Hamilton put on his glasses. “Okay, I know you were informed about the bullets and shell casing from the scene and the body. John matched these to the bullet found in your victim Ian Griffin.”
“Yes,” she said, wanting him to get on with it.
“Patrol did an extensive canvass and there was no trace of Junior. They checked video cams in the surrounding areas and weren’t able to see him. He left the old truck, but upon a thorough search there was nothing of note except his fingerprints, which we already have on file.”
“There was no indication of where he was going? Anything written down?” said McGaven.
“Nothing. And we double- and triple-checked. It seemed odd the vehicle was so clean.” Hamilton shuffled some papers and pushed over two grainy black-and-white photos to the detectives. “Here are two video stills of a man matching his description, but upon closer inspection, it wasn’t him.”
Katie studied the photos of a man in dark clothing heading east. You couldn’t see his face, but she agreed it wasn’t Junior. By the build, he appeared to be a much older man.
McGaven took a long look at the images and shook his head. “No, this isn’t him. I chased him in that direction, but he knewwhere to duck in and out, most likely avoiding certain areas where he would be caught on camera.”
Katie was disappointed, but not surprised. Junior seemed to be quite adept at surviving without anyone knowing where to find him—and he knew how to disappear as if he were an apparition.
“Okay,” began Hamilton. He seemed to perk up a bit. “We searched Tom Grand’s house. It wasn’t what I had expected.” He pushed a photo of it across the table.
Katie and McGaven squeezed closer together to see a photo of a two-story colonial home. These were mostly located in the older parts of Pine Valley. Many had been renovated back to their glory and were quite stunning. Grand’s house looked like something out of a magazine, transporting you back to another time.
“You can see we had questions, but he claimed he inherited it from family. We have yet to determine that.”
“Wow. He lived alone?” she said.
“Yes.”
“Not married?” said McGaven.
“No.”
“I wonder why he would live in such a big house alone?” said Katie.
“We don’t know. We couldn’t even find a next of kin—yet.”
“Do you have any good news?”
“Maybe.”
That didn’t make Katie feel positive.
“We found a room that resembled that underground room you found at Roberts’ house.”
“With all the antiques and maps?” said McGaven.
“Yes. There was nothing that seemed particularly unusual, but we found this…” Hamilton showed them a photo.
Katie realized she was looking at a map of the property where they were building the training center, but that wasn’twhat was shocking. There were places on it marked in a rectangular symbol, and she realized they showed where the bodies of Meredith, Misty, and Griffin Sr. were buried. The date on the map was years old.
“Is that…?” said McGaven, studying the map.
“Where the bodies were located,” she said. “It’s like a map of where to dig if anything were to happen to him.”
“Where was this found?” said McGaven.
“In a safe along with photos of Junior and two other men we haven’t identified yet. Apparently, they had some kind of pact and now Junior is taking everybody out.”
“But… there are four more of the same symbols on the opposite side of the site. We have to dig,” she said.
“Yes. We’ve put in for a search warrant, but it’s tricky,” said Hamilton.
