Page 24 of Vanish From Sight (High Peaks Murder, Mystery and Crime Thrillers #2)

SEVENTEEN

Noah was in no mood for Sawyer’s lies but since cuffing him and hauling him back to the Adirondack County Sheriff’s Office, that’s all that was coming from his mouth.

“My lawyer is going to have a field day with you all. I’ve done nothing wrong except protect myself from you lunatics. What did you expect? You show up in an unmarked police vehicle. Neither of you are in uniform. You flash some bogus badge. You could have been making it all up.”

“Aye, you must think we’re fools,” McKenzie said.

“Setting a vicious dog on a law enforcement officer. My partner is having his arm sewn back together as we speak. If he doesn’t pull through, you might as well slap on some lipstick and prepare to sing for your supper as you are going to be getting really friendly with your cellmate.

You are in a whole world of trouble, lad. ”

Noah shook his head. He was standing outside the interview room, peering through a one-way window as McKenzie delivered his good cop, bad cop act.

To be fair, he was pretty good at it, switching from hard-nosed to — we’re here to help you routine.

The strange part was someone else was meant to be performing one of the roles.

No, McKenzie figured he could handle both.

“He called you partner?” Callie asked, her eyebrow shooting up. “That’s new.”

“His words, not mine.”

“So will you pull through?” she said, her lip curling up.

Noah shook his head. “He loves to exaggerate.”

“How is it?” she asked, glancing at Noah’s bandaged arm.

He felt a surge of pain go from his forearm up to his neck.

Adrenaline had been pumping through his body so hard that he didn’t realize the dog had punctured his jacket and torn into his arm.

It was only when he felt blood trickle off the tips of his fingers did he assess the damage.

Fortunately, the leather had taken the brunt of it and the wounds were shallow.

Still, the pain was hard to ignore. He’d have to swing by the hospital on the way back home that evening to get a tetanus shot.

The last thing he wanted was to have bacteria enter his body.

For now, he’d tossed back some Advil and bandaged it up.

“Oh, it’s just dandy,” he muttered, turning his arm and wincing. “Well, we should get in there and bring some order to this before Angus starts delivering his William Wallace speech.”

“Well, here you go,” Callie said, handing him a folder with new information she’d uncovered. The two of them entered the interview room. Nate Sawyer was on one side of the table, while McKenzie was inched up close to him.

As soon as the door opened, McKenzie glanced at Noah.

“Ah, look at that, Lazarus rose from the dead. Seems it’s your lucky day, laddy.

” He patted Sawyer on the arm as he turned toward Noah and Callie.

Callie leaned against the wall, there to observe while Noah took a seat.

He slapped the folder down in front of him.

Sawyer leaned forward, appearing all contrite. “Listen, I’m sorry about your arm. Like I told your partner. I didn’t know you were cops. Had I known, I wouldn’t have fled.”

“Right, because you thought we were out to get you for…?”

“Anything.”

“Because that’s your usual response when people show up to speak to you.”

Sawyer scowled. “Why do you think I’m operating out of a warehouse with steel fencing and a guard dog?

You have to understand, in my line of work where I’m looking to expose secrets and lies, I have all manner of people gunning to take me down.

You aren’t going to charge me for what happened today, are you? ”

“Well, that depends on your answers.” Noah flipped open the folder.

“Nate Sawyer, thirty-eight years of age. Not married, no kids, resident of High Peaks, formerly of Saranac Lake and before that you were based out of Syracuse. Freelance journalist. Previously worked for the Adirondack Daily Enterprise until you were fired for sexual harassment.”

“That’s bullshit. In fact, I’m taking them to court for unfairly dismissing me. My lawyer thinks we have a good case. A real slam-dunk.”

“Sure you do. That was two years ago.”

“Takes time to get the wheels in motion. You all should know that.” His gaze bounced between them.

Noah continued reading. “So, you’re willing to chat with us without your attorney present, is that right?”

“That depends on your questions today,” he said in a cheeky manner as if mirroring Noah’s previous response. Noah could tell he was going to be a handful.

“Well, as Detective McKenzie said. You’ve been read your rights. If you wish to have an attorney present, you should tell us now.”

“And if do?”

“Then this conversation is over.”

He eyeballed the others in the room and shrugged. “Like I said, I have nothing to hide. Shoot.”

Noah nodded. “Okay then. Where were you last night?”

“Why?”

“Answer the question.”

“Balls deep in my secretary.”

McKenzie took a step forward. “Aye, that would imply you have balls.”

Sawyer cowered back in his seat as if McKenzie was going to strike him. “I was piecing together information that would help my case against the newspaper.”

“From what time until?”

“Um. I picked up a chicken burger and fries at roughly five from a local restaurant and headed back to the warehouse and worked until roughly eleven that evening.”

“And yet your lawyer said you had a slam-dunk case against them. Sounds as if they had all the information they needed already.”

“I was working other angles.”

“Can anyone else verify this?”

“For sure.”

“We’ll need names,” McKenzie said. “And numbers.”

Sawyer nodded as he fidgeted in his seat, looking even more nervous than before.

Noah thumbed his way through the material Callie had gathered.

She had done her due diligence. He took out a piece of paper from the folder that had a colored snapshot of an SUV grabbed from online, one that fit the profile of the vehicle seen that night.

“You own an all-wheel-drive blue Kia Sportage, don’t you? ”

“Well —”

Noah continued. “You purchased it at a dealership in Saranac Lake last year for twenty thousand dollars, paid with a certified check from Wells Fargo.” Noah took back the piece of paper that had a copy of the check. “The limited-edition model, right?”

Sawyer leaned back in his seat, regarding them with a smirk. “Hold on a second. You put me through hell this morning and dragged me in here because of my vehicle?”

“Answer the question,” McKenzie said in a firm tone.

Sawyer chuckled. “For a second there I thought you had something serious on me.” He breathed out a sigh of relief. “So did you find it?”

Noah stared back at him.

“Well, I reported it stolen to the High Peaks Police Department last night. Please tell me it hasn’t been wrecked?”

Noah glanced at McKenzie.

“Convenient,” McKenzie muttered.

Sawyer scowled at him but continued. “You want to tell me what this is all about?”

“A vehicle matching the description of yours was seen multiple times at a murder site last night.”

“A murder?”

“Laura Summers. You know her?” Noah asked.

He sat there for a second, studying Noah. “Sure, I know her. I mean not well but I’ve met and talked to her.”

“When was the last time?”

“Maybe a month ago.”

“What was it in regards to?”

“A journalistic investigation of the Academy. Katherine Evans reached out to me after reading an article related to my dismissal from the newspaper. She figured we had something in common. We met. Talked. I said I would consider it and after some serious thought, I decided I might be of service. There’s nothing worse than seeing good people get unfairly released from a job because the powers that be want to cover their ass. ”

“Aye, you’d know all about that,” McKenzie said.

“Screw you. You asked. I’m telling you what I know.”

“So why did Katherine have your phone number on file at the shelter from a year ago?” Noah asked. Sawyer got this confused look. So far, the media hadn’t run any story about the identity of the woman pulled from the lake but it was clear that the cogs of Sawyer’s mind began to form a picture.

“We were friends.”

“How friendly?”

“Look, what is this about?”

They just looked at him and then the penny must have dropped. Sawyer’s jaw widened. “Oh, my God. He really did it.”

“Did what? Who?”

“Katherine was the woman pulled from the lake, wasn’t she?

” He hung his head and shook it slowly. “She said that if anything happened to her, that it would be her husband, Nicholas. The two of them weren’t getting along well.

” He sighed. “Look, all I know is that she had to step down from her job. Well, was forced to step down or suffer humiliation and potential career ruin. Nicholas didn’t like that.

He didn’t believe her story and that’s why she wanted me to look into it, to clear her name. ”

“Concerning what?”

“The reason why she was forced to step down.”

“Which was??”

“The Academy was trying to say that she was sexually involved with the teens she was counseling. You know, taking the angle that has been seen with other female teachers across this country. Now sure, there have been some that have overstepped the line but not Katherine. I never got that impression. No, there was something more to this. That’s why she hired me.

To help. To dig. To uncover the truth.” He shook his head and offered back a genuine look of surprise.

“And now Laura? And my vehicle? Oh, yes, I can see how this is trying to be spun.”

Noah thought back to what Nicholas Evans had said when asked why the parents of students hadn’t filed a complaint with the local PD. “High Peaks Academy is a prestigious school. They wouldn’t want that kind of heat. No. She was told to step down to avoid bringing the school’s name into disrepute.”

Could they have covered it up?

“Would you know who might have wanted to steal your vehicle?”