself. She got back onto Highway 46 and headed home.