“Uh, because he’s the police chief in town … Not to mention I gave him my word I wouldn’t go around his back. I’m supposed to be keeping you out of this, Dani. Not getting you further in.”
“But Wade already has this information,” Dani said. “And if he doesn’t, he’s even more lame than I thought. He picked up a copy of that tape the day after it happened. The ten-thousand-dollar question is why …? If he thought this whole thing was just a stupid accident like he’s been saying. So why hasn’t he gone back up there to run this guy’s name by Allie, and see if it means anything to her? Or find out who he is.”
“I don’t know.”
“Truth is, Uncle Ty, he hasn’t gotten off his ass, except to take the parks inspector out to lunch, or go to Aspen and stand behind Sheriff Warrick and try and act smart while they’re looking at that balloon.”
Hauck dipped a bite of venison into a chipotle tomato sauce. “I sure hope when I leave you have nicer things to say about your godfather than you do your stepfather.”
“Uncle Ty …” Dani looked at him. “Besides, I don’t really even know you yet.” She gave him a crooked smile behind a bite of salmon.
“Gee, thanks.” They continued eating for a while. Hauck asked her, “So what are you thinking the right thing is to do?”
“I’m thinking the right thing would be to drive up there to Greeley, or wherever Trey is from—I think the town’s actually called Templeton, just outside of it. It’s up on the plains north of Denver.”
“And then do what?”
“And then see if this person Adrian has any connection to Trey. This is possibly a murderer, Uncle Ty. And like you said, look at what they did to try and cover it up. It might all be part of something much larger.”
“Sorry.” Hauck put a piece of venison in his mouth. “No way.”
“No way …?”
“I’m not on board with that, Dani. Anyway, I gave my word. Not just to the chief, but to your father, too. Your stepfather and your father. Besides, if I land you back in hot water,” he said with a grin, “I’ll be out of a job.”
“Some job … You know, don’t you, if we don’t do that, it’ll just get buried? That’s why Wade kept me in jail. Not to teach me a lesson. To shut me up. The minute I said I would take it to Sheriff Warrick or to the newspaper, he got all crazy. I know the guy. He’s sitting on something, Uncle Ty. You want to tell me what or why?”
Hauck couldn’t, of course. Only that while he sat there for a while, chewing on his venison and polishing off a second beer, he knew in his heart that what she said was right. About what to do next. And right about one other thing at least. Why would Wade even go to the trouble of requisitioning that security footage, if all along he was certain that what happened was just an accident?
“What are you thinking about?” Dani stared at him.
“Nothing. A good night’s sleep. I was up at five A.M., and I’m still on Caribbean time.”
“That’s all? You’re sure?” Dani cocked her head. “All right, since you’re taking me to dinner I won’t tell anyone that the famous Ty Hauck can’t handle a little jet lag.”
“I can handle jet lag. What I’m having a hard time handling is you!” He took a last swig of his beer and signaled for the check. “Catch me tomorrow. I think better in the morning. And thanks for the trip down the river. That was really fun.”
She dropped him off back at his motel room. It was 9:30 P.M. The sun had set, leaving a dark purple haze over the hills. He stripped off his clothes and washed up. His lids were sagging. It had been one long day. He sank into the bed and turned on the television. He found a local baseball game, the Rockies against the Giants, and watched for a while. He knew he wouldn’t need an alarm in the morning.
His mind drifted back to what Dani had said: Why would Wade go and ask for the tapes? He might have been just doing his job, crossing off the possibilities, going through every possible angle. What any good cop would do. He probably had everything Dani was saying on a list: the spot on the river where Trey died, the helmet, this Rooster character calling her up—and where the hell did they get these nicknames out here, anyway?—in spite of what he was divulging.
It’s all what he would do himself, Hauck knew.
But Wade was certainly right on one thing, though … Dani was a handful. When she gets her mind on something … He could certainly see traces of Judy in her. The way she seemed to single-mindedly get onto things and not let go. He remembered a particular incident back in college. Judy was petitioning the school about some company she said had been dumping waste into the nearby Androscoggin River. The owner was now looking to build a new hockey arena at Bates with their company name on it. Judy got half the student body to sign a petition against it, and a good slag of alumni, too. Hauck recalled how the administration tried to tamp down her protest. They contacted her parents. Threatened to throw her out of school. She responded by organizing a rally directly in front of the president’s office.
Eventually the college agreed not to name it after him.
Judy won.
A handful. Hauck smiled. Chip off the old block
The game receded into background noise and Hauck felt himself drifting off to sleep. The name kept popping back into his mind. Adrian.
Someone would have had to have gone to a shitload of trouble to kill that kid as Dani said, then cover it all up … Shoot down that balloon, Hauck thought, dragging himself back from the edge of sleep. And why did Wade sit on that tape? If he knew the same thing they did. What if he was, as Dani suspected, sweeping something under the rug?
He rolled over and took his phone off the bed table. Eyes heavy, he texted another message to Brooke. Knowing it was after midnight back east and she was likely asleep.
“Me again. When you get in I want to know whatever you can find on that car owner. Colin Jerrod Adrian. Greeley, Colorado.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR