AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“How about the newspapers? Did you findanything?”
“Not really.” I let out a frustrated sigh and lean back in my chair. “All the articles are pretty much the same. They describe the camp, make a fuss over the fact that it was opening up again for one week of a special session, then go into how controversial it is with a brief overview of what happened twenty years ago. Only one of them mentioned that a perpetrator was eventually identified and convicted. It’s just a brief tag at the end of thearticle.”
“Probably for the better. Eventually we’re going to prove that he didn’t do it.”
“Ifhe didn’t,” I point out. “That’s not a foregone conclusion. Legally speaking, Reggie Merriweather was guilty. And so far, I haven’t found anything to conclusively convince me that he wasn’t.”
“But you have questions. I could tell when I saw you at the camp. You aren’t convinced that he actually did it. There’s enough to make youhesitate.”
“There is,” I admit. “And I hope we can find a way to make it clearer. Especially if it has something to do with these murders. But for now, we have to focus on what we have. And this situation with Mike is right in front ofus.”
“It might mean nothing,” Garrisonsays.
“It might. That’s totally true. It could be a stupid joke, or it could just be something he found and dumped into a drawer and forgot about it. It might mean absolutely nothing at all. But it might mean something. And the fact that the newspapers and records are missing from the library doesn’t seem like a coincidence to me. I want to know who left this note. And what they meant by it. And I think that’s going to start with exactly what the note says. Who Mike reallyis.”
“What do you mean? What is it that you need to know abouthim?”
“Anything. Everything. If this note is a legitimate threat, somebody knows a secret about him. Something they know he would not want to get out. So, what is it? Who is he? That’s what I’m trying to find in these articles about the reopening. I was hoping because he was the director, there would be information about him in the articles, but there’snothing.”
“Nothing?” Garrisonasks.
“They pretty much all have a variation of the same thing. They want to welcome Mike Kirkland as director. They mention he is a Cherry Hill native, and it was his determination and vision that brought the camp back to life after so many years. In retrospect, that probably wasn’t the best choice of words. Maybe they should reconsider their editing staff,” Inote.
“Maybe not,” Xavier says.
“Hm?” Iask.
“Lean into the controversy,” he says. “Everyone knows how the town felt about the camp reopening. There were two sides from the beginning, and what’s the best way to appeal to both? Feed into them. Give the ones who are offended more to be offended by so they will talk. Give the ones who want to push back more to spark their sense of subversion. Indignance seeks validation. Rebellion craves resistance. Fan the flames of both and let them think the other isburning.”
I nod. “That’s exactly what theydid.”
“If he’s a Cherry Hill native, that makes it a lot easier to work with,” Garrison points out. “The town isn’t so tiny that everybody knows everybody else and no one is able to sneeze without a granny two neighborhoods over calling to give blessings, but it’s also not so big that people can just go into obscurity, if you know what Imean.”
I do, in fact, know exactly what he means. I’ve experienced both.
“We could go to the schools and ask for copies of their yearbooks,” Sam suggests. “Schools usually keep them on hand for a while. I know the high school in Sherwood still has them from when my grandfather wentthere.”
“Why don’t you go ahead and do that,” I tell him. “I’m going to go back a littlefurther.”
“How far?” Detective Garrison asks.
“I’m going to go to the hospital and see if I can get his birth records. But first, I’m going to talk to him again. I’m going to give him a chance to tell me the truth. Or at least give me something. Maybe he was embarrassed when we were at the camp and he got caught, and it just got out of control. He might have just panicked and tried to talk himself out of a situation that doesn’t have anything to do with the murders at all. If that’s the case, we can put this behind us and move on with anotherlead.”
“What other lead?” Detective Garrisonasks.
I nod. “Exactly.”
“School doesn’t start for another couple of weeks, but there should be teachers and administrators there,” Sam says. “I’m going to check thatout.”
“Alright. I’ll reach out to Mike and see if he’s willing to come in here to talk to me. If not, I might have to go to him,” Isay.
“What can I do?” Xavierasks.
I think about the question for a few seconds. I’m not going to jump all the way in and say that Xavier loves being involved in all investigations. That’s definitely not the case. Like everything else in his existence, Xavier is particular about what he gets involved with and how. Sometimes, it doesn’t interest him. Or if there’s an element ofthe investigation he doesn’t want to be a part of, he’ll distance himself. I’ve seen that many times when it comes to Dean’s cases.
As a private investigator, Dean is often hired for far different types of cases than I would get involved in through the Bureau or even when I’m helping Sam with a case for the Sheriff’s department in Sherwood. Sometimes the clients ask him to seek people out, to search for the missing and recover the dead. Sometimes they want him to hunt down the living.
That’s where Xavier tends to pullback.
