CHAPTER 57
Dan gripped the handle above the door and braced his other hand against the dash. He had his feet planted on the floorboard mat, but it only partially stabilized him as the Suburban bounced onto the county road, back tires fishtailing. Calloway corrected and punched the accelerator. The tires spun before gripping, and the big car lunged forward. Snowflakes assaulted the windshield and limited the reach of the headlights to dim cones that the darkness swallowed just a few feet from the hood. Dan repositioned himself on the bench seat as Calloway swerved to avoid a fallen branch.
“James was distraught,” Calloway said. “We knew House had done it. We weren’t buying his bullshit about a board splintering and cutting his face and arms but we couldn’t prove it. I told James we’d never convict House without somehow tying him to Sarah. I told him that, without a body, without any forensic evidence, House would walk. No one had ever been convicted of first-degree murder without a body. The forensics weren’t good enough back then.”
“And he agreed to provide you with the jewelry and hair?”
“Not initially. Initially he wouldn’t hear of it.”
“What changed his mind?”
Calloway glanced over at him. “George Bovine.”
“Branch!” Dan shoved his feet into the floorboards as Calloway swerved, just missing a large limb. After a moment to catch his breath, Dan said, “You put Bovine up to it, just like you put him up to coming to talk with me.”
“The hell I did. Bovine came to speak to James when the news broke about Sarah’s disappearance. I knew nothing about it. James called and asked me to come to the house. Bovine was already there. Tracy and Abby weren’t home. James shut the doors to his den and Bovine told us what I’m sure he told you. A week later, James called me back to the house and handed me the earrings and the hair in plastic bags. I never considered the possibility that some of the strands might belong to Tracy. As I said, those kinds of things weren’t on our radar as much back then. I put the jewelry and the hair in my desk drawer and thought it through for days before I brought in Vance Clark to discuss it. We both decided the evidence was of no use unless we could somehow get a warrant to search Parker’s property, and the only way to do that was to get a witness to implicate House and put his alibi in question.”
“How’d you convince Hagen to testify? The reward?”
The back end of the SUV slid as Calloway navigated a turn. When he corrected, the car shuddered and the engine revved until the tires regained traction. “Ryan’s father and I went to the academy together. I’d known him since the day he was born. When his father was killed during a routine traffic stop, I started a fund for the family. Ryan would come in and talk to me whenever he drove through Cedar Grove.”
“So he knew about Sarah.”
“Everyone in the state knew about Sarah. During one of our conversations, I told him I needed someone who could say they frequently traveled that road at odd hours of the day and night. He checked his calendar and said he’d made a business trip that day. All I needed him to say was he took the county road and saw House’s truck. I thought that when CSI found the evidence, House would realize he was screwed, tell us where he buried Sarah’s body, and that would be the end of it. He’d take a plea, life without parole, and we’d be done with him. I never envisioned a trial.”
Calloway slowed the car and whipped the steering wheel to the right. The Suburban bounced and bucked as it left the county road and started to ascend the mountain.
“Fresh tire tracks,” Dan said.
“I see ’em.”
“You brought the jewelry and hairs with you when you executed the search warrant?”
Calloway squinted and waited for a gust of wind to pass. “Couldn’t do it with the CSI team present, and I couldn’t make an extra trip out to the property without House getting squirrelly on me. Parker did it.”
“Parker? Why would he set up his own nephew?”
Calloway shook his head. “You still don’t get it, do you, Dan?”