AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Barrett wanted to scoff at it, but he’d heard Ambrose espouse something similar. “It’s just so…”
“Blatantly absurd?”
He had to laugh. “I was gonna go with far-fetched but yeah.”
Jacques pulled Oz’s report over, scanning it again. They’d all practically memorized the paperwork by now. “And you don’t think Ken did all this himself.”
“That bastard has never gotten his hands dirty, ever. When Val filed for divorce and they went into mediation, Ken sent a proxy. Which you’re allowed to do.” Barrett tapped the table with a finger. “But he sent someone who looked like him, dressed in his clothes. Even had the guy comb his hair the same way. He hired some actor off an online job board but took the time to make sure the look was right.”
“To intimidate Val. Shit, I’d almost forgotten that.”
“So yeah, I think he’d never do all the dirty work himself, and he’d go out of his way to fuck with me if he thought I’d wronged him. I’m not discounting what you’re saying, Jacques, but it’s a long way to go to come after me.”
Barrett thought of himself as a laid-back person, someone who’s easy-going nature worked well in jobs like forest ranger. He was fine alone, he was fine with people, and he was good in a crisis. But thethoughtof Ken doing anything that even remotely involved Val and Forrest set him spiraling into a seething rage.
“Done anything to piss him off lately?”
“You know I testified against him in the divorce. That was years ago, and he’s never done anything remotely like this. And I even helped get her half of his cash, and other than flip me off, Ken never did anything. So something else has happened.” Barrett sighed and pushed back from the table. “He sent Val a letter after he’d signed away custody, made some stupid mention of how hurt he was or some nonsense.”
“Did she keep it?” Barrett let Jacques see the photo of the letter on his phone. “Yeah, it’s too vague. But it kind of sounds like he’s still got a bone to pick with your family. Rage doesn’t always make sense, especially not when it runs that deep.” With a swift swipe of his hand, Jacques put all the paperwork back into his folders and tapped them on the table to even them out. “Well, the police have all of this so far, but I need you to file a report on your boat and make a statement for our records and the cops. They’ll talk to him, try not to worry about it.”
The anger in his chest lessened and took with it the red-hot, tooth-gnashing parts. But he could feel it like the heartbeat pulse in his temple. He was going to have a headache after this. “Yeah. I’ll do the reports now.”
Jacques clapped him on the shoulder, his gray mustache twitching. “Good man. Don’t know what I’d do without you and Meredith.” He paused in the doorway. “Heard there’s someone in your life, maybe.”
Barrett tried not to flush. “Yeah.”
“Good. Bring him ’round during the summer picnic, if you want. No pressure, but you know he’d be welcome.”
Jacques left that comment hanging in the air and Barrett scooped up the other paperwork, stood, and walked out into the main ranger office. His head was pounding and his jaw ached with stiffness. He knew the next step was to let the police handle talking to Ken. But he felt like he should give Val a head’s up. Then again, she hated Ken enough to round on him, maybe even call him up. She wouldn’t be doing it to wreck the investigation, but it could. Shit.
Val had enough to deal with. He’d keep this quiet for now, until it inevitably blew up after the police contacted Ken. He’d be pissed, Val would get the brunt of it….
Barrett pulled out his phone. Rock and a hard place and he hated not having better options. He typed out the text but didn’t hit send. Stared at the screen. Deleted the text. He’d just be poking the hornet’s nest and as satisfying as it might be to see if Ken would wriggle on the hook he baited, he couldn’t do it.
It didn’t take long for Oz to show up with a cop in tow after Barrett filed the paperwork. He’d gotten a text first from Oz, asking him to stay put at the office and with a sigh, Barrett had made another pot of coffee and waited.
“I’m just here to observe, since the investigation was swept out of my hands already,” Oz said as he sat across from Barrett. The officer, a younger guy with full cheeks, dark blond hair, and the last name Reeds, had Barrett go through everything once again.
“At first, did you all just think it was random vandalism?” Reeds asked, scanning the early reports again.
Barrett shrugged. “A hunch isn’t evidence.”
“Right, but you told Oz that it looked like someone was angry, whoever nailed up the tower door.” Reeds’ stare was intense and Barrett didn’t like the look in his eyes. “What made you say that?”
“Now, to be fair, Scott, I did say Barrett was just thinking out loud. It’s not like it was part of the official statement at first.” Oz spared Barrett a glance but his face was carefully blank. He knew Oz had to be impartial but so far Barrett’s hunches had paid off. This was no different, except now they had proof Ken had been in the area.
Barrett leaned forward and pulled out the photograph of Alpha’s door when it had been nailed shut, the night the generator had been stolen. “Stealing the generator’s one thing. It’s a pain in the ass and an expense for the department, but we’ve had folks round here get down on their luck and raid our buildings for scrap metal, copper, supplies. It happens.” He tapped the photograph. “I think the generator was convenience, or just a way to spit in our eye. But the door….those nails are a mix of things. The bigger the diameter, the harder they are to bend. Some of these are roofing nails, flooring nails. Taking that time and effort to bend nails like that?” Barrett leaned back and sighed. “It was a hunch.”
Reeds frowned and examined the photo again. “Seems like it’s someone handy, with the nails and the saw used to cut through the bridges. Feels like a grudge.”
“And that’s why I said that in my report,” Oz said. “But we’ve ruled out all fired employees. No one had motive or was physically around to do all this over months.”
“So what’s this about your boat?” Reeds asked Barrett. With an internal sigh, Barrett relayed that story - his search, remembering the bird watch cameras, Jacques finding Ken on the footage the day his boat went missing.
“But a chicken coop roof isn’t a footbridge, Barrett. But I admit these marks look the same.” Oz held up one of the pictures of Gemma’s coop. “Yeah, they might be identical. Good catch.”
The look Oz was giving him felt strangely condescending and it made him frown. “No, a coop isn’t a footbridge. But so far all the damage has been on state property. My boat and Gemma’s coop are private property.”
