William Krueger - Copper River

The guard stepped back to the box and lifted the gate.

“What was that all about?” Ned asked.

“Just fishing,” Cork said. “You never know.”

Heading back to the resort, they were quiet. Jewell’s Blazer was parked in front of Thor’s Lodge, and she came out as Hodder pulled up.

“I thought they needed you at the clinic,” Cork said.

“I couldn’t concentrate. They called in someone to cover. What’s going on?”

“Let’s go inside,” Cork said.

She sat stunned, her hand over her mouth as if stifling a scream. Except for “Oh dear God,” she’d said nothing as Cork explained what they’d found.

“Charlie,” she gasped at last. “Was there any sign of Charlie?”

“No.”

“But they still don’t know where Stokely is?”

“That’s right. They’ve issued a BOLO.”

She stared at him without understanding.

“Be on the lookout.”

Ned, who stood awkwardly near the front door, hat in hand, said, “They’ll get him, Jewell. As for Charlie, she’s a smart kid. I’m sure she’s just hunkered down somewhere, waiting this out.”

Jewell eyed him hopefully. “You think so? Where?”

He returned her gaze for a moment, then had to look away.

“If Stokely has her,” Jewell said, “will he hurt her?”

It was the question they’d probably all been asking themselves, but only Jewell had spoken it. She grabbed for her purse and pulled out her cigarettes. “Damn!” She crumpled the empty pack, stood up, and began pacing. “We have to find her.”

“We don’t know where to look, Jewell,” Hodder said gently. “She could be anywhere.”

“The first time she vanished, she was hiding in an old mine she and Ren knew about. But I checked it this morning on the way to Stokely’s cabin,” Dina told them. “She wasn’t there.”

Hodder settled his hat on his head. “Look, I need to get back to my office in case the state investigators want to talk to me. On the way, I’ll swing by Max’s trailer and then I’ll check the old lumberyard next to it. I’ve been thinking it might be a place Charlie would hide. Bunch of abandoned buildings and all.”

Jewell nodded. “You’ll let us know what you find?”

“I will.” He offered a comforting smile before he left.

Jewell stood at the window watching him drive away. “I should have done more,” she said to herself.

“You’ve done everything you could, Jewell,” Cork assured her. “What those men did at the Copper River Club nobody could predict.”

“The signs must have been there. We just didn’t see them. Maybe we didn’t want to see them.”

Cork hobbled to her and put his arm around her. “Ren will be home from school in a little while. You need to get yourself together for him.”

“Do you have tea?” Dina asked.

“In the cupboard to the left of the sink,” Jewell replied.

“Jewell, the police are doing everything they can,” Cork said.

She pressed a hand to her forehead. “There’s got to be something more.”

In a few minutes, the kettle began to whistle. As Dina was pouring boiling water into cups, she said, “We could hit the roads ourselves, see if we spot his vehicle. According to Ned, Stokely drives a Dodge Ram pickup with a camper shell. Any idea what color, Jewell?”

A look of horror slowly twisted Jewell’s face. “Oh God, no.”

“What is it?” Cork said.

“I saw him. I saw him last night. He drove past Ned’s office when we were there with Charlie. Why didn’t I think of it then?”

Dina came quickly from the kitchen. “When we were there with Charlie, you said? So it was before she ran?”

“Yes. Before.”

Dina’s mouth settled into a grim line. “This changes things. We’d better let Ned know.” She pulled out her cell phone. “What’s his number?” Jewell gave it and she punched it in. “Ned? It’s Dina Willner.” She listened a moment. “Okay… Look…” She explained the situation. “I know, I know… Yeah, we’ll be here.” She ended the call.

“So?” Cork said.

“He just checked the trailer. Nothing. He’s going to call the state police out at the Copper River Club and let them know about Stokely’s truck last night, then he’ll check the lumberyard and head back to his office.”

“And we’ll do what?” Jewell asked. “Just sit here doing nothing? I don’t think so.”

“I’m right there with you,” Dina said.

In his chair, Cork shifted his weight to his right butt cheek, hoping to relieve some of the discomfort in his left leg. “And what is it you intend to do exactly? Where do you start?”

“I don’t know,” Jewell shot back.

“All right, here’s something to think about, something that’s been rolling around in my head for a little while,” Cork said. “Hodder-and maybe the investigators, too-believe Stokely’s a likely suspect for the murder of Delmar Bell. I don’t think so.”

Dina crossed a leg over her knee and leaned toward him, looking intrigued. “Why?”

“The timing doesn’t work. Yesterday I heard Olafsson say the TOD-time of death-on Bell was between three-thirty and four. If the gate log is correct, Stokely left the Copper River Club at three-thirty. It’s a good forty-five minutes to Marquette. Unless he flew, Stokely wouldn’t have made it in time to kill Bell.”

“So Calvin didn’t kill Del,” Jewell said. “So what?”

“So who did?” Cork said.

“What does it matter?”

“It matters,” Dina said. Understanding blossomed in her green eyes. “It matters because it means Bell and Stokely weren’t in it alone.”

“There are others?” Jewell looked fearful, momentarily defeated. “God, who?”

“That’s what we have to figure out,” Cork replied. “If Stokely’s disappeared, maybe it’s because somebody’s hiding him.”

“Or he’s hiding from somebody so they won’t take care of him like they took care of Bell,” Dina said.

“Or they’ve already taken care of him like they took care of Bell,” Cork added.

“What about Charlie?” Jewell asked.

“I don’t know,” Cork said. “But if we understand who else is involved, we might stand a better chance of finding her. Let’s backtrack a little. You suspected Stokely and Bell in the first place because of the murder of the runaway girl twenty years ago. You told me Ned described a football celebration of some kind, followed by drinking at a cabin somewhere. The kid who confessed to killing her picked her up on the way home. Maybe Bell and Stokely were with him and had a hand in it. That was your thinking, right?”

“Yes,” Jewell said.

“So far, it seems pretty reasonable, especially in light of everything that’s happened since we started asking questions. But what if there was someone else with them that night?”

“Who?”

“That’s what I’m asking you. Let’s figure a normal car, big, strapping football players. Four, maybe five could have fit in comfortably. Bell, Stokely, Messinger, and one or two more. Who could the extras have been? Start with an assumption that they were football players on the championship team. Add that it’s somebody who still lives in the area. And finally somebody able to come and go at the Copper River Club without raising a lot of suspicion.”

Dina said, “That’s why you asked the guard at the gate about Stokely’s visitors.”

“The state police will get around to asking the same question.”

“He said Stokely didn’t have visitors,” Dina pointed out. Then she looked at Jewell. “Was his brother, Isaac, on the team?”

“No, he graduated several years before. He was long gone to the military by then.”

Cork asked, “Who else is still around who was on the team?”