“That’s what those texts look like. He said to you, quote: ‘If we don't start getting gold in the box I'm bouncing. Fuck him’.”
“Yeah, I guess that’s right. So…what?”
“I’m just trying to establish the relationship between Mr. McBeth and Mr. Oakley,” Wolf said. “Would you say it was antagonistic?”
“Relationships with Chris Oakley were always antagonistic.” Koling smiled, looking proud of his deceased friend.
“Except for with you,” Wolf said.
“That’s right. We never fought.”
“Never?”
“Not once. Well, not since kindergarten, when I whooped his ass.” Koling smiled again, but this time a tear fell down his cheek. He wiped it quick, then closed his eyes and let a stream flow down his face.
Rachette ducked out of the room and returned with a box of tissues.
When Koling blew his nose, it sounded like a bear caught in a trap. They waited in silence until the wave of emotion passed.
“Ah. Sorry,” Koling said, twirling his finger for them to continue.
“It’s no problem,” Wolf said. “When your best friend was not coming out of his trailer for the next couple of days after that night shift Friday night, were you concerned?"
Koling nodded. "I was. I mean, not on Saturday, whoever has the Friday overnight always sleeps the whole next day. But when he didn’t come out Sunday, I texted him to see what was going on. When he didn’t answer I was like, what the hell? I went into his trailer to check on him, saw he wasn’t there.”
“You actually went inside the trailer?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, so he wasn’t there,” Wolf said. “And then what?”
“I was confused. His truck was there. At that point I assumed he must have been with Mary Ellen. I figured she came in and got him while we were in town earlier. You know. They were making up.”
“When did you go into town?” Wolf asked.
“Sunday, lunch time. McBeth wanted to hire on Lizotte so we went to The Picker to have lunch. When I came back that’s when I went to Chris’s trailer. I wanted to talk to him about what McBeth was doing, you know. That he was serious. And he was pushing Oakley out.”
“And then Monday comes around,” Wolf said.
“Yeah, Monday morning I was wondering what the hell was going on. I was very concerned at that point. So, I called Mary Ellen and she told me she hadn’t seen him at all over the weekend, not since Friday. As soon as I hung up with her I called you guys right away.”
“Did you have any inkling of what might have happened to him?” Wolf asked.
“That he’d been shot in the head?”
“Yes.”
“No. Not at all.”
“Do you know of anyone who might have wanted to hurt him?”
Koling crossed a leg, his bass boat of a foot bouncing on his knee. “I don’t know, I mean, maybe Rick Hammes? The guy was screwing his girl. The guy shot up a truckload of teenagers a couple years ago. Seems like an Rick Hammes type of thing to me, doesn’t it?”
“Did you hear anything out of the ordinary Friday night? Like a gunshot?”
“No.”
“Tell us about this silenced weapon of Chris’s,” Wolf said.
“It’s a G21 with a solvent trap converted into a suppressor. Tough to buy a silencer, so Chris made his own.”
“Where does Chris keep this silenced Glock 21?” Rachette asked.
“In his drawer with his other one. Top drawer of his dresser.” Koling answered without hesitation. After a few seconds he narrowed his eyes. “We all knew that. We all know where we keep each other’s guns.”
“We didn’t find the silenced gun there,” Rachette said. “We found another Glock 21 without a silencer.”
“Yeah. He has another one.”
“Are you sure that’s where he keeps the silenced weapon, too?”
“Yeah. I’m sure. Like I said, we all know.”
“You guys talk about that, huh?” Rachette asked.
Koling’s foot dropped off his knee. “What the hell is this? Are you saying I have something to …” He moved his mouth around, sucking in a hissing breath through his nose, like rage was a thrashing monster trying to escape through his lips. “Are you saying I did this?”
“No, we’re not,” Wolf said. “We’re just saying it stands to reason that somebody got hold of that silenced gun and shot him.”
“And we can’t find that gun,” Rachette said.
Koling stared through the room.
“Would Rick Hammes have known where to get that gun?” Wolf asked. “He doesn’t live there with you guys. Isn’t as familiar with your weapons or where they’re kept. Or is he?”
Koling’s eyes remained fixed for a few seconds more, then he stood up. “I’m not answering anymore of your questions without a lawyer.”
He walked to the door and jiggled the handle.
Yates was ready this time and twisted the knob from the other side. Before the door was open Koling pushed his way out, then left through the observation room out into the hall.
Rachette swiveled in his chair. “Well? What’s next?”
“Now we need to talk to Rick Hammes and Mary Ellen Dimitri,” Wolf said.
“So, up to Dredge?” Rachette asked.
“Yeah.”
“I spoke to Deputy Cain.” Yates eyed his watch. “She should be calling me any time now with their status.”
“How about Oakley’s family?” Wolf asked Rachette.
Rachette shrugged. “I called the number for Pa we found in his phone. It’s definitely his father, according to my records search. But I can’t get hold of him. The voicemail said his mailbox is full. I’ve got the Teton County SD helping out. They’re supposed to call me with news.”
Wolf nodded. “I need to make a call to the sheriff up there also.”
“And then what?” Rachette asked.
“And then we have a long drive ahead of us,” Wolf said, walking out the door and down the hall. “It’s time to head up to Dredge.”
Chapter 10
Deputy Piper Cain drove the Jeep Grand Cherokee away from her father’s house, out of the forest and into the wide-open valley floor towards Dredge, which sat a few miles away. From here the view of the landscape was even more spectacular than up at her father's house. The three walls of
