“Is there anything around here from the bombing in Tennessee? They leave anything lying around?”
“I don’t think so. To hear them tell it, they used everything. Donnie said the explosion looked like a nuclear blast. He said it shook the earth, blew his mind.”
“Will you give us permission to search your property?”
“I reckon, as long as you ain’t gonna charge me with nothing.”
“I already told you I won’t charge you with anything.”
“You might find some meth and some pipes, shit like that. Maybe a little bit of stolen property from houses they broke into.”
“I’ll need you to sign a statement.”
“Fine.”
“Okay, sit tight. I’m going to go outside and make a couple of calls. Looks like we’re going to be up all night.”
CHAPTER 17
Will Grimes walked into the interview room at his headquarters in Elkins and set a piece of paper in front of Sammy Raft. Grimes had slept for only two hours in his car and was exhausted. Grimes had made Raft follow him from Cowen to Elkins, and had then put Raft in an interview room by himself. He’d been stewing for half an hour.
Raft was fidgeting with a Styrofoam coffee cup when Grimes walked in. “I need you to sign this.”
“What is it?” Raft asked.
“It’s a Miranda waiver. It says you’re willing to give up your right to remain silent and talk to me. You need to know that anything you say can be used against you in court later if you wind up getting charged with a crime.”
“Are you planning to charge me with a crime?” Raft said.
“Depends,” Grimes said. “Sign it.”
Raft signed the paper and said, “Depends on what? I didn’t do anything.”
“It depends on whether you lie to me. I don’t think you killed those boys, but I think you know who did.”
“You’re wrong,” Raft said. “I didn’t know him.”
Grimes raised his eyebrows. He knew the story Raft told him wasn’t entirely true. “So you saw him.”
Grimes watched Raft’s shoulders slump. He’d been reluctant to come to Elkins, and now Grimes knew why.
“I don’t want to get involved,” Raft said. “I ain’t got no idea who the man was. I only saw him for a second, didn’t hardly look at him.”
“But you saw him shoot Donnie and Tommy, right?”
“No. I’m telling the truth about that. I went to the bathroom. He was sitting at the bar when I went in the bathroom, and all of a sudden the damn place sounded like a war zone. I was scared outta my mind. There wasn’t no way I was walking back out of that bathroom until I was sure he was gone. Matter of fact, I expected him to come in there and shoot me rather than leave a witness behind.”
“Okay, we’re doing better, Sammy.” Grimes took a sip from his own cup of steaming coffee. He felt tired and lethargic and needed the caffeine to give him a boost. What they said about murder investigations was true: the first forty-eight hours were the most important. He didn’t need to be wasting time. “Now I want you to start from the beginning. Don’t leave anything out. And remember, lying to me will only cause you problems down the road.”
“I saw him twice,” Raft said reluctantly.
“Twice?”
“Yeah. He came in the afternoon and ordered takeout. Then he came back around eight.”
“Did he order anything the second time?”
“Longneck Budweiser.”
“What’d you do with the bottle?”
“I emptied it and threw it away. He didn’t even touch it.”
“He ordered a beer and didn’t touch it?”
“Right.”
“Why would he do that?”
“You’d have to ask him.”
“Did he touch the bar, a glass, a knife, fork, anything?”
“I don’t think so. He was wearing gloves, anyway.”
“What about when he came in the afternoon? Touch anything?”
“Don’t know.”
“Drink anything then?”
“A can of Pepsi, but he took it with him.”
“Did he say anything when he came back later?”
“He told me to go into the bathroom. Said he had a problem with the two boys in the booth, and there was going to be trouble. Said I could go into the bathroom or die with them.”
“You didn’t have a cell? Why didn’t you call the police from the bathroom?”
“You’re kidding, right? We’re talking about Cowen here. Besides, my cell was under the bar. I don’t carry it in my pocket when I’m working.”
“Describe him,” Grimes said.
“I don’t know,” Raft said. “He was normal height and build, I guess. I mean, he wasn’t real tall or real short or real skinny or fat. He was wearing dark clothes and a black toboggan, already told you about the gloves. Didn’t see his hair, but he had a brown beard and was wearing black-rimmed glasses.”
“I learned a couple of things last night that caused me to call the Tennessee Highway Patrol and the Knoxville, Tennessee, Police Department,” Grimes said. He reached into a folder and pulled out two photographs. “One of these is a booking photo from a few years ago, and the other is a much more recent driver’s license photo. I want you take a look and see if this could be the man who was in your bar. His name is Darren Street, and Donnie Frazier and Tommy Beane were suspected of murdering his mother.”
Grimes slid the photos across the table, and Raft stared at them.
“Take your time,” Grimes said.
Raft shook his head. “It isn’t him. I told you, the man had a beard and wore glasses.”
“Imagine this man with a beard and glasses,” Grimes said.
“It’s not him.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yep.”
“You’re absolutely positive.”
“I’m telling you, it isn’t him. You trying to get me to tell you something that isn’t true?”
“I don’t think you’re telling me the truth about much of anything,” Grimes said.
Raft shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t know what you want from me.”
“I want you to tell me that the man in those photographs is the same man that walked into your bar and murdered Frazier and Beane last night.”
“That isn’t gonna happen because it just isn’t so,” Raft said.
“We can protect you, if that’s what you’re worried about,” Grimes said.
“You already threatened to arrest me, and now you’re trying to put words in my mouth. I don’t think I want any protection from you. Are we done? Can I go now?”
“Go on. Get the hell out of here,” Grimes said. “I’m tired, and I don’t have time to fool with the likes of you right now. But don’t think for one second this is over. I’ll be back, and when I come back, I’ll have a warrant for your arrest.”
CHAPTER 18