Cassie could envision Leslie nodding, putting things together. “Which means she could have gone missing long before Pergram encountered the boys. So how does she fit in?”
Cassie said, “Maybe it was just as simple as she saw something or somebody she wasn’t supposed to see. Her home address is right on the bluff overlooking town. No doubt she saw the explosion down at the industrial park.”
Leslie gasped and Cassie understood why. It hit her like a thunderbolt.
“So maybe Amanda saw the man who triggered the explosion from a distance,” Cassie said, sweeping her hand and accidentally hitting her cup of wine. Red wine covered the states of North Dakota and Montana like spilled blood.
*
THEY TALKED FOR ANOTHER HOUR. Leslie tried to punch holes in Cassie’s theory and Cassie tried to thwart them.
“The biggest problem with your narrative,” Leslie said, “is something I unfortunately see all too often with our own officers.”
“What’s that?”
“You want so badly to have your conclusion justified that you blindly use everything you find out to build a road map that will get you there. You want to think Kyle and Raheem are still out there and you blame it on the man you’ve come to hate the most in the world. In your theory the Lizard King is still on the road. Therefore, you plug in every crime and incident that occurred that day to make it all fit together.”
Cassie was taken aback.
Before she could argue back, Leslie said, “If you brought me this theory I’d give it right back to you and tell you to find hard evidence to support it. And you know that.”
Cassie’s shoulders slumped. “You’re right.”
“I am,” Leslie said while she sipped. “But you’ve also got my brain revved up. I think you really might be on to something. I don’t want to discourage you from following it through.”
Cassie poured the last of her wine into the cup. She’d need a new atlas.
“In fact,” Leslie said, “my office is underbudget this fiscal year. I think you should send everything you have—the forensics on the body, the video clip, the missing person’s reports and arson investigation in Sanish—to my office right away. I’ll tell everyone this is high priority and I’ll get my techs working on it. I’ll oversee the investigation and keep in touch with you. Since you don’t have resources of your own you can use ours.
“After all,” she said, “we’re the ones who let that bastard get away.”
“Thank you, Leslie.”
“It’s the least I can do.”
Cassie slumped back in her chair. She was relieved. She stared at a Frederic Remington print of a lone Indian scout leaning tentatively forward on his horse on a snowy bluff to assess a far-off winter camp. It was called The Scout: Friends or Foes?
Cassie said, “If my theory pans out it means Raheem was murdered here in Ekalaka in the most horrible way. It might also mean we’ll find Kyle’s body somewhere else.”
Leslie got quiet.
“Or maybe worse,” Cassie said, “Kyle is still being held by Pergram somewhere. That kid has already gone through hell. I just can’t think about Kyle being around that man. It would be better if he was dead.”
“Don’t say that,” Leslie said. “Kids can be tough, especially Kyle. You told me that yourself.”
“Either way I need to find out what happened. Lottie needs to know. Raheem’s poor dad needs to know. I need to know.”
“Look, I’ll do what I can on my end,” Leslie said. “Tomorrow I’ll call your Sheriff Verplank and get in contact with the Montana DCI and the North Dakota BCI to see if they’ll cooperate on a joint task force investigation. I might even get the FBI involved. But, as you know, these things take time.”
“Too much time,” Cassie said. “And who knows if the BCI will play along. That’s the agency that shut me down.”
“Cassie, please…”
“If Kyle is still alive and the Lizard King is out there I have to keep pushing,” Cassie said. “I can’t wait for a joint task force to get up to speed.”
“Don’t be careless, Cassie,” Leslie cautioned. “I can hear it in your voice. I’m not saying this so I can build a perfect case right now. I’m worried about you.”
“Don’t be.”
Leslie calmed herself down and said, “What you need to do is sit tight and continue to think all this through. You need to find evidence that supports your theory. What you don’t need to do is go lone wolf on me. Don’t think you’re suddenly Cody Hoyt. You know what happened to him.”
Cassie didn’t respond.
“One other thing,” Leslie said. “Nobody knows Ronald Pergram slash Dale Spradley slash the Lizard King better than you do, right?”
“Right.”
“So knowing that, where would he go now that he doesn’t have his truck?”
Cassie sat up. She was pressing her phone to her ear so hard it hurt. “He’s spent his entire life on the road. He’s never really had a home of his own but he’s probably driven a million highway miles across the U.S. He knows every inch of this country and where he could hide out.”
“So where would he go?” Leslie asked.
Where I’m going tomorrow, Cassie thought but didn’t say out loud.
CHAPTER
EIGHTEEN
Location Unknown
EARLY IN THE MORNING, before anyone got up, and sometimes in the middle of the night, Kyle found himself reliving what had happened since he’d encountered Ron. Some things were so vivid in his memory they seemed like they were happening again right in front of him.
Especially that day when they were still hooded and trussed and on the open road.
Especially what happened to Raheem.
*
LATE IN THE EVENING on the day they left the trailer by the river and after two stops—one where Ron bought two dog collars and the second when they stopped so he could fill up the truck with gas—Raheem suddenly said, “Just fuckin’ let us go, man.”
His voice surprised Kyle. Apparently, Raheem had managed to pull the duct tape off his mouth somehow. His friend was still on the floor of the backseat wedged in next to Tiffany.
Ron continued driving and didn’t respond. Kyle was frightened for Raheem but he was proud of him for speaking up.
“I said, pull over and let us go. At least me and Kyle. We didn’t do nothing to you and we won’t tell anybody what happened.”
Ron sighed loudly but didn’t slow down.
“Look, sir,” Raheem said. “Me ’n Kyle were just going on an adventure. No one knows where we are and no one is looking for us yet. You can let us go now before the cops are pulling everybody over to look for us. We’ll grab a ride home and everything will be all cool.”
Kyle admired Raheem’s logic. He heard Tiffany mewl as if to say What about me? But the tape on her mouth was secure.
After a few more miles of driving, Raheem said, “Can you hear me up there, man?”
“I hear you,” Ron said. Kyle coudn’t detect any anger in his voice.
“If you’re thinking someone will pay money to get us back that won’t happen. My dad don’t have any since he got laid off, and Kyle lives with his old granny. Between them they got nothing.”