Page 76 of Her Final Hours
McKenzie glanced at his wristwatch. “And it takes this long? Please, what a crock of crap. How does he get the cushy gig while we are buried in paperwork? As I told you before, Thorne, these State guys are like the tumbleweed of law enforcement. They blow in and out as they please. I mean, for all our work, we should be called in to assist them,” he said before chuckling. “Anyway, what are you doing, updating your profile on social media?”
Callie had her fingers poised over a keyboard, about to peck the keys.
She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply. He would keep at it if she ignored him, hovering above her like a vulture just waiting to swoop down and pick away at her until she reacted. Instead of explaining and then having to explain again the why, she opted to show an interest in whatever he’d dumped in front of her.
She twisted in her seat, scooping up the folder and opening it.
“All right, who lied?”
“Patrick, of course. That sneaky little bastard. I knew there was something fishy about him.”
She scanned the paperwork from the prison system where he’d been incarcerated. She flipped through a few forms.
“What am I looking at here?” Her patience was growing thin.
McKenzie rolled his chair over, flipped the pieces of paper, and stabbed one. “Eduardo Felipe was held at a different prison. They never were in prison together. That bullshit line he fed you and Sutherland about letting him use the plumbing van because he provided protection was crap. Yeah, he must have thought we wouldn’t look into it.”
“Doesn’t mean he’s lying. Maybe it wasn’t Eduardo. Maybe what he meant was someone Eduardo knew.”
“And they were called Eduardo Felipe too? Give me some credit, Thorne. We’ve got his statement.” He had her flip a few more pages. “Right there.” He pointed to one portion of the statement.
I lent him the van because Eduardo Felipe protected me while I was inside.
“Okay then, if he didn’t know him through the prison system, how did he know him?”
He pointed at her and made a clicking sound with his tongue. “Exactly. I think our boy is holding back. I say we go visit him.”
“He’s not here?”
“No. They released him. It seems Eduardo Felipe isn’t the only one with Doug Grayson at his beck and call. It makes you wonder about the ethics of this man. While we had enough on Eduardo to hold him for theft, Patrick was sent on his way. He has a solid alibi for that night. Grayson said we had no reason to hold him as we couldn’t prove that he knew his truck would be used for theft, and quite frankly, I can see why. All we’ve got is a friend helping a friend.”
“Until now,” she said. “If he lied about that, it makes his alibi paper thin.”
“Sure does. Grab your shit; let’s light a fire under this pissant.”
She got up and grabbed her jacket and was about to leave when Rishi piped up.
“Hey, Callie, you were right,” Rishi said. “Check this out.”
He turned back to the computer and brought up a regional map showing Adirondack County. It had areas highlighted in red and a line that joined them together.
“Thorne! Let’s go,” McKenzie said, urging her to leave.
“Wait. I want to see this.”
McKenzie returned to the room to find her leaning over Rishi, looking at his screen.
Rishi explained. “On the night of Payton Scott’s disappearance, the Sheriff’s Office and State created a list of everyone in attendance. I’m talking about who was driving what, who was a guest, and so on. Days later, when they gathered video footage from those at the campground, a blue truck was captured onvideo that matched what Noah saw. Multiple people saw it. Helen created a list of those who saw it, and a few were even put under hypnosis. From that, they manged to get some vehicle information. They ran those tags through the system but found nothing back then. But that’s because they only checked within the state. As you can imagine, there are a lot of blue trucks. But what we have been able to establish is that no one who was camping or lodging or was a guest at Heart Lake Campground that night had a blue truck with a light bar on top. We believe the blue truck seen on video and confirmed by witnesses was related to her abduction.”
“Disappearance,” McKenzie said.
“Abduction,” Callie was quick to clarify. “Jane Doe is Payton’s daughter. That means she lived long enough to have her. Hell, she could still be alive.”
McKenzie looked flabbergasted. “Back up the train. You know who Jane Doe is?”
Callie glanced at him. “We got the results back from the genetic genealogist, and there was a match for Esther Scott as the grandparent.”
McKenzie frowned. “Why didn’t anyone tell me this?”
