FOLLOW THE LEADER - Chapter 21

Chapter 21



Some forty minutes later we cruised by the verdant farms and pastures off Highway 101. Up ahead was a roadblock. A sheriff stood by his car. A sawhorse “barrier” stretched across one side of the small country road. To our right, a hundred yards south, was a young Redwood and  a scrub oaks and bushes, all bunched together amidst fields of corn. There were three police black and white prowlers and two unmarked cars randomly parked around the area.
I braked and turned off 101.
“This is the crime scene!” Terry exclaimed.
“Not yet. I need to get past this sheriff first.”
“What does this have to do with the Katherine Rollins case?”
 “They’re connected,” I said. “I’m sure of it.” It was only a hunch on my part.
I parked my old Honda on the side of the road.
“Stay in the car,” I said.
The sheriff came over to meet me. Name of Calder on his badge.
“This is a crime scene,” he said.
“Yes sir, I know that.” I took out my business card.
“We got all the investigators we need here,” he said as he handed back my card. “We even got the goddamn F.B.I over there.”
“Over there” was in or around the redwood. Circling buzzards gave it away.
“Really,” I said. “From the San Francisco office?”
He nodded. “Far as I know.”
“Agent Thornhill and I have worked together,” I said, knowing she was probably running things.
“And?”
“I’m working on a cold case that’s connected to this killing. I need to talk to her.”
I could see he didn’t believe me. He pulled out his fancy walky-talky. According to Colin, the new ones broadcast only police business. Bad guys could not listen in.  (With mine they could.) But I was close enough now to hear the voice on the other end.
“Yeah?”
“Agent Thornhill?” asked the sheriff.
“Yes?” More impatient.
“There’s a guy here who wants to talk to you. His name is Francis Kelly. Over.”
I could hear a sigh on the other end and what sounded like a mumbled curse word.
“Roger that. Put him on. Over.”
Sheriff Calder’s eyes widened.
He handed me his walky-talky.
“Hey, Kelly.”
“Hey, Thornhill.”
“I’m in the middle of an investigation here. I figure that’s why you’re here, right?”
“Right. I’m working on a cold case. The Rollins girl.”
A brief silence.
“Wrong place, wrong time. Sorry.”
“”Okay,” I sighed.
I must have sounded dejected.
“Look, I’m not brushing you off, Kelly. Let me check something…”
I pictured her looking down at her smart phone.
“I’ve got an opening at headquarters day after tomorrow. Two o’clock. My office. Over and out.”
She disconnected.
         I must have looked excited or at least hopeful as I came back to the car.
         “What did he say?” Terry asked.
         “No.”
         He gave me a quizzical look.
        






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