Skeleton Key (22 page)

“
Um, I fell,” said Clay as he attempted to avoid the truth.

“
On your eye?”

“
Okay, I fell off the treadmill and hit my eye on my weight machine.”

“
Likely story. Who hit you?”

“
Let’s just watch the game, okay?” The anthem played and starters were announced. Then Clay quickly caught Zander up on the news of the investigation in Durand. Tanner made a turnover on his first possession as a starter, just like his first possession in his first game off the bench, but he settled into a very solid performance—three turnovers, six assists, four rebounds, and nine points in a fifteen-point victory. Clay waited patiently for Tanner to emerge from the locker room after the game, and gave him a smile and a hug. They talked briefly about the game, Clay giving a few pointers like a dad tends to do and words of encouragement and confidence as dads also tend to do.

“
What happened to your eye?”

“
I fell.”

“
On your
eye
?”

Zander laughed.

“
Is déjà vu a parapsychological gift?” Clay said.

“
You’ve had this conversation before?” Tanner asked.

Clay changed the subject. “Wanna head back to Durand with me tomorrow? There may be some excitement. I was thinking we could watch Logan play in his basketball game too.”

“
Coach has a clinic he’s speaking at Friday night and Saturday morning, but we still have a shortened practice tomorrow morning from 11:00 to 12:30. If you can wait, I can make it after that.”

***

Dan Duncan was itching to go back to work after being off for seven consecutive days. There were rumors at the police department that something big was going down concerning the discovery of Adrian Payne’s body. Developments in the case since he had severed his toe were mostly a mystery. Dan had convinced doctors to remove his cast, so he was limping around in a walking boot when he wasn’t using his crutches. He’d made it out to Walmart the day before, on Thursday, and he’d made several purchases that had left him in a very good mood. He was thinking: “
Two new birdfeeders—$44.98. One 3-9x power rimfire rifle scope—$84.99. One Mosseberg .22 semi-automatic hunting rifle—$99.99. One dead backyard varmint squirrel—priceless
.”

Dan kicked back with his police scanner turned on and classical music quietly playing on his Bose radio when he heard some scraping on the roof of his house. Soon, he heard what sounded like little clawed feet running on his roof, and then everything was quiet. Dan cautiously eased himself from his chair and spied out of his kitchen window, and sure enough, the squirrel had leaped from his roof and was perched on the bird feeder, stealing seeds. He began sneaking his way to his bedroom closet, giving the distinct impression that he didn’t want the squirrel to know he was planning its murder.

Dan had already installed the scope but he had to take a minute to load the rifle with ammunition. Then he sneaked the best he could while hopping on one foot back to his kitchen window. He peeked out of the window, imagining that the squirrel was worriedly looking for him. He quietly slid the glass open a crack and poked the barrel out. Dan’s heart was beating wildly and sweat was forming on his brow and upper lip. If he had known anything about hunting rifles and scopes, he would have known that he needed to zero in his scope before he used it, but what Dan was naively thinking was that an assembled scope would simply insure accurate aiming. Dan gazed through it with deadly focus. Within seconds, he believed, his squirrel would deservedly be executed and eliminated from his life completely.

Once the crosshairs of the reticle were perfectly aimed and focused on the squirrel’s little head, Dan took a couple of deep, slow breaths and gently began squeezing the trigger. One shot was all that he’d need and all of his problems would be over. Finally, the bullet was ejected from the barrel. Dan watched carefully through the scope in anticipation of the squirrel’s demise, but nothing happened except for a noise that sounded remarkably like glass breaking. The squirrel itself looked up in curiosity. Dan stood up, looking in the direct line of his shot, when reality sank in. His scope had not been properly sighted, and Dan had just shot out his neighbor’s bathroom window.

***

Clay received a call from Chief Hopper at 10:00 a.m. on Friday morning. The DNA results were conclusive. The bloodstains were from the body of Adrian Payne. Luke agreed to allow Tanner to come and witness the arrest and interview. He found he wasn’t doing many things “by the book” since he let Clay be part of the investigation. Clay also informed Luke about the conversation with Roger from the Shell gas station. He suggested that Hopper track down the truck driver so they could have a chat with him. Maybe he would remember something.

Tanner arrived at his dad’s house by 12:45 and they were at the police station by 1:15. “I thought you said that Jasper didn’t hurt you, Clay,” said Hopper. “What happened? That’s a nice shiner you have.”

“
It wasn’t Jasper. I fell.”

“
On your eye?”

Clay rolled his eyes.

“
More déjà vu?” Tanner laughed.

According to Erika, Mortonson had left for an appointment with Toni Nickel, but he was expected back for a phone conference at 1:45. Hopper drove his own vehicle and Officer Verne Gilbert brought a back-up squad car to the Depot to wait for Mortonson’s arrival. DNA results confirmed that the body had been hidden in the storage shed, and Jasper’s eyewitness testimony was compelling evidence that Marshall Mortonson was the person responsible for hiding the body after the train wreck. Hopper was planning on arresting Mortonson and charging him with a felony for concealing the corpse of Adrian Payne.

Mortonson’s hands were shaking as he headed back to his office at about 1:35. While at the attorney’s office, Marshall had poured himself a cup of coffee in the lobby and happened to see a stack of books on the desk of Andi Nickel. He could tell immediately that they were his account ledgers—both sets. Erika either knew or was soon to know that he was not being honest with her. He was sure to lose her trust along with probably hundreds of thousands of dollars. After passing the last set of railroad tracks, he entered the Depot parking lot and saw Chief Hopper, Clay Thomas, and an additional uniformed police officer waiting alongside a police car. Marshall panicked. He hit his brakes, paused to think—though he wasn’t thinking sensibly—and then did a U-turn in preparation to drive away. Where to? Canada?

Everyone immediately recognized that Mortonson was attempting a getaway, and they all leaped into either the police chief’s car or the patrol car in preparation for an exciting car chase. As Marshall started to accelerate away from the Depot, a train roared by, blocking the tracks and forcing him to stop abruptly. The cop and his chief of police skidded to a stop after about a fifty-yard drive. Ironically, a train had trapped Mortonson.

“
That was exciting,” Tanner quipped.

“
I always get my man,” Hopper wisecracked.

“
What you got under the hood of this thing?” Clay asked. “It’s a wonder you were able to keep up.”

“
I’m like a bloodhound. Never lost sight of him the whole time.” Hopper got out of the car while Tanner and Clay laughed. They took a minute to gain their composure before exiting the car themselves.

“
Marshall Mortonson,” Hopper began, “you are under arrest for conspiracy to conceal a dead human body. Morty, it is a Class 5 felony to move or hide a dead body. You are further charged with preventing a lawful and decent burial.”

“
I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mortonson lied.

“
Morty, we have ample evidence to charge you with the crimes. You
must
know that it is unlawful to move a dead human body with the intent to abandon or conceal the corpse. Verne,” Chief Hopper ordered the officer, “cuff him and read him his rights.”

“
Please, no handcuffs. That’s so humiliating,” Mortonson begged. “Take me up to my office and we can talk. There must be a misunderstanding.”

Hopper looked at Clay who was smiling a big smile. The chief shook his head. “Why not. This whole investigation has been unorthodox. Let’s go upstairs and talk, Morty, but, Verne, read him his rights first. And Clay, make yourself useful, and get his car out of the way.”

After Marshall was read his rights and led inside the Depot, he was allowed to call his attorney. Erika, who was at work in her office, heard that Toni Nickel had been summoned, so she called Andi Nickel and asked her to attend as well. Consensus was that potential charges of tax fraud and tax evasion and a suggested civil suit by Erika might motivate Marshall to break down and cooperate. Furniture was organized in the banquet room for everyone that would be present for the interrogation.

Erika gave Clay another tender hug when she finally got a chance. Then she pulled back and gently touched his black eye. “That looks painful. What happened? Did you fall?”

“
On my
eye
?” Clay said without thinking. Then he laughed. “Actually, yes. I fell off the treadmill and hit my eye on a weight bench.”

She raised her eyebrows and looked at Tanner as if to say, “Really?”

“
That’s the story he seems to be sticking to. I prefer the one where he got slugged by the midget.”

“
Little
person, Tanner,” Clay corrected.

At approximately 2:25, all of the key players were present: Chief Hopper, Officer Verne Gilbert, Marshall Mortonson, Clay and Tanner Thomas, Toni and Andi Nickel, and Erika Payne.

After a few introductions, Chief Hopper explained to Toni Nickel why her client had been arrested. She turned to Mortonson. “Have they read you your rights?”

“
Yes.”

“
And you understand them?”

“
Yes…This is just some sort of mistake.”

“
I would advise that you don’t talk, Morty. I don’t even know what evidence they have.”

“
You want
to talk
,” Tanner calmly told him inside his head.

“
I want to talk,” Marshall announced.

“
I need a few moments with my client,” Toni said. Officer Gilbert followed them to Erika’s office and then let them have their private meeting, a meeting in which Toni told Marshall not to talk. When they returned, Toni announced, “My client would rather not talk right now.”

Just then, Logan Payne appeared in the banquet room doorway, arriving at the Depot after school had ended.

“
Tell her you want to talk
,” Tanner spoke inside Marshall’s head.

“
I want to talk, Toni.”

“
What? We just decided
not
to!”

“
I feel like I want to talk.”

“
Good,” Hopper quickly said. “Here’s the situation, Ms. Nickel. Your client is being charged with a felony for moving and hiding the body of the late Adrian Payne on the night of Friday, August 8, 2003. Later, he moved the body a second time, at which time he concealed the corpse at the gravesite along the railroad tracks about a quarter of a mile west of the South Oak Street crossing where the body was eventually discovered. We have DNA evidence that confirms that the body was stored in his railway storage shed just east of Oak Street before it was buried, and we have a witness that will testify that Mr. Mortonson’s bloodied body exited said storage shed just minutes after the train wreck. Additionally, we have our forensic experts working diligently to determine the possibility that Adrian Payne may have been murdered by Mr. Mortonson.”

“
I didn’t murder him!” Marshall nearly yelled.

“
What happened, Morty?” Erika asked.

“
We were on our way back from Lansing. Logan went to see Adrian and came back upset.”

“
That’s because Adrian had struck him in the face,” Clay said.

Logan noticeably flinched from the doorway of the banquet room. He had never told a soul that he had been hit. It appeared to Clay and Erika both that he was very embarrassed that people knew what his father had done.

“
Well, I can believe it, but I didn’t know it at the time. I just went to talk to Adrian about the boy, you know? He wanted a ride in the engine with his dad. When I approached the engine, Adrian appeared to be passed out on the floor. I looked up and saw we were approaching something on the tracks much too fast. I hit the emergency door release switch and picked up Adrian. The train was going to crash and the engineer jumped, so I jumped with Adrian. I tried to
save
his life. We hit the ground and I tumbled away, but Adrian landed and barely moved. The train crashed and two cars tipped. I guess the front one landed on the engineer, but the second one I know for sure landed right on Adrian and then slid off. He was crushed. I tried to save his life,” Marshall ranted. “Instead, I may have caused his death. He could be a horrible person, but he was my best friend.”