“I suppose so. Tyler must have been trying to get something else besides Clarissa to hold over Thorne as extra insurance. That’s why he has all these photos and records.”
Jo’s mind drifted to the photo of the beech trees. It was probably just a coincidence. Maybe the branches weren’t cut the same way. She’d have to compare them to the photos she had in the bottom drawer of her armoire later. But even if they were, she had no way to figure out where the area was … unless Forest Duncan remembered. She took a deep breath and pushed the thoughts to the back of her mind. She had put her sister’s case away for good, and what they were working on now was more important. It deserved her full attention.
“But why didn’t Tyler tell us?” Jo asked.
“How could he? Blackmailing the resident drug lord isn’t exactly something you tell your fellow cops,” Sam said. “You know how important his family was to him. His sister always came first. And even though he wouldn’t have wanted to go behind our backs like this, he did it for her.”
It was true. Tyler had thought the world of his sister. Jo probably would have thought the world of hers.
“And I don’t think he ever would have told us, because he wouldn’t want Thorne to be put away,” Sam said. “If Thorne went to jail, the blackmail money would dry up.”
“But what about all these photos and notes? It looks like he was gathering evidence.”
“I think he needed to get as much as he could on Thorne to keep blackmailing him in case the threat of telling his wife wasn’t viable anymore.” Sam picked up the photo of Forest. “And these photos served another purpose. They protect Forest Duncan. Tyler must have had Forest informing on him. That’s what all the calls about Forest being let go were about. He had to make it look like he was arresting Forest so Thorne wouldn’t think they were working together. He probably had Forest doing odd jobs for Thorne, maybe even dealing drugs, but these photos prove that Forest was working with Tyler.” Sam looked at Jo. “Tyler did this to protect Forest.”
Jo had mixed feelings. She could understand why Tyler had done what he’d done, but she wasn’t sure she could justify him letting Thorne continue his dirty business.
“That would be just like Tyler to make sure Forest didn’t get caught up in this whole thing.” Jo looked down at the photo then back up at Sam. “But if Forest Duncan isn’t the distributor or the one who killed Dupont, who is?”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Sam and Jo stopped at Jo’s long enough to drop off the box and for Jo to put out more food for the orange cat, which was waiting on her porch again. Lucy didn’t seem keen on the cat’s presence, so they left her in the Tahoe.
There was no benefit in telling anyone else about the box. None of the photos showed Thorne in a compromising position, and they already knew Scott Elliott was involved. Having to explain how they’d had possession of the key and knew Tyler had hidden a box would be problematic. Besides, now that they’d discovered Tyler wasn’t working with Thorne, they were reluctant to blame him. Who could fault him for taking care of his sister?
It was late afternoon by the time they got back to the station. Bev, Wyatt, and Kevin were all there. Sam had barely had time to process the ramifications of what they’d found in Tyler’s box. All this time, Tyler had been gathering his own evidence against Thorne. They were enemies, not allies. It was doubtful he’d been tipping Thorne off to their stakeouts. But then how had Thorne always known what they were up to? Was there someone else in the department that had been ratting them out?
Bev looked at Sam, suspicion flickering in her eyes. “Where have you been?”
“Following a lead that had to do with Tyler’s stolen car.”
“Connected to this case?” Bev’s eyes flicked from Sam to Jo. “Did it pan out?”
“Unfortunately, no,” Sam said. “What about you?”
“I didn’t find anything suspicious in Forest Duncan’s finances.” Bev seemed a bit less friendly, uneasy. Was it because Forest Duncan was turning into a dead end, or had she discovered something else?
Sam glanced at Jo. Now that they knew Forest Duncan probably wasn’t working with Thorne, he realized it had been a mistake to build him up as their prime suspect. They needed to figure out another angle and get Bev off Duncan’s trail fast. Who knew what she would turn up about him and Tyler?
“I’m not surprised you didn’t find anything,” Wyatt said. “I checked out Duncan’s alibi. He was at home, playing video games, when Dupont was murdered, just like he said.”
“Really? Is that irrefutable?” Bev asked.
“He plays a group game. You know, the kind where you can play with other people online. A server keeps track of when they’re on. According to his server, he played for four hours that night. He couldn’t have killed Dupont.”
Kevin frowned. “Couldn’t that be faked? He could have had a friend play for him.”
“He could have, I suppose,” Wyatt said.
Sam seized the opportunity. “We haven’t found anything else linking him. Maybe Duncan isn’t our guy.”
“Sure, maybe. But who else do we have to go with?” Bev asked.
“Maybe we should be looking a little closer to home.” Holden Joyce came around the post office boxes, his fist clenched around some papers. Sam wished he’d stopped to take an aspirin. Holden Joyce was the last thing he needed right now.
Joyce folded his arms over his chest, the papers crinkling as he stared at Sam. “Let me guess: your lead didn’t pan out.”
“No.”
“I’m not surprised. I think maybe there’s more to this than you’re telling us. I dug up a witness who says he saw Officer Harris at the mill long before your official report states.”
“Of course I was there,” Jo said. “We needed to go there beforehand to make sure we weren’t being set up.”
“Well, your report doesn’t state that.”
“An oversight,” Jo said. “We were treating it very carefully in case things didn’t pan out. We didn’t want Thorne to find out the mayor had ratted him out. Could be dangerous for him.”
“Yeah, turns out it was dangerous for him anyway,” Holden snarled.
“This might be my fault,” Kevin volunteered. “I talked to the neighbor who saw Jo, but I didn’t report it. I just figured it had already made its way into the report. Sorry.”
Sam studied Kevin. Was he telling the truth? If so, why didn’t he mention it before? Either way, one thing was clear: Kevin was covering for them.
“Just what are you getting at, Joyce?” Bev demanded.
“A lot of things don’t add up about this case,” Holden said. “Reports that aren’t filled out correctly. Sam’s buddy happening to have an SUV exactly like the one a witness saw speeding away from the murder site. Oh, and the handwriting expert says Tyler Richardson didn’t write that last entry in his log.” Holden stepped closer to Sam. “So tell me, Chief Mason, what exactly are you up to?”
Sam’s fist tightened, and he stepped away from Holden, mentally counting to three before he answered.
“He’s not up to anything,” Jo said before Sam reached two. “You know as well as we all do that reports don’t always get filled out correctly. Sometimes we have to fill in logbooks for each other.”
“Yes, but not after one of us is dead.” Holden Joyce turned to Sam. “If you confess now, we can cut you a deal. Tell us everything—what you’ve been up to and why you’ve been fixing these cases.”
“I haven’t been up to anything, Agent Joyce.”
“Really? There’re a lot of inconsistencies, not to mention the little matter of some extra money that showed up in Tyler Richardson’s account.”
Sam pressed his lips together. When he had thought that Tyler was working with Thorne, he was willing to let the chips fall as they might. Tyler had made a deal with the enemy, and if his reputation was tarnished because of it, then so be it. Now that he knew the extra money was to pay for Clarissa’s treatments, he wanted to defend Tyler. But how?