Aaron nods, thinks on this for a moment. “I’m sure it was a relief, having this whole thing over. But strange that she’s not with her children, isn’t it?”
I weigh my options. If I tell him about the problems she’d been having with Mitch over the Briana situation, this inquiry will be put to bed. Aaron won’t press me for more details because he won’t want to intrude on her personal business. Of course, he will never look at her the same knowing this about her marriage. I don’t know exactly how he will look at her—whether he’ll think more of her for sticking it out or less of her for sticking it out—but it will be different.
If I don’t explain why, after Brett Emory’s truck has been found in the river, an apparent accident having caused his truck to barrel down an embankment and plunge off the side of a ledge, she didn’t run into the arms of her husband and little girls, he will also look at her differently. Isn’t that the first thing any of us would do after living in fear for weeks? After being stalked and threatened? It was time for celebration. Or at least a return to normal life.
I make a decision and don’t look back.
“Remember that woman whose car was vandalized?”
I don’t give too many details. Just that her name was Briana and that Elise’s husband had an affair with her four years ago and that we think Brett Emory is the one who keyed her car to cause trouble in their marriage.
Aaron hides his shock and disapproval that none of this was brought to his attention when it was happening. “Is that all in the report?” he asks.
“It will be. I’m pulling everything together now. Briana, the assault on the coworker, the truck registered to Brett Emory—”
“And the tracker that was inside the truck.”
“Yes. That was a lucky break, finding that account.”
Aaron wags his finger at me. “Not luck. That was hard work. How many companies did you have to call?”
It was a lot, but it was because I had to make it look good. The envelope containing the account information for the tracker was left on my windshield the day Elise said she was leaving town. I didn’t want to know how she got it.
So I made the calls and eventually “stumbled” upon the account registered to Brett Emory. We found the truck later that day, pulled it out of the river. No way anyone survived that crash. Both doors had swung open. Brett Emory’s body was long gone.
The tracker first placed the truck in a parking lot near a Getaway Inn. Brett Emory was identified by the staff. Used the name Fisher Brand and paid in cash. He’d checked out the same day I woke up with a hangover and a message from Elise saying she was leaving town. Strange that the tracker wasn’t turned on until later that afternoon.
Aaron suddenly remembers why he’s asking about Elise. “They’ve found a body,” he begins and tells me everything he knows. About the burned remains and the cremation oven, the drugs found in the well and residue in the pockets of a red jacket hanging on the back of the door, the pull rake used to clear the tracks on the road leading up to the shelter. “They think the killer accessed Elise’s posts for that class she used to teach. Did you know she was doing that?”
And I think one word over and over:Fuck.
“Yeah,” I tell him. “So—what are they thinking? That it was a student at the college?”
“It seems like a long shot to me, but they’re looking into anyone who accessed all of her posts. Especially the one about the killing three years ago—that drug execution.”
“Right,” I tell him. But, really, I’m thinking that word.Fuck.
“They had two possible victims from missing persons reports. The first was Laurel Hayes, who, as you know, has just been found. Leaving one lead—a drug dealer named Billy Brannicks. Some CI reported him missing in New York.”
“So a coincidence? With Elise’s posts?”
“Has to be.”
“And this Brannicks guy? What’s the fixation there?”
Aaron tells me Brannicks was a dealer. They think the body was burned between five and seven days ago and likely killed there—at the shelter.
“In the Kill Room,” I say.
“Yeah.”
“So maybe drug related?”
Aaron agrees, but it’s not our case. Not our problem. He just wants to make sure Elise is all right.
“I’ll find her,” I promise him. And I will. But first, I need answers. “Do you mind if I speak with them?”
“The state investigators?”
