“Unless you see Deputy Florist as the instigator, you have to bring in a new person to link the three cases. I’m not ready to go that way. And I’m not willing to see a good cop as a killer without a strong piece of evidence pointing us in that direction. The Florist family did a total disappearance. They left behind bank accounts, everything they owned, their pets. The case file reads that they were murdered. The facts indicate these are different crimes.”
Ann tapped the board. “Frank Ash was killed by one of his victims or by a family member of one of his victims. That person is likely still in the community. They wouldn’t feel much guilt over what they’d done; they’d more likely feel satisfaction.
“Grace’s uncle was a hunting accident. Whoever did it probably moved away from the community or died an early death of a heart attack. It’s hard to live with accidentally shooting and killing a man, then stay put in the community around his friends for a dozen years. We know now that Kevin Arnett was a monster, but at the time of his death, he was thought to be an upstanding member of the community.
“The Florist family murders were most likely someone who hated the deputy, who seized the opportunity to kill him and his family. It was probably someone linked to him via the job. Or it was a random crime. Maybe a carjacking en route to the campground. Someone needed that truck and camper and took it by force. With either, the person responsible is likely long gone from this area.” Ann laid the marker down. “Different victim sets, different MOs, across three years. We’re better off to work the cases separately. If and when they cross, then we follow that thread.”
Evie accepted Ann’s point. If they were linked crimes, it was going to show up as they pursued them individually. One approach didn’t preclude the other. She needed to dig further into who Scott Florist had arrested over the years he’d been a cop.
“Back to Grace,” Ann said. “Josh looks for the remains of Grace’s parents, for the child Ashley Dayton. I’m going to spend as much time with Grace as I can, will try to convince her to trade off with me so I’m out searching with Josh. But we mostly stay out of Josh’s way and let him work. So while that’s going on, we shift directions and look at the Florist case once again. Where were you on ideas for it, Evie, before this quagmire opened up?”
Evie had to mentally regroup even to follow the question. The Florist case seemed like ages ago, rather than just yesterday. “Umm, let’s see, Gabriel was looking for people in the community violent enough to kill a family of three, to kill a child. I was looking for a trigger for them to have done so. We’ve found a doctor the couple may have been seeing for counseling. We have a meeting with him scheduled for tomorrow.”
“Yeah? That’s great news,” Ann said, pleased. “Stay with that for now. It will be interesting to hear what the doctor has to say. The list Gabriel is putting together sounds like a good candidate pool for the crime.”
“Ann,” Gabriel said, “going back to Grace and her uncle’s land. We need to get forensics to go through the buildings on the property.”
Ann nodded. “I’m thinking later this week, once Grace and Josh have established a routine. We can arrange forensics to go out when Grace will not be there. I don’t want to crowd her.”
“It’s going to take long days over a couple of weeks or more to search that much land, and that’s if the weather cooperates,” Gabriel noted. “Will she accept more of us going out to help?”
“The Thane family, I think, but she doesn’t want this known in the community. She’s not going to be comfortable with deputies out there,” Ann cautioned.
“Ann,” Evie said, “where should Grace stay tonight? There’s plenty of room at the house.”
“I’ll see if she’ll come into town. If she won’t, you and I will go her direction. She’s rented a motor home and is staying at the campground near Josh’s place.” Ann looked around the group. “Anything else we need to talk over?”
“It’s a hard thing, what you brought us today, Ann,” Caleb said. “A hard thing. Not easy on you, not easy for Grace. But we had to know.”
Ann held his gaze, nodded. “I’m sorry it’s here, Caleb.”
“Criminals like this have a way of weaving their way into a community. Let’s fully root this one out. Whatever Grace needs from us, you let us know.”
“I will, Caleb.”
“Ann.” Gabriel waited until she looked his direction. “You and I need to talk later tonight.”
Ann gave a slight smile. “Same place, same time?”
“Works for me.”
Evie saw their unspoken conversation and once more wished she had a something like that. She didn’t have anything like it with Rob at present. Gabriel turned to her and said, “Evie, why don’t you ride with me? We’ll go out to the uncle’s land, meet up with Josh and Grace. She can ride with us back to her camper while Josh comes in to talk with Ann and Dad. Josh will need some time after he hears this.”
“Sure.” Evie went to get her jacket and several water bottles, glad for the reason not to be here any longer. She wasn’t sure she could manage watching Joshua Thane learn the truth about Grace Arnett’s childhood. Some things ripped a person’s heart out. She paused before she left to rest her hand on Ann’s shoulder, share a look in sympathy as well as comfort. Ann would need to be the one to tell Josh. Evie wished for her friend’s sake that the day would soon be over.
Evie didn’t know what to say to Gabriel as he drove out of Carin. She could see he was anywhere but in the present, his knuckles white on the steering wheel. This cut personal and deep with him, and she could practically feel the guilt rolling off him. Not saying anything didn’t suit Evie, but what to say was a mystery. All the Thanes were protective, and Evie was beginning to pick up on just how deep that characteristic ran. She deliberately interrupted his train of thought. “You and Ann. That friendship goes back a lot of years.”
He glanced over at her. “Yes, it does.”
“The two of you seem close-like a brother and sister with lots of shared history.”
Gabriel smiled, put his attention back on the road. “An interesting way to put it. We are very good friends.”
“It’s never been romantic?” Evie kept on, because it forced Gabriel off what this day had been.
He shrugged. “She was the Midwest Homicide Investigator when I met her, working around the clock to solve a homicide in the next county that spilled over this way. A mom and two girls shot to death in their bedrooms. Ann figured out it was a revenge killing, but not the ex-husband, not a boyfriend. They arrested a guy who thought the mother was responsible for the death of his daughter. The mom, her girls, his daughter had gotten pinned down in the middle of a holdup at a mall store. His daughter got killed, they survived. So he killed her and the daughters. You get to know someone when you’re working a case that many hours. She’d sleep in the car between interviews, but otherwise didn’t stop until it was solved.”
Evie tried to picture that intensity. She knew Ann, she had worked cases with her, but this picture was new. “I haven’t seen that side of Ann. She’s mellowed some?”
“Some. Mostly she retired. There was the pace of the MHI job-she’d finish helping with one homicide case, then get called to another. I insisted we talk about something personal over meals just so we wouldn’t have the crime scene images to deal with while we ate. That started the friendship. That and the fact she wasn’t trying to impress me or get my attention-she was just doing her job. She made a serious impression that summer. When she got married, Paul also became a good friend.
“Josh knew her better than me initially. He and his dogs had started with the state’s K-9 group. He’d mention Ann occasionally, what she was working on. I started carving out some time when she was in this area to help her out or I’d track her down at a conference. You can’t touch on a subject and not find Ann has an interesting opinion to offer.”