Page 146 of Head Room
“Randy...?”Diana repeated.
“Hollister...?”I contributed.
“The Sherman police officer?”Mike completed, matching our blank tones.
We all looked at each other, trying to make this fit.The officer with the tiny Sherman Police Department was gangly, he was not assertive, he was only mildly effectual.
He was — dare I say it — sweet.
“Randy Hollister didnotbring a disgraced cop here, family or no family,” Diana said.
None of us disputed that.
“He might not have done it on purpose,” Jennifer said.“But that’s where this gets really good.The listing in the DNI was for Kyle Quetcher.That was the name in all the news stories, too.But when I found him in the genealogy information that led to Randy, it lists four names for him — Kyle Vaughn Quetcher Moser.”
“So, Randy could know him as Kyle Moser, not even remember the middle part, and have no reason to check him against that index,” I said.
“Exactly,” Jennifer said.
“Still, we add digging into Randy’s relationship with his cousin to our to-dos.”
“I’ll do it, Elizabeth,” Diana said.
“Great.Anybody have anything else?”
Diana sighed heavily.“The sheriff’s department is looking over an application.For sure.”
I might have muttered an expletive.
“How seriously are they looking at this guy?”Mike asked.
Diana shook her head.“I don’t know.And there’s more.I can’t be a hundred percent sure and I’m not going to give you the complete context because...Because.”
Back to those multiple loyalties.I won’t say divided, because she gave full loyalty to both.
“Understood,” Mike said.
“Okay.”Those two syllables also doubled as an unspokenthank you.“So, the thing is, confirming they’re looking at his application was connected to—.No, that’s too strong.It was near the same time as they were talking about Nance’s murder.”
****
That stopped usall.
I could practically hear the others’ brains whirring — and feel my own clunkily doing the same — as this bomb scattered pieces of what we knew.
“I’m not saying they’re absolutely connected,” Diana continued.“But the timing...I can’t be sure.Either way.”
“Okay, that’s fair,” I said slowly.“But you wouldn’t have brought it up if you thought there was no chance.”
“No, I wouldn’t.”She sounded more than half miserable.
“Buthow?” Jennifer asked.“How would they be connected?This bad cop’s from South Carolina—”
“But has a cousin here.Maybe he’d been to see his cousin before.Maybe he’d had contact with Nance.Maybe there’d been a confrontation.”Mike ran a hand through his hair.“Yeah.A lot of maybes.Diana—?”
“I know.I need to mine my sources about the relationship with Randy.But...”
We all agreed with her doubt.
