“So, what happened on that campout?” Cass asked.
“Hugh was older than us. About fifteen years older. Everyone knew he sold drugs and that he wasn’t at all picky about who he sold them to. If you had money, he’d take you on as a customer. To be perfectly honest, I’d been buying weed from him for a year by then.”
He took a breath. Cass just waited. Eventually, Colin continued. “On the day in question, I went to see Hugh to buy some weed for our campout. I’d arranged ahead of time to meet Hugh by the river since he was trying to keep a low profile after almost being caught during a deal, and even offered to bring him something to eat. We got to talking after I arrived at the preset meeting location. I mentioned what a pain Austin was being, and he said that if I wanted to play a prank on the guy, he had the perfect way to do it. He told me that if I put this one little pill in Austin’s drink, it would mess with his head and get him to do all sorts of weird things. My plan was to use Bobby’s camera to capture him doing embarrassing things and then use the photos as leverage to get him to back off.”
“But it didn’t work out that way,” Cass prompted.
“No. I thought the pill would make Austin act silly. I thought it would make him run around naked, or act like a chimpanzee, or something like that, but instead, it made him see things. Terrible things that caused him to run into the woods in terror.” Colin’s voice caught. “We tried to find him after he ran off. We looked and looked, but we couldn’t find him anywhere. I was eventually able to convince the others that he would come back once he sobered up a bit. Of course, we never saw him again, so I guess that supposition was way off, but who knew the guy had found an abandoned mine.”
“Had Austin told you about the mine before that night?” Cass asked.
“No. Remember Austin and I didn’t get along. He would never have let me in on a cool secret like that.”
“Who would he have told?” Cass asked.
Colin answered. “If anyone other than Austin knew, I suspect it would have been Josh, but I swear he never said a thing about a mine.”
“Even after Austin went missing?” Cass asked.
“Even then. I swear I knew nothing about a mine until you found the bones at the bottom of that shaft.”
“Did you know Bobby had this photo?” Cass asked.
“I knew he took a bunch of photos on our campout, but I don’t remember ever seeing them after he had them developed. To tell you the truth, that campout is not one I particularly wanted to remember.”
“After the cops showed up and started asking questions, did you at any point tell the others to keep their mouths shut about what happened?” Cass asked.
Colin nodded. “In retrospect, maybe I should have told what I knew, but I was scared of going to juvy for putting drugs in Austin’s drink, and I was scared about what Hugh would do to me if his name came into the discussion. I decided that telling what had happened wasn’t going to help Austin, so I swore Bobby, Josh, and Larry to secrecy.”
“And Toby?” Cass asked.
“He went to bed early, so he didn’t know anything. I decided to keep it that way.”
“And the others all agreed to keep quiet about the drug you put in his drink?” Cass asked.
“Eventually. At first, they wanted to come clean with the cops, but then I told them what Hugh would do to them if they told, and they all agreed to my plan. I know Hugh is a respectable town council member now, but he was a real scary guy back then.”
“I need you to come down to the office with me so we can make all of this official,” Cass said.
“Am I going to jail?”
“Did you kill Bobby to keep him quiet?” Cass asked.
“Bobby? Why on earth would I kill Bobby? He kept the secret for twenty-five years. I had no reason to believe he wouldn’t continue to keep it.”
“So, he wasn’t blackmailing you?”
“For what? I mean, I guess he had this photo, but I sure as heck wouldn’t be willing to pay the guy to keep it under wraps. I can barely make my rent.”
“It appears he was blackmailing someone,” Cass said.
“Hugh.” Colin narrowed his gaze. “You haven’t actually spoken to Hugh yet. You tricked me into telling you all this.”
Cass stood up. He motioned for Colin to stand as well. “I never said I’d spoken to Hugh. You are the one who suggested I had. Now, we are going to walk out of here real nice like, so I don’t have to cuff you. We’ll chat some more, I’ll chat with Hugh, and then we can figure out what comes next.”
Cass wanted to take Colin to the station in his car, so I volunteered to call Gracie for a ride home. Cass promised to come by after he’d spoken to Hugh, and I promised to save him some ribs and slaw if he didn’t make it out to the house in time for our shared meal.
Chapter 21
Cass didn’t make it out to the house in time to eat with everyone else, but true to his word, he did come by, and true to my word, I did save him some ribs and slaw. I’d run Ethel and Paisley home just before dark, so it was only Tom, Gracie, and I when he arrived.
“So tell me everything,” I said as Gracie heated up the beans that she’d made to go with the ribs and slaw.
“If it’s okay with you, I’m exhausted and would prefer to share the condensed version.”
“Of course,” I said. “So, what happened? Did Hugh kill Bobby?”
“No. Hugh did not kill Bobby, but Bobby had been blackmailing him with the photo he had of Hugh selling drugs to Colin on the day Austin died. While it is true that the photo only shows Hugh handing a small package to Colin, after what happened, it wouldn’t be hard to convince the DA and a jury, if need be, that the packet contained drugs. Colin had already agreed to testify to everything that happened in exchange for leniency for his part in the whole fiasco, and Larry seemed to know quite a bit as well, and likewise was willing to tell what he knew.”
“Okay, wait,” I said. “Hugh didn’t kill Bobby?”
Cass shook his head. “What Hugh did do was hire a man named Xavier Vargas to break into Bobby’s house, locate the photo, and bring it to him. Hugh and Xavier were waiting for the right time to do this, so when Hugh saw Bobby at the bar on the day in question, he called Xavier and told him to go over there. At the time of the call, Bobby was drunk and looking for a poker game, so Hugh was pretty sure that the house would be empty for hours.”
“But then someone called Tamara and warned her that Bobby was drunk and looking for a game, and she then called Bobby and told him to go home.”
“Exactly. I spoke to Tamara and found out that a friend of hers named Darlene was at the bar with friends when she overheard Bobby asking about a poker game, so she called Tamara and warned her that Bobby was about to gamble away this week’s child support payment the way he’d gambled away the last few payments. She then called him and threatened to prevent him from seeing the kids if he didn’t go home right then, so he did. Hugh swears he tried to call Xavier and warn him to get out of the house, but he didn’t pick up. He thinks that when Bobby pulled up, Xavier panicked and went for his gun. When Bobby came in, he shot him.”
“Do you have Xavier in custody?”
“He lives in Denver, but the Denver PD picked him up and are currently questioning him. I suspect he’ll confess once he knows Hugh already threw him under the bus.”
“So I guess your case is closed. You know who killed Bobby and why, you know how Austin died and why, and you have pretty much nailed the coffin shut on Hugh’s bid for the senate.”
“I do wonder why Bobby decided to blackmail Hugh,” Gracie asked. “And when? He certainly hasn’t been blackmailing him for twenty-five years.”