Page 79 of In Cold Blood

Noah stifled a laugh. “Good for you.”

“So, Parish wanted to show you something. Did he say what it was?”

“No. Look, what happened? Is he okay?”

“No, no he’s not. Not good at all. He’s in critical care but stable for now. He was found outside the lodge near his vehicle, beaten badly. A few broken ribs, several teeth missing. A smashed orbital, and a fracture to his skull. Someone really did a number on him. They worked him over pretty well. The chances of him remembering who it was are slim to none. However, the last person he spoke to that we know of was you.”

Noah shrugged. “And I’ve told you what that was about. Look, where is Thorne?”

“Busy. Thorne told us that your brother was using this place, that he had police reports, files, and so on, here. Is that right?”

Noah pushed away from the wall. He could feel the situation was getting more uncomfortable by the second. “That’s correct. I told her yesterday that I would box it up and hand it over to her today.”

“You arrived Tuesday. Right?”

He nodded.

“Why didn’t you provide it then?”

“Because… look, does it matter?”

Hendrix’s eyes shot up. “Does it matter? Your brother was murdered. It’s an active investigation. We’ve got a game warden’s body on our hands and now one of your own is lying in critical care. I sure as hell think it matters. You want to show me where this is?”

“Sure.”

He took him upstairs and led him into the attic. It was tidy in there. After Alicia had left, he’d spent the rest of the evening boxing everything up. Of course, he’d taken photos of what he could to ensure he had some record. Evidence was known for going missing. “It’s in all these boxes.”

“Now you say Alicia Michaels owns this place?”

“She rents it out. She rented it out to my brother.”

“So, she knew about this?”

Instead of lying, he simply said, “She does now. She didn’t before I came here.”

“But she’s seen it?”

“Briefly.” There was no point in lying. He had no reason to. There was nothing earth-shattering to be found among the files. Most of it was newspaper clippings that were available to the public, and copies of police reports from the department. The rest were photos, personal ones that he’d taken.

Hendrix crouched and flipped open the flaps on the top of the boxes. He didn’t take anything out, just poked around. “Four days of holding this. Still not sure why you wouldn’t have just told us the first night you were here.” He picked up two of the boxes and had Noah go down so he could pass them down. “Still, I’ll see to it these are taken back to the office.”

Noah helped take them out to the SUV and place them in the back.

Hendrix wanted Alicia’s phone number so he could pin down a timeline. He also went over and spoke with Ed.

When he returned, he knocked one final time.

“So, I’ve spoken with both of them. Seems it all checks out.”

Of course it would. While a drive from his place into town took just over ten minutes, walking would have taken a good two hours.

“You know, Hendrix. Think about it logically. Why would I set back an investigation into my brother’s death?”

“I don’t know but then again you held onto the material for four days. That might have set it back.”

“Hardly. Everything that’s in there is either available in the press or was a copy of what your department already has.”

“But you didn’t know that until you looked.”