“If either Scott or Joe murdered Frank Ash,” Gabriel said, “they had a good reason to run. But short of that, even if Scott moved the body, why take off? He knew about evidence collection, so he’s not going to make an obvious mistake. Wait a few days before taking off, but only if the evidence points in your direction. It doesn’t make any sense to go before then. They stayed put for two years after Frank Ash disappeared, and then they leave when his body is discovered, but before any evidence is analyzed? Just doesn’t add up. No, Scott would wait it out. And Susan would insist they wait because of her mother. They would go camping, get out of easy reach, keep their ear to the ground on details of the investigation, and leave only if there was cause.”
“What were the dates on the Ash autopsy, the bullet comparison at the lab, those sorts of results?” Ann asked.
Evie looked it up in the files they had brought over on the Frank Ash case. “The autopsy was… the Monday after the Florist family disappeared. A look at the recovered slugs happened Tuesday but didn’t generate a match in the database. There’s nothing in the notes, the investigation, to raise an issue. You’re right, Gabriel, why leave before the evidence is analyzed? If you did want to take precautions, why not say you’re going on a vacation, then keep an eye on things. Come back if everything looks fine, or keep going only if there’s a question. Why run first? They were about to be free of this.”
Gabriel nodded. “Say they took off, thinking the Frank Ash investigation would incriminate one of them. They ran before the evidence had been analyzed. A couple of weeks pass, there’s nothing that points to them. The Frank Ash case went nowhere. Why not come back to town with a plausible story, return to their lives? ‘We went camping, and Scott got sick and gave it to me, so we took another week to recover before driving home.’ Keep it vague but consistent, and just return to their lives.” Gabriel looked around the little group, saw a couple of nods to that scenario.
“That would make more sense than staying away all this time over something they didn’t need to worry about,” Ann agreed. “If they’re still alive, they let a lot of people they love and who love them remain worried and, finally, devastated thinking they’re dead. That doesn’t seem like either Susan or Scott.”
“We only have the word of family that they haven’t been in touch. Who knows who might be lying to us,” Caleb said, laying that fact on the table.
“True.” Gabriel turned to his father. “But can you really see Scott letting cops do the level of search for the family that occurred here? He’d know what happens if he just disappears. He had options for how they could have left. He could have announced a sabbatical, that they were taking Joe traveling for a few months. Sounds sudden, but he could say ‘Susan and I have been talking about it, and we’ve decided after the recent miscarriage we need that break now.’ So they go rather abruptly, then over the following weeks and months give excuses about finding the perfect new place and decide not to come back here. If they wanted to leave town, they could do it in a way that wouldn’t leave their extended family in the dark and the cops searching for them. Think about it just in practical terms. If you want to disappear for some reason, the last thing you want is your photos all over the Midwest with overlapping law-enforcement agencies tracking you down. Instead, you’d come up with a reason to leave, as tenuous as it was, and slowly cut ties-a phone number changed, the address is old, that kind of thing.”
Evie could see Gabriel’s point. “You don’t make it so everyone’s urgently searching for you if your hope is to slip away,” she said. “So… they didn’t disappear on their own. And they’re not out there alive somewhere.”
“I’m willing to entertain both those ideas,” Gabriel said, “if you can figure out how we look for them. Their being alive certainly is a direction we haven’t pursued yet. But realistically, no. I think it’s a lot less likely than that the family was murdered.”
“Which brings us back to the possibility someone needed the money they’d accumulated,” Caleb suggested. “It’s at least a new suspect pool to consider, since we didn’t know about the money before.”
“That’s true,” Ann said.
Evie got up to stretch. Susan had been close to her mom, had left when she was sick, and she hadn’t returned for the funeral. Gabriel was right. It would take an awfully good reason for them to cut those ties so completely. “Maybe there’s a way we can prove they didn’t leave of their own choice,” Evie offered. “If they were raising cash, it’s likely Scott had secured in advance fake IDs for them. Who in this county or surrounding counties would he have gone to for that? We find the person he paid, we learn the names they would have been using. If we find those names were never used, we can rule out they left of their own choice.”
Gabriel looked over with interest. “That’s smart thinking, Evie.” He then asked his father, “Who made good fake IDs in your day?”
“I’ll have to think on it, but Robert Light comes to mind. He might be a place to start, or maybe Chesapeake Bob. They would have done the quality of work Scott would look for. If they didn’t make the IDs themselves, they would know others who could have. They’ll talk to me.”
“Thanks, Caleb.” Evie picked up a marker, added the item to the work list.
“All right, Evie,” Ann said, “you can eliminate that they left of their own accord if the IDs they acquired were never used. Or if they did go on their own, you’ll know what names they planned to travel under. Any other ideas floating out there?” Ann scanned the group.
Gabriel shook his head. Caleb did as well. Evie felt like she was burned out just coming up with this one. “I’m fried.” She put down the marker. Ann and Paul needed to be heading to the airport. Caleb needed to get home. Gabriel too. For the fifth day of her working vacation, it wasn’t so bad an ending for the day.
“I wish you luck with this tomorrow,” Ann said as she stood, gathered up her jacket and briefcase. “Paul and I will be back Friday evening. Rachel is coming down with us to stay the weekend with Grace.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Evie said. She could see a long Thursday and Friday ahead of her as she tried to put some details to what had been discussed tonight. If they could figure out what new names Scott had arranged to use, prove those names had never been used, it would confirm their murders, with the missing cash as a probable motive. If the names had been used, it would indicate the Florist family had left of their own accord, the money with them.
Either way, it would be critically useful toward solving the case. Evie would gladly take it. She said good-night to Gabriel and Caleb, then headed out with Ann and Paul. The vacation house would be quiet tonight with just Evie there, but she was okay with that. She was ready to crash and get some much-needed sleep.
TWELVE
Evie Blackwell
It was already Friday, and Evie didn’t look up from the report she was reading as a chair scraped across the floor and Gabriel sat down. He thankfully had stopped whistling that song fragment, though he still made sure she was aware he was coming through the door. “Eat something, Evie. You’ve been nose to the grindstone for the last day and a half.”
She marked her place in the report and glanced up as a plate stacked with tacos slid onto the table. Gabriel looked less put together than usual, his hair windblown, a couple of burrs caught on his shirtsleeve, his jeans dirt-stained. She hadn’t seen much of him since Wednesday night. He’d been spending most of his time out at the farm. Evie reached for napkins and a taco. “How’s the search going?”