Page 16 of The Catcher
Noah thumbed through the photos. Gadget? Where was the gadget? There were no photos. Puzzled, he pulledout his phone and called McKenzie. While waiting for him to pick up, Noah noted he had two bars on his phone. Plenty to make a call. Why hadn’t the teen made a call for help? Better question: Where was his phone? One thing he knew about teens was that they usually had their phones in hand.
“Lazarus! Finally, back from the dead,” McKenzie said in his thick Scottish accent. “I thought I would never hear your voice again.”
“Funny.”
“I assume Savannah released you from your prison, or are you calling from the High Peaks Brewery?”
“McKenzie, where is the gadget?”
“The what?”
“The gadget. I’m out at the site where the youth was found. The geocache container referenced a gadget under the lid, but I don’t see it in any of these photos.”
“It wasn’t logged as evidence?”
“It’s not mentioned in the report.”
McKenzie sighed. “I should have gone there myself, but I was tied up with the tail end of another case, so I arranged for Callie to go out there.”
“I thought Rivera didn’t want her involved in any more cases.”
“Aye, she doesn’t. She’s back on patrol, writing tickets after that little slap she gave that fellow. But that doesn’t mean she can’t come in handy.”
“McKenzie, that doesn’t help me.”
“Aye, I don’t know, maybe one of those little sods took it and didn’t mention it.”
“Who?”
“The couple who found the body. I can phone the kid if you think it’s important.”
“Everything is important, McKenzie. Details! Phone him, ask, and get back to me. Also, can you have him come to the station today? Her too. I’d like to speak to them both.” He paused for a second. “Oh, why is there no mention of any cell phones found? Teens are never far from them.”
“You know, Porter from your department is working on this case. You should speak to him. The state hauled away the teen’s truck for inventory. It could be in that stash. They also interviewed both of them yesterday.”
“Well, it never made the report.”
“No surprise there. Porter is a jackass, and this is High Peaks; everything moves at a snail’s pace except for crime. But don’t you worry your cotton socks, my little Sutherland, McKenzie won’t drop the haggis. I’ll get back to you.” He hung up, leaving Noah shaking his head. McKenzie had a way of speaking about himself in the third person. It was beyond odd, but he’d come to expect it. He often wondered how long ago he lost his marbles.
Noah turned back to the location where the geocache container had been found. He walked the scene, observing the photo of the size 12 footprints that had been found. He played out various scenarios; nothing could hold up in a court without substantial evidence. While he waited on McKenzie’s call, something that could take a while if anything distracted him, Noah texted Callie to see if she had come across the gadget.
The response from Callie came back fast.
I was told photos had already been taken.
Noah stared at his phone and then tapped out a response.But did you see the note under the container lid?
I did, but like you, I assumed they had it. I wasn’t there to collect evidence; I was just sketching out the scene, taking notes, and asking questions for McKenzie. He couldn’t be there. By the time I got out there, the DEC crime scene investigators were already hard at work. One of them was a jerk. State arrived after.
And cell phones for the teens?
Ask Porter.
And there it was again. There wasn’t going to be any way around it. It had been a while since Noah and Declan Porter had last spoken and worked together. Noah tapped the contact and took a breath to steel himself for the conversation. Fortunately, it went directly to voicemail.
Thank God.
He left a message and then hung up.
