We got into Jake’s car; he’d insisted on driving and I hadn’t argued. We detoured down Skyview Drive so he could get a look at the Verriker property. The VFD fire truck was gone, but the place wasn’t deserted; an SUV with a caved-in side door was parked at the edge of the driveway, and a man and woman were poking around near the entrance to the barn. They stopped and stood staring as we drove by. Morbid curiosity seekers or scavengers.
Runyon said, “Must’ve been a pretty hot fire.”
“It was. Big bang, too.”
“Figures to be gas, then. Stove, furnace, water heater.”
“My guess, too.”
We went on a ways until Runyon found a place to turn around. When we came back past the Verriker property, the man and woman were still standing in the same motionless postures like a couple of scarecrows in a burned-out cornfield.
Halfway up the hill beyond, my cell phone went off. I grabbed it quick, but the call wasn’t news about Kerry. Tamara.
“Any word yet?” she asked.
“No. Nothing.”
“Damn! Jake make it there okay?”
“With me now.”
“How about you? You doing all right?”
“Hanging in.”
She’d been pretty upset when I talked to her last night. Still was, but trying to mask it by using her brisk professional voice. “I e-mailed the info you asked for to Jake,” she said. “Twelve names, but only two with histories of violence against women. Nastiest dude lives in Green Valley, the other one in a hamlet called Rock Creek about twenty miles east. Thought you’d want the particulars on those two right away.”
“Start with the one here.”
“Donald Fechaya. F-e-c-h-a-y-a. Address: Sixteen hundred Old Mountain Road, Six Pines. Arrested twice for forcible rape, first time in Reno twelve years ago, second time in Auburn eleven years ago. Convicted on the second offense, served four and a half years in Folsom. Suspect in one other rape case, but no charges filed. One arrest after his release from Folsom, on suspicion of aggravated assault, charges dropped for lack of evidence.”
I repeated the Six Pines address to myself twice to fix it in my memory. “The one in Rock Creek?”
“Jason Hooper. Owns the Roadside Garage and Towing Service there. Arrested and convicted of rape and attempted murder in Sonora ten years ago, paroled after serving six years in San Quentin. Nothing since except for one reckless driving violation.”
“No possibles in the other ten?”
“Didn’t look like it to me. Seven registered child molesters, their own kids or the children of family members in all but one case. Two with priors for statutory rape, one for weenie-wagging in public, the other for soliciting a minor for sex in a park restroom. None live in Green Valley.”
“Missing persons cases involving women?”
“Several, but mostly teenage runaways. No woman over the age of forty in the past six years.”
Which meant nothing one way or the other. “What about unsolved rapes and abductions?”
“Not much there, either,” Tamara said. “Two unsolved rapes in the county, the most recent eight years ago, neither one in Green Valley. The only reported abduction still open is a child custody case-father snatched his son from his ex-wife and disappeared.”
Another statistic that didn’t have to mean anything. Most rapes go unreported even in this supposedly enlightened age. I said, “Okay. One more thing you can check on. An apparently accidental explosion up here the evening Kerry disappeared, destroyed the home of a couple named Verriker. I’m not sure of the spelling. See what you can find out about them.”
“You think there might be some connection?”
“Too soon to tell. Covering the bases.”
“Get back to you right away if there’s anything you should know.”
After we rang off, I conveyed the gist of the conversation to Runyon. He said, “I wonder if the deputy knows anything about this Fechaya?”
“One more thing to talk to him about.”
We drove on into Six Pines. Broxmeyer was at the substation when we entered, talking on the phone in his cubicle. He frowned when he saw us through the glass, gestured for us to wait until he finished his conversation, and then took his time doing it. When he finally came out, he looked tired and harried. And none too happy to see me again so soon. He tried to cover it with a pasted-on half smile, but the first words out of his mouth were underscored with irritation.
“No need for you to come by. You’d’ve been informed right away if there were any developments.”
“Some things we wanted to talk to you about.” I introduced him to Runyon, watched him struggle not to lose the half smile as they shook hands.
“Another city private detective won’t be of much help, I’m afraid.”
That didn’t sit well with either of us. Runyon said, “You’d be surprised how many missing persons we’ve found, some in more remote places than this.”
“I’m sure you’re a competent investigator, but in a case like this-”
I cut that off by saying, “Mr. Runyon’s here at my request. You mind if we continue this in your office?”
He minded, but he didn’t refuse. “It’ll have to be quick. I’m busy as the devil right now… search for your wife, people pouring into town for the Fourth, a dozen other things.” He opened the gate for us, led us into the cubicle, shut the door. But he didn’t invite us to sit down or sit down himself.
I said, “Do you know a local resident named Fechaya, Donald Fechaya?”
“Fechaya? Why?”
“You do know him?”
“I know who he is, yes.”
“Do you also know he’s a convicted rapist?”
“What does that have to do with- Oh, I get it. That’s why you brought your man here up from ’Frisco. You still haven’t let go of the abduction idea.”
“No, I haven’t. You told me none of the registered sex offenders in this area had histories of violence against women. What about Fechaya?”
“I didn’t see any reason to mention him.”
“Why not? You already talk to him, find out where he was Monday afternoon?”
“I don’t have to talk to him. He had nothing to do with your wife’s disappearance.”
“How do you know he didn’t? He a friend of yours?”
“Hardly.”
“Then how do you know?”
“Because he’s not capable of committing another rape.”
“Why isn’t he?”
“Well, for one thing, he’s a born-again Christian.”
“So? Doesn’t mean he’s lost his violent urges against women. Not even castration can do that.”
“All right, that’s enough,” Broxmeyer said. “I know you’re upset, but I don’t appreciate having my word or my authority questioned. Fechaya is not guilty of anything except being an ex-felon, and you’re not going to find your wife by hassling him or anybody else in Six Pines. Now if we’re done here, I need to be on my way.”
I wanted to hit him. Stupid impulse, but powerful enough to put heat in my face and make me clench my fists.
Runyon said quickly, “We’re trying to be thorough, that’s all. Covering every possibility. You’re a law officer, you understand how that is.”
“Not when it amounts to interference in the performance of my duty.”
Interference. Duty. Christ!
“We have no intention of stepping on your toes,” Jake said. “But we have the right to investigate alternative possibilites as long as we stay within the boundaries of the law. That’s right, isn’t it?”
Broxmeyer admitted it, but not without hesitation or reluctance.
