Page 51 of A Touch of Murder
"Adam? Like Adam Wrecker?"
"Yeah, we invited him to Beck's dinner party." Barret slowed when he saw a deer grazing off the side of the road.
"I thought you didn't like him much. Didn't believe in what he did. I mean, I know he's been helping out on the case, but I assumed you were just grasping at any lead you could get," Vance said.
"We've actually become good friends. I know I didn't believe in his ability at first, but he's proven himself. I mean, it's because of him that Maggie was able to get us those sketches of our suspects. We had drawings of our suspects even before the D.N.A. came back. He's actually pretty amazing. You heard about Mrs. Kendal's necklace, right?"
"Yeah, rumor is it's worth millions. Crazy. Still, I didn't think you'd ever believe. You were pretty hard on him when we went in to talk to him that first day." Vance pointed at the fence they were passing. "That's the third break in Jefferson's fence I've seen as we pass his place."
"I don't think Jefferson leaves the house anymore. He's so far gone with alcoholism that he's all but forgotten he owns a ranch."
"Sad. I feel for his wife."
"So do I, but she's the one who sticks around. She'd get a nice settlement if she left him now. I fear she'll hold on to him until he has them deep into bankruptcy and they lose everything. Her son could step up, but he's almost as useless as his father. Got himself arrested in Boise the other night for D.U.I. when he caused an accident on the highway." Barret had caught the report the morning after it happened and knew then that any chance of Jefferson's son stepping up to help on the ranch was slim to none.
"So back to Adam, you don't think he's a nutcase now?" Vance asked. "I mean, you did freak out at his place that day."
Barret sighed. "Those handcuffs I gave him to hold were never used. I had them sitting on my dresser with a bear my grandmother had given me years ago. What Adam picked up was my grandmother. That's why I freaked out."
"Damn." Vance laughed. "I told you before we went in not to doubt him."
"Yeah, lesson learned. I'd just never believed in any of that shit before. You have to admit there are a lot of charlatans out there." Barret pulled up to the trailhead and parked.
"Yeah, most are fakes, but not Adam." Vance opened his car door. "Damn, they sure messed up the place."
"Yeah." Barret got out of the car and looked at the spray paint across the signs and covering the poled fences. Orange and red paint covered everything. There were even words painted on the pavement. Words that weren't something you wanted tourists to have to read, especially if they had young kids. "I'll get pictures. Why don't you see if we can get hold of that church group that volunteers to clean up stuff? Maybe we can get them out here to take care of this. Let them know it's a big job." Barret wasn't even sure a power sprayer would handle some of it. Some of the stuff might have to be repainted or replaced. He pulled out his camera and started taking pictures of everything for the report while also looking for any evidence left behind that might tell them who did this.
Despite the vandalism, Barret was glad he'd taken the call. It felt good to be out in the sunlight, surrounded by the trees. He longed to head up one of the trails and get lost for a while. It had been too long since he'd had time to go on a run or hike, and his body and mind both yearned for the escape.
Vance walked over. "They can't get out until this evening, but they said they'd handle it."
"Guess that has to be good enough. I'm glad it's a weekday. Maybe there won't be a ton of tourists witnessing this. Let's head over to the Fish and Game offices and see if their cameras caught anything." Barret looked around. If one didn't know where to look for the cameras, they were almost invisible. A few years back they had trail cameras that were motion activated, but when those kept being stolen, they'd spent the money on a better system. While it was also motion activated, the cameras werestrategically hidden among the trees and would record video instead of just capturing photos.
The drive to the Fish and Game offices didn't take long and as they walked into the air-conditioned area, Barret realized how warm it was becoming outside. Being a mountain town, they usually had cooler temperatures linger well into June, but it seemed this year the heat was going to start early. "Morning, Mary. We've come to look over your camera footage."
Mary was a young woman in her early twenties. She'd moved to the area recently with her husband, and from the looks of it, had a child on the way. Mary smiled as she pressed her hand to her pregnant belly and stood. "I've already pulled the video for you. Four people. Appears to be teenagers. I didn't know any of them, but since I'm new here, I'm hoping you might." She led them back to a smaller room with several monitors showing the different trailheads and areas. "I saved everything here for you." She pointed to one of the computers. "Just hit play. If you want to email copies to yourself, just press this button." She pointed to an icon on the screen.
"Thanks." Vance took a seat at the computer. "Let's see what we got." He hit play.
Barret watched over Vance's shoulder. He saw a truck pull into the parking lot but couldn't see the license plate. It was an older black Ford. He'd swear he'd seen it around town but couldn't remember where. He pulled out his notebook and wrote down the color, make, and model. The moment the four boys spilled out of the truck, Barret knew who two of them were.
"The Thompson twins." Vance pointed at the screen.
Sure enough, the twins were obvious with their long, blond hair. He'd had a few problems with them in town. Mostly fights at the high school, but there had also been one case of theft from the grocery store. The boys were trouble. "I don't know hisfriends though. That's not the Thompson's truck, but I know I've seen it around town."
"Yeah, I've seen it too. Wish we could see the plates," Vance said.
"Maybe when they leave." Barret continued to watch as the kids started to spray paint everything. When a can was empty, they tossed it into the back of the truck.
"We handling this or letting Fish and Game?" Vance asked.
"I think we will. A visit from us will scare the Thompson boys more. I've warned those two several times and let them off with warnings too many times. I want all four kids. Someone who works at the school might know who they are. Email copies of those videos to both of us and we'll see if anyone at the station can identify them before we start going around asking questions. We can go visit the boys this afternoon. If they can't pay for the cost of cleanup, they can work it off with community service. I'll talk to the judge personally if I have to." Barret was done being nice with these kids.
Ten minutes later they were back in the car and headed to the station. "Want to stop somewhere for lunch?"
"Upper Cut Deli?" Vance asked.
"Perfect." Barret loved the deli down the street from his sister's bakery.
