Chapter 25
After collecting her thoughts in her office and texting Father Timms again, Dana joined the other three in Mike’s office and doled out some more chases for the team. Paperwork was starting to pile up on the spare desk, which now doubled as the physical repository for shared documents for the team. Dana liked the growing evidence that they might be getting somewhere. In a digital world, she still took comfort in rising towers of filing. She began with Rainer.
‘Rainer, please carry on with the checks for the period leading up to Whittler leaving. There must be something in some official record somewhere.’
He nodded, but she paused. Losing it, again.
‘Sorry, Rainer, that’s vague and unhelpful. Okay. First, I need to know if or when the parents’ finances changed – sudden loan, change of will, power of attorney, selling off property, transfer of deeds, setting up a business, that kind of thing. Anything that looks like a trigger for Whittler running, or the outcome from a trigger. Second: any reports of disturbance at their home or work: illness, any intelligence connecting them with emergency or social services. The parents appear to have had some, uh, old-fashioned values. Thank you. Good work on the redhead, by the way.’
Rainer scribbled notes but then raised his pen. ‘Thanks. I was wondering – does it have to be a one-off event we’re looking for? I know Whittler went off at a bad time of the year and that’s why we’re thinking there’s a precipitating event. But I’m wondering if it was simply the straw that broke the camel’s back. Whittler’s boss thought there was a problem building up for some time. I mean, it could have been long-term and one more tiny incident made him think it would never stop.’
Dana considered. Given Nathan’s pliability under duress, she still felt there had been one overriding event: something Nathan couldn’t stomach, something he knew would lead to disaster. Otherwise, he’d surely have continued to silently acquiesce or suffer. But Rainer had a point – perhaps it could have been cumulative.
‘Yes, you may well be right. I was thinking bullying from the parents, perhaps. They had that stern, ultra-religious lifestyle. Maybe the Bible-bashing was choking Whittler. Or his brother. Speaking of whom?’
She turned to Lucy.
‘Jeb texted he was coming straight here. Depends on the traffic.’
Lucy clicked on a company webpage. It was Dana’s first look at Jeb. She was surprised he looked nothing like Nathan. ‘I looked him up,’ continued Lucy. ‘Import/export. Mainly steel assembly kits: instant warehouses, hangars, that sort of thing. Apparently, he’s rolling in it. Spooky guy in the photos, though: not someone to bump into on a dark night.’
Dana stared at the screen. Again, her inner radar pinged without signalling why. Further evidence that she was off her game and sliding downhill.
‘Okay, Mikey and Luce. I want to wrap up Megan and Lynch if I can. After our little chat about the knife, I’m more certain it isn’t them. Plus, we haven’t broken that alibi and their motive looks insubstantial. But let’s ensure due diligence on the paperwork.’ Dana looked at the ceiling while she worked out what was needed. ‘Please complete the audit trails on the telephones and banking. Check the exact ownership of Jensen’s Store and its contents. Anything else you can think of that might suggest a motive. If we tie all that with a bow, we can at least park it until I’ve exhausted the chatter with Whittler. I want to be able to focus on him and not have any other options in my mind today. Mikey: if Jeb arrives while I’m prepping, or in interview with Whittler, can you take first crack at him? Thank you.’
Mike nodded, and Dana took that not only as an acceptance of her instructions but also affirmation that she’d asked for the correct action. She had no doubt he’d have suggested something else if he felt it was required. She relied on it.
‘One current line of inquiry,’ said Mike. ‘You’ll recall Cassavette is an old school friend of Miguel Alvarez, the king of money laundering for the Alvarez drug empire. Turns out Lou has an accountant who’s prominent in Miguel’s A-team of people who can make money disappear. I’ve got someone checking if there’s any actual connection.’
Dana frowned. Now she was thinking it was an unnecessary distraction from focusing on Nathan. She had to rein herself in: this was a viable alternative theory and she should welcome the chance to bottom it out. It would almost certainly be raised by a competent defence counsel. More evidence her thinking was crumbling under the pressure of the Day.
‘You’re thinking his store might be a front? Or this Miguel might have wanted it to be, and Lou turned him down?’ She couldn’t picture it, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t happen. She’d spent half her life learning – the hard way – that she knew almost nothing about anyone, really.
‘Maybe.’ Mike paused, noting the stress on Dana’s features. ‘Actually, I’m thinking Whittler did it. But I’m covering the money-laundering base. More to follow.’
Dana nodded. Anxiety and exhaustion were starting to bubble.
‘Okay. Next interview, I’m going to tackle Whittler about that precipitating event: what made him leave home? I think we have all we need from him about his cave and the burglaries. We can tie up the rest with forensics from the cave. Stuart’s emailed me. He’s closing it down at the cave for the day; running out of daylight, and he was part of the search team at dawn in Jensen’s. I want Stu fresh for tomorrow, to start with the heavy search grid and the indexing. Mikey – can you liaise with Stu from now on? Just keep me up to date with anything unusual emerging from that. Thanks.’
Lucy coughed. ‘Don’t forget, Whittler doesn’t know his parents are gone. If it was me, I’d end up blurting it out without intending to…’ Dana knew Lucy was too smart to do such a thing; it was a diplomatic reminder. She tilted her head to acknowledge it.
‘He doesn’t, does he? Good catch, Luce. Okay, I’ll have a quick chat with Bill, then back in the ring.’
Bill Meeks’ office had a camera and audio feed from each interview room direct to his desktop, so he’d witnessed the previous interview with Whittler. He still thought it hilarious to call the access his ‘window of opportunity’. Dana smiled each time he said it: not because it was funny, but because his puppyish amusement about it was funny.
‘Two hundred-plus burglaries?’ Bill mimed touching something hot. ‘We needed those detections – this month has been a bust. Plus, charging him with those gets us another twenty-four hours without having to charge or release on the homicide. Speaking of which…’ Bill leaned forward. ‘You pushed Whittler about getting a lawyer before he spilled his guts on the burglaries.’
‘Yes, yes… about that.’ Dana shifted uncomfortably in her chair, unsure whether Bill wanted to reprimand her, or thank her. It was a sign, she felt, of her increasing weariness that she couldn’t tell.
‘So, several reasons. First: whatever we think he’s done, and however strange he may seem, he’s a vulnerable person. I think we always need to bear that in mind. The court certainly will; we need to regularly show good faith, in my opinion. Second, I knew he was about to confess to two hundred crimes: we had the journal and he was only confirming what we knew. I didn’t want a subsequent defence to claim he was manipulated because he didn’t have support. I told him to get a lawyer and he expressly refused: I wanted us to have that transparent indemnity. Third, I need him to trust me. Especially after telling him about finding his cave, I had some bridges to build. I think that helped to build them. That’s why I only pushed for enough details to confirm the journal. He was pleased not to have to dwell too much on something that was humiliating. So I won back some trust. Was my thinking. Boss.’