Stalking Ground Read online

  “Her death is being investigated as a homicide.”

  “My God . . . I wish you’d told me that earlier. What happened to her?”

  “I can’t say. Getting back to my question: can you tell me where you were last Wednesday afternoon?”

  “You can’t suspect that I had anything to do with this.”

  “Just a routine question. I try to eliminate anyone I talk to as soon as I can. Keeps me from having to circle around and waste both of our time.”

  “Well, thank God I can put your mind at ease.” A hint of sarcasm crept into his voice. “I was here at the office all day on Wednesday. My office manager and a whole schedule full of patients can vouch for that.”

  “Thank you for your time and the information, Dr. Stroud. I appreciate it. I’ll let you take me to your office manager now so you can get back to work.”

  It took only a few more minutes to verify the information from Stroud’s office manager and check out his alibi. Mattie left the office with a copy of Adrienne’s résumé in hand.

  Although it was always wise to keep an open mind, Mattie decided to eliminate Scott Stroud as a suspect unless further information changed his status. Using her mobile data terminal, she quickly located Jim Cameron’s business listing under “Real Estate Agents” and plugged his address into her GPS. She followed its guidance to an office building made of stone and cedar siding with a peaked roof and large picture windows. Once again, she parked out front and left Robo in the car.

  After introducing herself to Cameron’s secretary, she was escorted at once into a conference room dominated by a long, shiny walnut table surrounded with plush chairs. The woman acted as if she’d expected her.

  Cameron entered the room, extending his hand to introduce himself and getting right down to business. “I just got off the phone with Scott Stroud, so I’m up to speed, Detective. How can I help?”

  So much for allowing me to break the news. She wasn’t too surprised actually; the good ol’ boy network would dictate Stroud calling to alert his friend. She recognized him from a picture in Adrienne’s album: handsome with brown hair and eyes, medium height and build, fit. She decided not to correct his misunderstanding of her title. “I need information about Adrienne’s personal life. Who were her friends while she was living here in Willow Springs?”

  “Adrienne lived here only about six months and didn’t seem to make a lot of close friends. I mean, we had my group of friends we associated with, but she didn’t really connect with anyone in my crowd. She was a different kind of gal from the ones I usually date.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Did you know Adrienne?” he asked.

  “I’d met her.”

  “Adrienne was a free spirit, would have thrived in the sixties. I think that’s what attracted me to her, not to mention the fact that she was gorgeous. But her being a free spirit ultimately broke us apart.”

  “Oh?”

  “Well, you know the old saying ‘Opposites attract’? We were good examples of that. I’m focused on business; she was focused on health. I’m goal driven; she was laid back. She wanted to let things evolve. Those were her words—‘let things evolve.’”

  Mattie was getting a clearer picture of the two of them. “So who decided to end your relationship?”

  “We both did. I know you may be skeptical, but it’s the truth. We talked things over like adults and decided to break things off.”

  “I understand she was pretty broken up about it.”

  He let out his breath in a soft sigh of frustration. “I’m sorry to say, she was. We loved each other, but she was becoming more committed than I was. So I guess it was me that initiated the conversation. But she seemed to be in full agreement by the time it was over.”

  Mattie imagined a confrontation between a goal-driven businessman and a flower child. It would be easy to predict the outcome of that one. “I appreciate your candor. Let’s get back to the question of friends. Is there anyone that you remember her talking about who might have known her personally?”

  “She spent most of her time off at an organic farm just outside of town. Green Thumb Organics. Maybe she made friends with someone out there, but she never introduced me to anyone. Do you want that number?”

  Apparently bending over backward to be helpful, he pulled out his cell phone and tapped the screen. Mattie wrote down the phone number he gave her. “Did you meet Adrienne’s brother, Roger Howard?”

  “Adrienne never mentioned a brother. Don’t know him.”

  “Can you tell me where you were last Wednesday afternoon?”

  “Scott told me you would ask that question, so I’ve already looked at my calendar. I usually take Wednesdays off. I played golf early that morning with a friend who can vouch for it. We ended our game around eleven. I had lunch at home by myself, did some yard work, and worked in my home office the rest of the afternoon. I had dinner with clients that evening at seven.”

  Mattie did the math. Eight hours with no alibi. It would take about sixty minutes to get from Willow Springs to Timber Creek. Plenty of time to drive over, kill Adrienne, and drive back. But someone else would have had to take her body up into the wilderness. Unless . . . “All right. And where were you on Thursday?”

  He let out a puff of pent up breath. He’d probably anticipated an accusation regarding his lack of alibi. “Just one moment, let me look it up.” He consulted his cell phone again. “Here in the office by eight, with a couple showing them houses most of the morning, lunch with a different client, several different appointments in the afternoon, dinner with my girlfriend.”

  So no time to move the body on Thursday. “Do you own a horse, Mr. Cameron?”

  “Call me Jim. No, I really don’t know anything at all about horses. Don’t ride. Uh . . . why do you ask?”

  “I’ll let you get back to work now. I might need to call you back later for more details or confirmation of this information, but I believe that’s all I need right now. Thank you for your time.”

  “Sure, sure. Anything I can do to help, just let me know. Call me anytime.”

  He seemed like the eager Boy Scout type. Too eager? Hard to say.

  Chapter 20

  Mattie was finishing a written summary of her two interviews when Rainbow came to the office door to tell her that Stella had arrived. She and the sheriff wanted Mattie to join them in the briefing room.

  “Tell them I’ll be right there.” She sent the two reports to the printer, picking them up on her way. Stella liked to keep a hard copy murder book in addition to a digital record. Mattie didn’t mind; she could organize her thoughts better with printed pages herself.

  The grim expressions on her colleagues’ faces told her that they’d already been discussing the autopsy. She joined them at the front table, choosing a seat near the end on the sheriff’s side while Robo settled beside her.

  Mattie noticed the detective studying her as she sat, locking eyes until Mattie grew uncomfortable and looked away. She knew from experience that Stella had a way of performing a mind probe, and she didn’t want to participate. She also knew from Rainbow’s and the sheriff’s reactions that she must look like shit this morning. Thankfully, Stella didn’t mention it.

  Instead, she launched into summarizing the autopsy. “I was just telling the sheriff about the manner and cause of death.”

  Mattie met Stella’s gaze again, raising her brows in question.

  “Cause of death: exsanguination from a penetrating wound through the victim’s chest that nicked the left chamber of her heart.”

  Bled out. “Shot, then,” Mattie said.

  “Yes,” Stella said. “Shot from the back and exiting through the front. The projectile went clear through her. But it wasn’t a bullet.”

  “What?”

  “The medical examiner says it must have been an arrow.”

  Stella paused for a moment for Mattie to digest this image. An arrow shot cleanly through the victim’s chest entering through
her back. That must have been a powerful bow, or a powerful shooter. Or both. All kinds of questions raced through her mind.

  Was it an accident? Was Adrienne running away? Or worse yet, was she being hunted?

  “The ME has some experience with hunting and is familiar with mammal wounds,” Stella continued. “Bullets typically expand and create all kinds of damage as they traverse the flesh, leaving a much larger exit wound than entry. An arrow with a broadhead point that has two steel cutting edges slices through the flesh. Injured animals usually bleed out; the amount of time it takes depends on which organs are damaged on the way through.”

  No wonder the two of them looked so grim. “It’s hunting season,” Mattie said. “She could have been killed accidentally and then hidden to cover it up.”

  “It’s possible. Another important finding is that she had horsehair on her clothing—quite a bit of it and several different colors. She also had an oily residue on her fingertips, the kind you get when you’ve been rubbing down a horse.”

  “She’d been working,” Mattie said.

  “Apparently. We need to find out who she had an appointment with,” Stella said. “Where are we with the client list from the vet?”

  “Completed,” McCoy said. “No one on that list has admitted to an appointment. Now that fact seems suspect.”

  “Let’s review the list for client location. We need to take another look at people who live near the area where the body was buried. And where is the gravesite in relation to the place you found her car?” Stella asked.

  Mattie stood and crossed over to a map she’d pinned on the wall. She’d marked the car’s location earlier, and she saw that someone else had drawn an “X” marking the gravesite. Stella came and stood beside her.

  “Here we are,” Mattie said, pointing to Timber Creek and then tracing the routes in question. “These sites are both west of here, but you can see they’re only connected by the highway. Each place is accessible by a county road, both roads intersecting the highway about five miles apart. The sites aren’t connected directly.”

  “Then we’ll need to take a look at horse clients who live near the car site, too,” Stella said.

  “All right. I’ll get the addresses and screen them,” McCoy said. “Where are we on locating Roger Howard?”

  “Nowhere,” Stella said with a frown. “None of the ones I’ve turned up are the guy we’re looking for. I found record of him back in high school in Hightower. Then he seemed to drop off the face of the earth.”

  McCoy looked at Mattie. “What did you find out this morning?”

  She summarized her findings, giving Stella the interview printouts. “We can’t eliminate Jim Cameron as a suspect, and I plan to follow up with Green Thumb Organics. I hope Adrienne had a friend she confided in while she lived in Willow Springs. A best friend could provide insight into our victim’s relationship with her ex-boyfriend. And maybe give us information about her brother.”

  Stella had been recording the new leads on the board while Mattie spoke. She’d also summarized the autopsy results. “As you know, our victim was fully clothed, and examination revealed no indication of sexual assault. Our crime scene unit gathered what trace evidence they could from her clothing, and now we’re sending her clothes to a lab in Denver to see if they can find touch DNA on it. Whoever took her up that mountain had to have handled her body a lot. Testing will take some time, but I think we have a good chance of gathering some powerful evidence. That and matching horse-hair samples when we can. The animal DNA labs in the state don’t seem to be as backed up as the human labs. As soon as we have a suspect client, we need to collect a hair sample from his horse, or maybe I should say from his horses.”

  “I’ll talk to Dr. Walker again about his client list. See if he’s willing to go out on a limb and suggest someone we might focus on. And we can run everyone through the system to see if we’ve got someone on the list with a criminal background,” Mattie said.

  Stella gave her a wicked smile. “I like the way you’re thinking. Also, I’ve got Adrienne’s telephone records on the way this morning. They’re probably in my e-mail as we speak. I’ll start looking at them as soon as we’re done here. It’s supposed to include copies of her texts, too.”

  Mattie felt a spark of excitement beneath her dense layer of exhaustion. This investigation was beginning to roll. “I’ll make phone calls to Green Thumb Organics and Dr. Walker.”

  “Okay. One last thing, Sheriff. Where are we with Brody?” Stella asked.

  A look of frustration had taken up residence on her boss’s face. Mattie could tell how important he deemed Brody’s involvement. “He’s cooperating. He gave me the report that I asked for. We can confirm his presence here in the office and out on patrol Wednesday afternoon. He checked in regularly. By Thursday, he was searching for Ms. Howard. He gave me his patrol log, which includes an extensive list of all the places he went. He worked alone but continued to check in, so it would’ve been impossible for him to be up at the gravesite.”

  Mattie felt she needed to weigh in. “You can count on knowing where Brody stands, and I’ve never known him to hold back. His reaction when we discovered Adrienne’s gravesite was no exception. He appeared to be devastated.”

  Stella nodded, looking thoughtful. “Let’s talk to him together, Sheriff, before we decide. But I have to say, I know him to be sort of a hothead, and I’m not sure it’s best to allow him to play a central role in our investigation. Even if we can confirm his innocence.”

  Stella’s cell phone pinged, making her look at the screen. “This is a message from one of my techs,” she said. “We got a hit on the print we took from the stamp and sent to IAFIS.”

  Mattie felt a surge of adrenaline. “That’s fantastic!”

  Stella continued to read her message aloud. “Ramon Vasquez. Has one charge of misdemeanor possession of narcotics: marijuana possession back in the day. No current warrants for his arrest.”

  “Did they search for an address yet?” McCoy asked, his face alive with excitement.

  “Sure did. Vasquez has a Colorado driver’s license with an address listed on a county road outside of Willow Springs.”

  The town where the letter had been postmarked. Mattie looked at Stella. “Can we bring him in?”

  Stella gave her a grim smile. “You might be jumping the gun, Deputy. Let’s go question him first and then decide.”

  As Mattie stood, Robo got up and hurried toward the door. “Hold on a minute, Robo,” Mattie said, looking back and forth between her colleagues. “This feels like a big break. Too important for us to screw up. I want Brody in as backup, just in case this guy decides to run.”

  Stella exchanged a look with McCoy. “All right, let’s talk to him now, Sheriff.” And then to Mattie: “Be ready to roll in twenty minutes. I’ll ride with you and your partner.”

  *

  As she drove down a lane that marked the entrance to Ramon Vasquez’s place, Mattie checked her rear view mirror and saw Brody making the turn behind her. They’d driven the highway toward Willow Springs with flashing lights but no sirens, and they’d made excellent time. Stella shifted in her seat on the passenger side, easing her handgun from her shoulder holster under her jacket and then replacing it. As if sensing their amped-up adrenaline, Robo stood to look out the windshield as they approached the house.

  Sitting inside a copse of evergreens with several dilapidated outbuildings, the small clapboard farmhouse looked like it might be abandoned. Mattie parked in front of the cracker-box one-story, a coat of fresh paint long overdue, its windows blocked by curtains from the inside. She turned off the engine as Brody pulled up alongside. A ragged, gray picket fence enclosed the yard, its gate hanging askew. They exited their vehicles, Mattie making the decision to leave Robo inside his compartment, at least for the time being.

  “I’ll go to the door,” Stella said. “Mattie, you stay with me. Brody, you go around back.”

  After going inside the yard, Brody s
plit off to circle around the house. Mattie followed Stella as she stepped up on the porch and knocked on the door.

  No answer. No sign of activity. Stella rang the bell. Mattie heard the soft echo of the bell inside, but still no one answered the door.

  Mattie was wondering if they were wasting their time when a loud crash resonated through the house. She and Stella exchanged a quick glance the very moment they heard a roar coming from Brody on the other side of the house.

  “We’ve got a runner!” Stella shouted, as she jumped off the porch and headed around the building.

  Mattie hit the door-popper button on her utility belt, and the driver’s side door of her SUV sprang open, the door to Robo’s cage opening automatically. Mattie shouted for him to come. He leaped through the cage door, over the driver’s seat, and out the door, hitting his stride as he fell in beside her. She ran around the building taking the side opposite from Stella.

  “Heel!” Stopping at the corner of the building with Robo at her side, she eased forward to take a peek. Stella was heading away from her toward a broken-down building that looked like it had once been a garage.

  With Robo at heel, Mattie sprinted after her, catching up within seconds. “Where are they?” She kept her tone low, searching the buildings for sign of Brody.

  Stella had pulled her handgun. “I don’t know. Haven’t got a visual.”

  “Stay behind us,” Mattie told her. “Let Robo take the lead. He’ll find them.”

  Not knowing if the fugitive was armed or not, Mattie decided to put Robo on a leash. Taking one from her utility belt, she snapped it on his collar. “Search. Let’s find the bad guy.”

  She encouraged him with her voice while she let him go out in front the full length of the leash. She was relying on a physical response people have when experiencing fear. Endocrine sweat. Patrol dogs were taught to track it in lieu of a scent article. She hoped Vasquez was afraid and that’s why he ran.

  Robo quartered the area, nose to ground, and picked up a scent trail within a few seconds. He surged forward to the end of the leash, taking Mattie with him. They ran toward the line of spruce that marked the edge of the wooded area surrounding the property. Stella fell behind as Mattie and Robo outdistanced her.