Page 104 of What She Saw

Paxton lifted his cup. “What do you want to know?”

“The blue guitar case,” I said. “You found it in the woods.”

“That’s right.”

“Walk me through it.” I had Taggart’s version.

“After the press conference, the case exploded. Taggart and I knew the clock was ticking louder and louder.”

By then the clock had expired. The women were dead. “Where did you find the case?”

“In the woods. It was lying at the base of a tree, half buried under leaves.”

“And no one had seen it?”

“No one had looked yet. We all kept hoping the girls would be found. But after the press conference, we rallied volunteers and hit the woods hard. The minute I saw it, I knew it was important. I called Taggart over right away. He radioed dispatch and told them to get the county forensic team over.”

“Your prints were found on the guitar case.” I let the statement stand.

The fact had been lost over time. “I picked it up and then I put it back down.”

“No gloves.”

“I wasn’t thinking.”

“Understandable,” I said. “There was a lot going on. When did you learn it was Laurie Carr’s guitar case?”

“Right away. Her name was written on the inside.”

“Brian Fletcher was the last to file a missing person report.” I thought about the wall of photos in Mr. Fletcher’s den. The Fletchers’ lives had been condensed to thin paper images trapped in black wooden frames.

“That’s right.”

“Why do you think Mr. Fletcher was so late calling in Tristan’s report?”

“Tristan’s sister had told her parents that Tristan was staying with a friend. The sister saw the press conference and panicked. She told her parents she’d not heard from Tristan.”

“Do you believe that?”

“Sure, why not?”

“Mr. Fletcher didn’t realize Tristan was missing for nine days?”

“The wife was sick with cancer. Families under stress miss details.”

Mr. Fletcher’s wall of photos suggested he was obsessed with details. “Cassidy Rogers said Colton was dating a dancer.”

“He dated a lot of women in the entertainment field.”

“Tristan Fletcher was a dancer. Ever wonder if the two hooked up before the festival?”

“No way. Tristan was barely eighteen and going to a fancy dance school in the fall. She was too much of a straight arrow to date a guy like that.”

“I keep coming back to the fact that Brian Fletcher was so late contacting the police. Maybe he knew something. Maybe he worried what the cops would discover if he called.”

“We talked to Brian Fletcher for hours. His story never wavered.”

“How do you think Colton got the bodies off the mountain?”