“I can see how you would. But you know how this investigation will go. We’ll look at everyone who knew her. You included.”
“Then look.”
“You need to go home, Chief Deputy,” McCoy said. “Take the rest of the day. Put everything you know into a report, including a detailed list of your time and activities since noon on Wednesday until yesterday morning. I’ll take a look at it, verify what I can, and consider your role in the investigation. Get that report to me as quickly as you can. I’ll take it under advisement and give you an answer ASAP.”
Brody’s chair screeched on the linoleum as he shoved back from the table and stood. “You won’t shut me out,” he said to Stella and turned to leave.
“I’ll keep you apprised of what I can,” she said to his back.
“Excuse me a moment,” Mattie said, hurrying after Brody on a whim. Something begged to be said between them. Perhaps their time together on the mountain required it.
He charged out of the station with her close behind. “Brody,” she called to him as he strode toward his cruiser. He stopped and turned, grim-faced and silent.
“I’m sorry for your loss. But you have to think about it. This is standard operating procedure, and you’ll be far more help to Adrienne if you keep a level head. Cool off and then put everything you can think of in writing to help us develop some leads.”
He shrugged, looking down at the pavement. “I don’t know much about her past.”
That confession must hurt. “Put some thought into it. And get some rest. Are you back on duty tomorrow?”
“Day off, but I’ll be here.”
“I’ll see you then.” She started to turn away, but stayed to say one more thing. “I know you loved her.”
His eyes filled, and he turned his back to get into his car. Mattie stayed in place to watch him drive away; she lifted a hand in farewell, though he didn’t look her way. She’d once suspected Brody of involvement with Grace Hartman’s murder. This time, her gut insisted that he was an innocent man.
When Mattie reentered the briefing room, Stella was cleaning the dry-erase board. She finished and laid the eraser on the metal shelf below it.
“Somebody had to say it, Mattie,” Stella said.
Mattie nodded, taking a seat back at the table.
“I’ll assume the responsibility for checking Deputy Brody’s schedule and clearing his alibi,” McCoy said. “He’s a fine officer, Detective. I stand behind him.”
Stella gave McCoy an unwavering gaze. “I’m sure he is, Sheriff, and I’m willing to bet he had nothing to do with his girlfriend’s death. It’s not about how fine an officer he is. He’s too close to this one. He needs to take a step back and become an officer instead of a boyfriend. If he’s able to do that, he might be of assistance. If not, he needs to be at the perimeter of this investigation instead of at the center.”
Mattie agreed with Stella and thought she’d expressed the underlying concern well. McCoy nodded and appeared to agree, too.
“Where’s your partner?” Stella asked.
“Home asleep.”
“Looks like you could use some of that yourself.” Stella brushed her hands together. “Let’s lay out this case, brainstorm on it, and decide where we’re going next.”
Stella turned back to the board and wrote Victim—Adrienne Howard at the top. “Let’s lay out the grid. We’ll start with the information you’ve gleaned over the past few days.”
She looked down at her notebook lying open on the table. Evidently she’d copied the board before erasing it. “First—History,” she said, writing as she spoke. “Raised in Hightower. Mother—Velda Howard/Hightower/estranged. What else do we know?”
“Not much,” Mattie said. “But we should interview our dispatcher, Rainbow, and the massage therapist at Valley Vista, Anya Yamamoto. Both were close friends.”
Stella nodded, pursing her lips. Skipping over to the far side of the board, she started a new list titled Interview and wrote Rainbow beneath it. “What’s her last name?”
“Sanderson.”
After writing it down, Stella added the name and then recorded Anya Yamamoto. “What about my old buddy Dean Hornsby?”
“I doubt if he knows any personal information, but we now have a warrant, so we can take a look at Adrienne’s employment records. A résumé would give us information to fill in the gaps between Hightower and Timber Creek,” McCoy said.
Moving her pen slightly to the right of her first category, Stella wrote Evidence and started a new list under the word. “We casted the prints at the crime scene: a partial cowboy boot and horseshoes. There appeared to be nothing unique about them, so they may not be too helpful. We’ll see if the crime scene unit can give us an estimate on boot size. The cigarette butt Robo found might provide DNA, assuming it was left by the person who buried our victim.”
“We traced the phone call on the tip that sent us up there,” McCoy said. “It was a TracFone, purchased at a Walmart store in Willow Springs last March.”
Willow Springs was one of the larger towns in Timber Creek County and was located about twenty miles beyond Hightower.
Sheriff McCoy continued. “It was paid for with cash, so it was impossible to find out who purchased it. At least we’ve got the phone number. And I’ve got a warrant to determine what tower the call pinged from, so we can determine an approximate location of our caller. Though I’m not sure how much help that will be in these mountains.”
“That’s good, Sheriff. Very good,” Stella said. “What else can I add?”
“Her cell phone is also missing,” Mattie said. “Purple cover.”
“Not missing anymore,” Stella said. “It was in her pants pocket, turned off and smashed. We’ll see if the lab can lift any prints other than the victim’s from it.”
“I’ve initiated a court order for production of records,” McCoy said, “so we can access her cell phone records, texts, and her e-mail account. I put a STAT on it.”
Stella had been recording everything Mattie and the sheriff said. “We can look to see if that TracFone number ever contacted our victim. The autopsy will take place in Byers County at eight o’clock tomorrow morning. I plan to go home tonight and stay for the autopsy, so I won’t be back until later in the morning. We’ll have more to add here after that. Anything else?”
After waiting a few moments but getting no response, she moved her pen to the right to write a new category, Persons of Interest. She wrote Kevin Conrad, something she’d copied from their first grid. “What do we know about this guy?”
“Ex-boyfriend, high school sweetheart,” Mattie said.
“He lives in California,” McCoy said. “Deputy Brody talked with him first, and I followed up yesterday. Denies knowing where Adrienne lived. He has a tight alibi with his employer who says he was at work this past week. Has a wife and kids.”
“Did they part amicably?”
“He says yes,” McCoy said. “They haven’t been in touch for five years. He says he’s moved on.”
“Any reason to hire a hit?” Stella asked.
“None that I can turn up,” McCoy said.
“Okay,” Stella said. “Let’s add Adrienne’s mother to our list of people to interview.”
“And we’ve got to notify her of the death,” Mattie said.
“I’ve taken care of that already,” McCoy said.
Mattie felt relief that family notification of death wouldn’t fall to her. It was a task that no one embraced, but one the sheriff was good at. “What about the people at the hot springs?”
“I decided it would be best to take care of that in person, when you go out to search,” McCoy said.