Page 39 of Her Final Hours (High Peaks Murder, Mystery and Crime Thrillers #3)

“ H e lied!” McKenzie said after tossing a file folder on the desk in front of Callie. He sank into a rolling chair and took a large bite of an apple.

Callie’s brow furrowed. She removed the file and set it to one side.

Her mind was occupied by research she’d been conducting surrounding the evidence, witness statements, and hypnosis information gathered after Payton’s abduction.

“Did you not hear what I said?”

“Can’t you see I’m busy?”

“Looks to me like Rishi is doing all the work. But, hey, that’s always the way, right, Rishi?

Outsourcing overseas to your country is old school.

Not us. We’re inclusive in this office. We’ve got to raise those diversity numbers.

Actually, did you see the new recruiting brochures, Thorne?

On the front cover, there is one Indian gal, one black guy, one Asian, and one white woman; heck, what’s next?

Rainbow-style police uniforms?” He chuckled.

Rishi glanced over his shoulder at him, unamused, as he removed his glasses.

“You are aware I was born in America,” Rishi said.

“You’re shitting me. With that accent?”

“New Jersey,” Rishi replied.

“Ah, yeah, I can see that. I heard they have some good Indian restaurants. So, what… you didn’t want to follow in your daddy’s footsteps?”

Rishi scowled. “He was an accountant.”

“For an Indian restaurant?”

“No, for Goldman Sachs.”

Callie rolled her eyes; racism wasn’t McKenzie’s issue, ignorance was.

After returning from the abysmal meeting with Caleb Mitchell, she’d retreated into Rishi Gupta’s office, a NASA-style abode full of flickering screens.

He had been running an NCIC offline search in and out of state on the vehicle information gleaned from the past. So far, they’d had little luck, so she was wading through several reports and following up with witnesses by phone.

She figured it would be easier than enduring another awkward meeting with the Scotsman.

He took another large and annoying bite of his apple. “Sutherland not in yet?”

“No. He’s dropping the girl off this morning.”

McKenzie glanced at his wristwatch. “And it takes this long? Please, what a crock of crap. How does he get the cushy gig while we are buried in paperwork? As I told you before, Thorne, these State guys are like the tumbleweed of law enforcement. They blow in and out as they please. I mean, for all our work, we should be called in to assist them,” he said before chuckling.

“ Anyway, what are you doing, updating your profile on social media?”

Callie had her fingers poised over a keyboard, about to peck the keys.

She closed her eyes and breathed in deeply.

He would keep at it if she ignored him, hovering above her like a vulture just waiting to swoop down and pick away at her until she reacted.

Instead of explaining and then having to explain again the why, she opted to show an interest in whatever he’d dumped in front of her.

She twisted in her seat, scooping up the folder and opening it.

“All right, who lied?”

“Patrick, of course. That sneaky little bastard. I knew there was something fishy about him.”

She scanned the paperwork from the prison system where he’d been incarcerated. She flipped through a few forms.

“What am I looking at here?” Her patience was growing thin.

McKenzie rolled his chair over, flipped the pieces of paper, and stabbed one.

“Eduardo Felipe was held at a different prison. They never were in prison together. That bullshit line he fed you and Sutherland about letting him use the plumbing van because he provided protection was crap. Yeah, he must have thought we wouldn’t look into it. ”

“Doesn’t mean he’s lying. Maybe it wasn’t Eduardo. Maybe what he meant was someone Eduardo knew.”

“And they were called Eduardo Felipe too? Give me some credit, Thorne. We’ve got his statement.” He had her flip a few more pages. “Right there.” He pointed to one portion of the statement.

I lent him the van because Eduardo Felipe protected me while I was inside .

“Okay then, if he didn’t know him through the prison system, how did he know him?”

He pointed at her and made a clicking sound with his tongue. “Exactly. I think our boy is holding back. I say we go visit him.”

“He’s not here?”

“No. They released him. It seems Eduardo Felipe isn’t the only one with Doug Grayson at his beck and call.

It makes you wonder about the ethics of this man.

While we had enough on Eduardo to hold him for theft, Patrick was sent on his way.

He has a solid alibi for that night. Grayson said we had no reason to hold him as we couldn’t prove that he knew his truck would be used for theft, and quite frankly, I can see why.

All we’ve got is a friend helping a friend. ”

“Until now,” she said. “If he lied about that, it makes his alibi paper thin.”

“Sure does. Grab your shit; let’s light a fire under this pissant.”

She got up and grabbed her jacket and was about to leave when Rishi piped up.

“Hey, Callie, you were right,” Rishi said. “Check this out.”

He turned back to the computer and brought up a regional map showing Adirondack County. It had areas highlighted in red and a line that joined them together.

“Thorne! Let’s go,” McKenzie said, urging her to leave.

“Wait. I want to see this.”

McKenzie returned to the room to find her leaning over Rishi, looking at his screen.

Rishi explained. “On the night of Payton Scott’s disappearance, the Sheriff’s Office and State created a list of everyone in attendance.

I’m talking about who was driving what, who was a guest, and so on.

Days later, when they gathered video footage from those at the campground, a blue truck was captured on video that matched what Noah saw.

Multiple people saw it. Helen created a list of those who saw it, and a few were even put under hypnosis.

From that, they manged to get some vehicle information.

They ran those tags through the system but found nothing back then.

But that’s because they only checked within the state.

As you can imagine, there are a lot of blue trucks.

But what we have been able to establish is that no one who was camping or lodging or was a guest at Heart Lake Campground that night had a blue truck with a light bar on top.

We believe the blue truck seen on video and confirmed by witnesses was related to her abduction. ”

“Disappearance,” McKenzie said.

“Abduction,” Callie was quick to clarify. “Jane Doe is Payton’s daughter. That means she lived long enough to have her. Hell, she could still be alive.”

McKenzie looked flabbergasted. “Back up the train. You know who Jane Doe is?”

Callie glanced at him. “We got the results back from the genetic genealogist, and there was a match for Esther Scott as the grandparent.”

McKenzie frowned. “Why didn’t anyone tell me this?”

“You were on a different shift at the time.”

He left the room, and Callie told Rishi to hold that thought. She stepped out and could see him storming off down the hallway. “McKenzie, is this how it’s going to be every time? Watching you charge off like a little kid.”

He turned back. “I’m the lead investigator in this case.”

“No, Noah is.”

“Oh, and what does that make you?”

“I’ve been assigned to help. If you have a problem with that, which you do, take it up with Sheriff Rivera. She was the one who green-lit it.”

“Yes, for you to be taken under my wing. ”

“That doesn’t mean I take a backseat or have to put up with your childish mood swings.

” She was tired of his theatrics and hissy fits.

Callie approached him, closing the gap. She saw him swallow hard.

It was as if he’d never had a woman stand up to him.

“I might not hold the detective title, McKenzie, but I am involved, and because of that, there may be times you will be brought up to speed later.”

“Is that so?” He glared. “You know, lass, I can have you removed from this case,” he snapped his fingers, “like that.”

“I don’t doubt it. But if that were so, you would have already done it.

So, let’s call a spade a spade here. You don’t enjoy dumpster diving through endless reports, evidence, hours of video footage, and witness statements by yourself.

Because you have me doing that, which makes me valuable…

and you damn well know it. So, if I forget to bring you up to speed instantly on every little detail of a case we’re looking into, you’ll have to trust that I will eventually do so. ”

“I do.”

“Then maybe drop the ‘I’m a veteran with more experience than you’ act,” she said. “Because it’s getting old. And McKenzie, whether you like it or not, I was here before you and probably will be here long after you’ve retired. Now I know you’re a tired old fart, but—”

“What?”

“Someone else’s words, not mine. But I agree with them. If we are to work together for the next umpteen years or until you burst a blood vessel, I would really appreciate a little kindness and respect.”

With that said, she returned to the room.

McKenzie appeared behind her a moment later, listening in as Rishi continued.

“Anyway, it took a lot of wading through reports from campgrounds not far from Heart Lake, but I discovered that there were five reports from the same day of a driver of a blue truck making contact with individuals in areas leading up to the abduction of Payton Scott, and once after.” He showed it on the screen.

“The first was two fourteen-year-old young girls outside a candy store. They said a guy was working under the hood of his truck and asked if one of them would get in and start the engine for him so he could check something. They declined and crossed the road. They said he got into his truck, started it, and drove out of the campground. The second was from a sixteen-year-old over in this location who was asked if she wanted a ride back to the lodge.” He reeled off two more instances until he arrived at Heart Lake Campground.

When viewed, it painted a picture of someone out hunting for a victim.

“And the fifth?” McKenzie said.

The two of them looked back at him.

“Well, you mentioned only four. You said there was a fifth.”

“Yes, it was after Payton went missing later that evening. An older woman was pulling out of her driveway. She was struck over near Elizabethtown, not far from the Bouquet River. A hit and run. She said the truck was speeding. The driver clipped the back end of her car, smashed a taillight, stopped for a moment, then continued. She never got the license number as it was too dark, but she said it was a blue truck with the same light bar on top.”

McKenzie shrugged. “And? How does that help us?”

Callie could tell he was pissed off and doing his utmost to say without saying that they were wasting their time.

“It gives us a way to determine that this is the same truck that was most likely involved in the abduction. It was the only one not owned by a parent or guest at the campground, it was seen multiple times leading up to that night, and it all fits with the timeline of Payton’s abduction.

It also wasn’t given as much weight back when they were investigating this compared to the composites.

Nowhere in any of those reports does it state that law enforcement was trying to find that truck or driver. I believe it’s key to unraveling this.”

McKenzie clapped. “Well, bravo. It sounds like you have cracked the case. Let’s go and get that driver, shall we.

” He turned to leave and then theatrically stopped, raised a finger in the air, and twirled it before pointing it back at them.

“Oh, that’s right. You don’t know the driver; you can’t even identify that blue truck, just like they couldn’t twenty-five years ago.

Thorne, there are thousands of blue trucks in New York state, let alone in others.

Now if you two are done playing detectives, maybe you’d like to join me so I can show you how it’s done. ”

With that said, he walked out. Callie gritted her teeth.

“It’s not worth it, Callie,” Rishi said. “It only gives him fuel.”

She took a deep breath and placed a hand on Rishi’s shoulder. “Keep at it. Those hits from the NCIC search could still pay off. Reach out to the witnesses from that night. Let me know if you find anything further.”