Page 45 of In Cold Blood (High Peaks Murder, Mystery and Crime Thrillers #1)

T he public’s view of the police was widely inaccurate. Of course, they had TV crime shows to thank for that. Forensics were turned around within hours, and cases were solved within days all while sipping lattes and prancing around a city sporting bronzed skin.

The truth was far from it.

It was a laborious, frustrating, and at times a thankless path.

Two steps forward and five back were the norm.

The truth was more mundane than imagined with investigative work relying heavily on the help of the public and the expertise of those in other cities.

It took a village to solve a crime.

Pats on the back — though unnecessary — only came from a fraction of society and even then, it was short-lived.

Media snapped up the negatives and ran with headlines that could get clicks, sell newspapers and get people talking.

Couldn’t it have been solved faster? How did they overlook key evidence?

Why did it take a change of investigators to bring closure?

Why can’t they release information? What are they hiding?

The questions were as endless as the wave of critics .

No one wanted closure on a case more than law enforcement.

When people thought the cops were sitting on evidence and doing nothing or had no leads, they didn’t see what was happening behind the curtain.

An exhaustive amount of time went into an investigation.

Lots of waiting on different agencies, calling phone companies to request records, trying to gather enough evidence to obtain warrants, and beating on doors so they could tie it all together.

The way forward wasn’t linear, it was a chaotic journey of retreading the same path, re-interviewing suspects, poring over videos and statements, and examining the tiniest scraps of evidence.

Hours upon hours were logged and even then, a case could go cold.

However, not everything was drawn out. Confirming Jack Grayson’s alibi was a three-step process that took up the majority of the afternoon.

The two of them returned to the motel and had them pull the records of those who stayed on the night in question.

While Jack had paid in cash to avoid questions from his wife, they had his signature and a video corroborating his arrival, payment, and meeting with Bob.

The two were captured on an outside camera entering a room.

Jack didn’t leave until the early hours of the morning.

A secondary call made by Callie to Gloria Grayson added credibility to Jack’s alibi with her comment that he had “worked late” that evening. She’d said it was something he did frequently, especially when he was nose-deep involved in a case or supposed to be in court on a Monday.

Gloria had no idea. She was oblivious to it all.

But the question piqued her curiosity and she couldn’t help but ask what it was concerning.

Callie was tactful, saying that it was just procedure.

Nothing to worry about. They were checking off people associated with Luke.

She never mentioned Bob at the request of Noah.

He’d opted to give Jack time to come clean himself.

It wasn’t out of respect for him but for Lena.

Deep down he believed that Jack would either come clean or it would give him the nudge to call it quits and embark on the life he’d kept in the closet.

After all, his nephew and niece had been witnesses.

He expected a confession about his personal life within a matter of days.

Callie followed up with a call to Bob. They came to learn he was a regular guy working construction out of Saranac.

He’d met Jack through a gay dating app and had been seeing him off and on for the better part of two years.

He’d known that he was married but because of loneliness had never pushed the issue.

“We may require you to come into the office and give an official statement,” Callie said. “Uh-huh. Right. Thank you.”

Noah ran a hand around Axel as he sat at heel. The dog had really taken to him in a short amount of time. He could see how handlers bonded. Noah reached into the Bronco and checked the charge on his phone. It was back up to full again.

Callie hung up and looked out across the motel lot.

“Seems his story adds up,” she said. “They fell asleep together after having intercourse.”

“TMI.”

“Sorry?”

Noah chuckled. “It’s what my kids would say. Too much information.”

“Oh.” She rocked her head back and smiled. Callie glanced at her watch. “You hungry?”

“I could go for a bite.”

As Noah opened the back door so Axel could jump in, and Callie turned to her cruiser, she received a call. Noah was partially paying attention.

“Are you sure?” She had this confused expression. “Can you send that over to me?” She nodded and thanked whoever it was and then hung up.

“What is it?”

“I had dispatch retrieve Luke’s call log for the evening. You know, to see if there were any inconsistencies.”

“I saw it. There were none.”

“You saw the calls and length. I had them retrieve a little more from the AVL history. The GPS equipment never shut off. They noticed he took a slight diversion that night.”

“What do you mean?”

“Okay. You know that dispatch can see the location, direction, and speed of all cruisers on shift. This is all logged for review by command just in case a complaint is filed. Like if a cop was not on an emergency call and was driving over the speed limit and blowing through stop signs. Well, we have the logs of Luke’s calls that night.

Where he went, what the call was about, how long it lasted, and so on.

Now dispatch will only assign an officer to another call once they see they’re clear.

It varies from agency to agency, but here in Adirondack County, that clear for a call doesn’t happen until everything is completed – a report, a booking, the impound of a vehicle, and so forth. ”

“Right. So?”

“Well, usually you’ll see the call, the cruiser at the incident location and then they might go down to book someone in. In Luke’s case, we saw him responding to the fight at High Peaks Pub and Brewery. However, he didn’t clear that call for close to forty minutes.”

“So, it took him a little longer.”

“No, the system logged him leaving the pub and heading west before it was clear.”

“West?”

She lifted her phone and thumbed the screen.

“It had him stopping here.” Callie showed him .

Noah leaned forward; his eyes widened.

“Meadowbrook Public Campground.”

“You’re familiar with it?” she asked.

He nodded. “I know it well. It’s where Dax is staying. He lied.”

“What?”

He took out his phone and made a call to Dax. This time there was no voicemail. No way to leave a message. It just kept ringing.

“Son of a bitch!”

He climbed into the Bronco.

“Noah.”

“I’ll tell you on the way. Right now, we need to find him.”

He fired up the engine. Callie hopped into her cruiser and they tore out of the motel lot heading back to High Peaks. Over his cell phone, Noah brought Callie up to speed as they sped back through a wall of pines.

“The fight that night was allegedly between Cyrus and a patron. Luke arrived and by that point, the patron, according to his report, was not there. Harry said they didn’t want to press charges and Cyrus was sent home. I don’t think he was the only one that was sent home.”

“You think Dax was…”

“The patron,” Noah said, expanding before she could reach that conclusion.

“He was sporting a shiner when we saw him,” Callie said.

“No, not after the funeral. That came later. However, he did have a cut lip back then. The shiner, well he told me he got that when the double doors from the kitchen swung into him. But then again, he also said he worked until 2 a.m. that evening. I think he may have been involved in the fight. He said Luke dropped him off because his vehicle wasn’t working.

He had to get the engine fixed and so he was relying on others to get back and forth. The question is why did he lie?”

The world around him passed by in his peripheral vision.

As Noah got closer to High Peaks, he was beginning to wonder how deep Dax had gotten involved.

Other than Cyrus, who may have held a grudge against Luke, it was Dax who had every reason to want Luke out of the way. He’d seen the resentment in his eyes.

Before arriving back in High Peaks, Noah pulled into Meadowbrook Public Campground as it was on the way in.

It was mere ten minutes west of the Pub and Brewery.

Sure, enough his black Chrysler Minivan was there.

Noah pulled up, leaving a plume of dust and grit in the air behind his vehicle.

He pushed out and went over, peering into the vehicle.

Its dark-tinted windows made it hard to see at night. He banged on the window.

“Dax!”

No answer. Squinting, he could just make out his sleeping bag but he wasn’t there. He glanced around. Noah called out his name a few more times just in case he’d walked off. There was no response. Noah cast a glance at Callie and shook his head before getting back in and reversing out.

They drove into the city, pushed forward by purpose and a need for answers.