“Let’s just say I’ve seen the gates to their compound, and I know that a couple of years back they dropped a cool seventy-five thousand bucks to keep their fair-haired boy from facing arson charges.”
“Yes,” Ross said, “they certainly did. Ronald Miller, Senior, is a trial lawyer who specializes in beating up pharmaceutical companies for fun and profit. Mrs. Miller has recently decamped for what she hopes are greener pastures. I have a feeling Mr. Miller is going to take a dim view of having his son booked into a jail of any kind. By the time that happens, Daddy Miller will have one of his legal-beagle pals standing by to bail him out. If we’re hoping to search Ron’s room for additional evidence of any wrongdoing, we’re going to need to have a very solid basis of probable cause, more than just a few scratches on his arms.”
“We’ve got something more,” I said. “While Ron was trying to outrun Mel, I saw him throw something up into the governor’s laurel hedge. I just dragged it down from there. I’m pretty sure it’s Rachel Camber’s elephant-hair bracelet.”
“Rachel Camber,” Ross said. “Of course, the dead girl from Packwood.”
“Yes, I believe Ron was trying to smuggle the bracelet out of the governor’s mansion just as we got there. Giselle Longmire, the governor’s older daughter, is Ron Junior’s girlfriend. There’s a good chance that whatever Ron is mixed up with, Gizzy is, too.”
“Oh, my,” Ross said, shaking his head sadly. “What the hell’s going on here? These are kids who should be growing up to be pillars of the community. I’m sure that’s what their parents intended, but it sounds like they’ve turned out to be a bunch of delinquents.”
“Thugs is more like it,” I said. “And the worst kind of thugs-spoiled-brat thugs who are accustomed to having power and money and who expect to get their way no matter what.”
“What’s your plan?” Ross asked.
“First we’re going to try talking to Giselle to see if we can get her to tell us what she knows, but I think it’s a good bet that Governor Longmire won’t let us anywhere near her.”
Ross was quiet for a long time. For a moment I thought maybe he had hung up. “I’m not so sure about that,” he said. “You and I know something about this kind of thing, Beau. We’ve both been betrayed by loved ones who made all the wrong choices. The fallout that came later almost destroyed us.
“When it comes to politics, Marsha Longmire and I are miles apart, but she’s been a good governor, and I hate to see her torn apart by what’s about to happen. Before you try to question Giselle, let me talk to Marsha and see what I can do. She may just surprise you. What exactly are we talking about here?”
I ticked off my suspicions one by one. “I believe Gizzy and Ron both played a part in the cyber bullying that went on with Josh Deeson before his suicide, including staging that film clip that we found on Josh’s phone. The presence of Rachel Camber’s bracelet, one her parents told me she wore every day, gives us a possible link between Ron Miller and her murder. Last but not least is the fatal arson fire at Janie’s House this morning. I think one or both of them burned down the building in hopes of frying whatever incriminating evidence was on the computers.”
“Which Todd already has,” Ross said.
“Yes, but Ron couldn’t have known that. If Gizzy and Ron really were together all night-as they told her parents they were-then Gizzy was directly involved in the arson. If they weren’t together, and she’s providing an alibi for him, she’s still rendering criminal assistance.”
“Okay,” Ross said. “Give me a couple of minutes. I’ll get back to you.”
I closed my phone and turned to Mel. I had heard her phone ring while Ross and I were talking.
“Thanks for letting me know,” she said as she ended her call.
“For letting you know what?”
“That was Captain Hoyt,” Mel said. “Sam Dysart didn’t make it. He suffered another stroke in the ambulance on the way to the hospital, so he’s out of the picture as far as any information or criminal charges are concerned. But WSP investigators managed to track down the serial number on the watch. Sam Dysart bought that replacement watch just last week, the one Josh was wearing when he died. The one Gerry Willis gave Josh was engraved with Josh’s initials. The one found on Josh’s body had no engraving. Dysart also paid for the watch to be gift wrapped. With any kind of luck, we will find some of the gift wrapping in the trash at Dysart’s house.”
“But why did he do it?” I asked. “Was the watch a thoughtful gift, a bribe, or what?”
“Since they’re both dead, we’ll probably never know,” Mel said. “But as of right now, you and I are off the Dysart case. The Olympia PD Sex Crimes unit is on it. They’ll search Dysart’s house. They’ll also interview the other kids in the chess club, past and present. Joan believes there’s a good chance Sam Dysart used his position of authority to victimize more than just one kid.”
“Me, too,” I said grimly. “If that’s the case, the school district is going to be liable big-time. But none of this is going to help Gerry Willis. His grandson is dead, and he isn’t coming back. One way or another, Sam Dysart’s relationship with Josh Deeson contributed to the despair that resulted in his suicide.”
Mel nodded. “I agree, and that’s exactly what I told Joan-that even if we don’t end up having to prove all of this in a court of law, we need to have enough forensic evidence to be able to give Josh’s family rock-solid answers about what really happened to him-with both the cyber bullying and the sexual exploitation. The truth may be uncomfortable, but it seems to me that knowing is better than not knowing.”
My phone rang. It was Ross Connors calling back.
“All right,” he said, “here’s the deal. I’ve spoken to Governor Longmire and laid out the situation. I didn’t make any specific promises about the benefits of Giselle turning state’s evidence, but Marsha’s a smart woman and she gets it. She understands that if Gizzy talks to you before you talk to Ron, her cooperation will be well received. I think she also believes that, given the opportunity, Ron would jump at taking a plea agreement in order to testify against Gizzy. She wants to talk to you first.”
Those elusive pronouns again. “Gizzy wants to talk to us?”
“No, Governor Longmire and Mr. Willis want to talk to you. She says there’s a patio out back by the kitchen at the governor’s mansion. You’re to meet them there.”
“When?”
“Now. As soon as possible.”
Mel and I went straight there. The patio outside the kitchen wasn’t a patio so much as a covered arbor where whatever cook was on duty could step outside for a quick smoke and still be out of the rain. We found the governor and her husband sitting across from each other on the benches of a rough redwood picnic table. There was a large crystal ashtray on the table between them. Marsha was smoking; Gerry was not.
Marsha had been outraged earlier that morning when she had caught me in the act of lifting Josh’s dirty clothes out of the hamper. Then she had been angered to the point of fury. Now she looked haggard and beaten down-defeated rather than angry. Marsha gestured for Mel and me to join them at the table, then she picked up her pack of cigarettes and held them in our direction.
I gave up smoking a long time before I gave up drinking. Cigarettes don’t have much of a hold on me anymore. Mel stopped smoking a relatively short time ago, a matter of months rather than years. When the proffered pack came close to her, I saw Mel stiffen with temptation before she shook her head and murmured, “Thanks, but no thanks.”
In her torn panty hose and dirt-smudged suit, Mel didn’t look like someone ready to have a private audience with a sitting governor, but I don’t believe Marsha paid the slightest bit of attention to anyone’s looks. Her focus was elsewhere.
“Which one of you found the watch?” she asked.
I raised my hand. “I did,” I said.
Marsha shook her head ruefully. “It was smart of Ross to have you check through the trash. I guess we need to be more careful about what we toss in the garbage.”
Since her comment didn’t appear to be a question, I decided that no response was required.
“Show me what you found in the hedge,” Marsha said.
That was an official command, and I complied immediately. I reached into my pocket and pulled out the evidence bag that contained Rachel Camber’s bracelet. I handed it over to Marsha. She studied it briefly, then handed it back to me with an almost imperceptible shrug.
“I saw it earlier,” she admitted. “It was there in Gizzy’s underwear drawer along with the watch. At the time I had no idea what it was and didn’t understand the significance. If I had, I might have tried to get rid of it, too, the same way I tried to get rid of the watch.”
