The boy shot his brothers a look as he got up off the floor, and then nodding to Cubby he left the cell.
“You have no right to keep him from his dreams,” Cubby said. “If you want to continue living the life you are, then fine, but let him live his.”
“We didn’t know that was his dream,” Brodie said, looking at his feet. “How could we when he never mentioned it?”
“If you sobered up enough to listen, you might have.”
“We’re not always drunk!” Mitch fired at him. “And like Brodie said, if Josh didn’t tell us what he wanted, how was we to know.”
“Now you do, and I’m watching over him from this day on, to make sure he gets his chance to fulfill those dreams of his.” No one questioned him, although Pete muttered something and Cubby caught the word asshole.
“And now I want to know if you three will do something about your drinking and tidy up this mess that your life has become, or whether we’re going to be butting heads for the rest of our lives. Because I have to tell you boys, it’s really starting to piss me off, especially when there’s other things me and my deputies have to do, and other people in this community that need my help.”
“Don’t want to change, and I don’t have a drinking problem,” Pete said, looking belligerent.
Cubby had thought long and hard about what he was going to do with the Finlays and had decided to go out on a limb and ask for their help. If it backfired, then he’d never do so again, but if he were honest, he could use their local knowledge to help with the investigation.
“You three are the best trackers in the area and often I need men like you, but I’ve never asked, because I’m not sure I could trust you.”
“To do what?” Mitch said.
“I need you to go into the trails and see if you can find any clues that we missed. There is so much land up there, and no possible way we can cover it all, but you three can do it. I’ll pay you, but only on the condition you remain sober while you work for me.”
The brothers looked at him then each other. Mitch was elected speaker.
“You thinking something has been missed up there?” He nodded toward the redwoods.
“I am, and I need you to find it.”
The three remaining Finlays looked at each other again before Mitch spoke.
“We’ll do it, if it helps you find the killer.”
“It will go a long way to changing the attitude of the town toward you.”
“We’ll do it for Jilly and Melanie,” Brodie added.
“Okay. Follow me, and I’ll get you some maps of the areas we’ve covered.”
The Finlays left after a brief discussion, and Cubby hoped that was all he heard from them for a few days. He was under no illusions they’d change overnight, or at all, but he hoped that the tracking they did would at least keep them occupied and possibly turn up something useful. Something was niggling at Cubby to get back up there, something he’d missed, so sending the Finlays in should either shut that niggle down or turn it into something more substantial.
He went back to his computer and found the ballistics report. The gun that shot both girls was the same. Why, then, were the bodies dumped miles apart?
He worked through the case once more, and made notes to show Katie.
“Hey, Sheriff, anything new on the case?”
Tank and Brady appeared in his doorway.
“You checked this area, didn’t you, Brady?” Cubby was standing at his map. He pointed to one of the grids.
“Yes, thoroughly.” His deputy came to stand next to him.
“And Tank and Rick these,” Cubby pointed to red and blue markings.
“Affirmative.”
“Okay, I’m putting the Finlay brothers to work tracking the rest of the areas we haven’t reached. They’re the best in town, and should cover it quickly.”
