Dex frowned. “Do you think that is what’s going on?”
I lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know. I think it’s possible. But to be honest, I don’t know Colin, and the only thing I have to go on when it comes to judging his potential for violence is the opinion of others.” I laid a hand over Dex’s. “Don’t worry. Cass will figure this out. I guess all we can do is to cooperate when needed.”
“Let’s write the article identifying the bones as belonging to Austin, so we have it ready. I won’t print it until Cass can confirm this fact, and he gives me the okay to make the information public.”
I nodded. “Okay. Let’s do it together. The piece can be about searching for answers, and finally finding the truth of what happened to Austin Brady, but it can also be about his life. Who he was before he died. Why his life mattered.”
Dex smiled a sad little half-smile. “Okay. We’ll write it together. No matter how this turns out, I welcome the opportunity to remember a friend who left us much too soon.”
Chapter 16
After I finished chatting with Dex, I headed out to the bullpen where the desk I’d been assigned, but rarely used was located. I considered calling Toby. I knew he’d be interested in the fact that we may very well have found Austin’s bones, and of everyone involved, other than Dex, of course, he was the member of the old gang that I knew best. I did, however, hate to say anything to anyone without talking to Cass, so I called him instead.
“Any news?” I asked.
“The medical examiner is still working with the bones to confirm them as having belonged to Austin Brady, but he has confirmed that the bones belonged to a male child around twelve or thirteen who matches the approximate height of Austin. I’m hoping to have more by the end of the day.”
“I filled Dex in, but don’t worry, he and I both agree that we aren’t going to publish anything until you give us the green light to do so.”
“Thanks. I appreciate that. I know I won’t be able to keep the bones a secret for long, but I did want to speak to both Larry and Colin again before word gets out.”
“What about Toby?” I asked. “I know he was so much younger and really didn’t know much, but he is our friend, and he was involved. I think he should hear about the discovery of the bones from us.”
Cass sighed. He sounded tired. “I agree. If you want to stop by my office, we can do a conference call.”
“I’m at the newspaper office. I can come now.”
“Now works fine.”
I grabbed a couple files I wanted to take home with me and headed toward my car. Cass’s office was just down the block, so it didn’t take long for me to make the journey. When I arrived at his office, he was already set up with a phone in the conference room. I let him dial and make the connection while I waited.
“Toby, it’s Cass Wylander,” he jumped right in when Toby answered.
“Cass. How are you? Do you have news?”
“I do. Callie is here as well.”
“Hey, Toby,” I called out in greeting.
“Hey, Callie. So what’s up? Did you find out what happened to Austin?”
“Perhaps,” Cass answered.
He then took a few minutes to share the information we’d gotten from Larry about Colin giving a hallucinogen to Austin as a prank, and the discovery of the bones in the mineshaft.
“Oh, man,” Toby sounded both shocked and choked up. “Poor Austin. I had no idea.” He paused and took a deep breath. “The older boys did seem to have a secret, given all the snickering going on, but no one said a thing about drugging the guy.”
“So, you didn’t notice anything strange going on that day?” I asked.
“Not really. Like I said before, after they sent me to my tent, the older boys all started drinking and smoking weed. If they were trying to hide that fact, they weren’t doing a very good job of it. There was a lot of yelling and laughing, and I knew they were all going to be hungover the next day, but never in a million years would I have imagined something like this.” He paused briefly and then continued. “I can’t believe no one told me what was going on. Even Josh kept it from me. He was a lot older than I was, and I know he considered me a pest, but he also watched out for me. Like a little brother.” He blew out a breath. “I just can’t believe he never once told me what had really happened.”
“Austin went missing when Josh was thirteen, and you were seven,” I pointed out. “Josh died when he was just seventeen. By that point, you were what, eleven. I suspect he didn’t tell you what had really happened because he was protecting you.”
“Yeah. I guess you might be right.” He groaned. “I still can’t believe Colin would do that to Austin. I know Colin and Austin had this rivalry going on, but drugging someone without their knowledge is really over the line.”
I couldn’t agree more.
“Now that you know Austin had most likely been drugged by Colin, which,” Cass reminded him, “was a fact provided by Larry and has not been confirmed at this point, does anything stand out to you about that night that you might not have previously thought important?”
He paused. Cass and I waited for him to gather his thoughts. Eventually, he spoke. “It is really odd to me that the guys knew what had happened to Austin, but no one really let on that anything might be wrong. As I told you before, everyone wandered out of their tent one by one the morning after this would have occurred. Of course, no one knew Austin was missing until he never came out of his tent. I think Josh went to check on him at one point, but now that I know what I know, it seems to me that someone should have checked on him before that.” He paused again. “Do you get what I’m saying? If no one had any reason to suspect there might be a problem with Austin, then not checking on him until well after everyone else had gotten up doesn’t seem odd, but if the others had seen Austin run into the woods with an imaginary monster on his tail, then it seems as if someone would have checked to make sure he’d made it back right away.”
“You make a good point,” I said. “It does seem odd that one of the guys didn’t check on him first thing.”
“Did Austin or anyone say or do anything which would indicate that he’d found an entrance to the mine beneath the mountain?” Cass asked.
“No. I don’t remember anything about a mine. But it does seem that Austin would have told someone. Probably Josh. I mean, finding a secret entrance to a mine that is otherwise blocked from entry would be too cool not to share.”
“Other than Josh, can you think of anyone he might have shared his secret with?” Cass asked.
“Maybe, Bobby. Austin didn’t get along with Colin, so I don’t see him sharing with him, and I know he didn’t share the news with me. Larry was new in town and sort of quiet, but I guess Austin liked him okay. He might have shared the information with him, but he equally might not have.”
“So once it was realized that Austin was really missing and not just sulking, it would most likely have been Josh who would have thought to look in the mine,” Cass said.
“What are you saying?” Toby asked.
“It just seems that anyone who knew that Austin had found the entrance to the mine would have eventually thought to look in the mine once he went missing. It sounds like out of all his friends, Austin would most likely have shared his secret with Josh.”
“If Josh looked in the cave for Austin, he must not have noticed him down in that hole. Otherwise, he would have said something,” Toby insisted.
Cass hesitated briefly and then continued. “It actually makes more sense to me that Josh, and whoever else, if anyone, who might have known about the mine, probably did find the body of Austin Brady and made a decision not to tell anyone what they’d found. If Josh knew about the mine but didn’t find Austin, he most likely would have told the search and rescue team about the mine as well. I mean, if he didn’t know Austin was dead and that he couldn’t be helped, don’t you think he would have done whatever he could to help find him?”