Page 84 of The Girl from Devil's Lake
“When do they leave?” she asked when Tom ended the call.
“Bright and early Monday morning,” he said. “I was making sure we’ve got the Chain Gang in place. How are things with you?”
“You mean other than the fact Stephen Roper called me in and gave me a full confession earlier this morning?”
“Really?” Tom asked with a frown. “I thought he lawyered up.”
“So did I,” Joanna replied, “but he evidently changed his mind. So here’s what I need. The county attorney is on his way. He wants to touch bases with all the investigators, then he’ll view the interview. Is everybody here?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Tom replied, “all present and accounted for and with their noses to the grindstone.”
“Tell them I want everyone in the conference room half an hour from now, ready to give the county attorney a complete briefing on our progress.”
“Will do,” Tom said.
With that, Joanna went back to her office and dialed Anna Rae Green’s home number.
“Hey,” she said. “What’s going on?”
“A lot,” Joanna told her. “Roper’s in custody.”
“Thank God,” Anna Rae murmured. “On the arrest warrant from North Dakota? Philip Dark Moon told me they were sending it.”
“I know it’s here, but we didn’t actually need it,” Joanna said. “Stephen Roper is locked up on suspicion of committing two separate homicides, including our original one, the little kid from Mexico.”
“Who’s number two?” Anna Rae asked.
“A local reporter made the mistake of stopping by his place to ask if he was aware that he was under investigation. While attempting to flee, he shoved her through a trapdoor into his crawl space and broke her neck.”
“Yikes,” Anna Rae said.
“But that’s not why I’m calling. Roper raised all kinds of hell last night, demanding that I come in so he could give me a complete confession.”
“And did he?”
“He certainly did—for the next three and a half hours. In the process he cleared six separate cases, three of which happen to be MMIV-related.”
Joanna went on to give Anna Rae a detailed description of what had gone on.
“Do you think he was deliberately targeting Indigenous victims,” Anna Rae asked when Joanna finished, “or were they simply crimes of opportunity?”
“It’s too soon to tell,” Joanna replied. “From the number of items we found in what we believe to be his trophy case, those six cases barely scratch the surface. We’re going to need to identify a lot more victims. We might even consider sending out a second BOLO.”
“All right,” Anna Rae said. “I’ll let Philip and Nadia know what’s going on. Does someone need to call Luke Running Deer?”
“Nope,” Joanna answered. “I already let him know.”
Off the phone, she sat there and considered her next step. With Craig due in a little over twenty minutes, she decided there was probably enough time for her to make one more phone call. Having made that decision, she reached for her stack of missed-call messages.
She plucked the topmost message off the pile—Sheriff Augie Nesbitt, Lauderdale County, Tennessee. The only number listed was for work. Since it was Saturday, Joanna wasn’t at all surprised when it was answered by voicemail, but she didn’t bother leaving a message. Searching the department’s website, she finally located a nonemergency number that was answered by a human being.
“I’m Sheriff Joanna Brady from Bisbee, Arizona,” she announced. “Yesterday Sheriff Nesbitt responded to a BOLO we sent out concerning a serial killer. I just tried calling him, but since it’s Saturday, he’s not answering. Can you help me?”
“I can’t give out his number,” came the reply, “but if you’ll give me yours, I’ll pass it along.”
Joanna’s first instinct was to immediately dial the next number, but she decided to give it five minutes. In case Nesbitt did call back, she didn’t want to have to hang up on someone else in order to take his call, and that strategy paid off. Nesbitt called back in three minutes flat.
“Sheriff Brady?” he asked. “Nesbitt here. What’s going on?”
