Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 90472 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90472 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 452(@200wpm)___ 362(@250wpm)___ 302(@300wpm)
“What’s troubling you, Dad, I asked as I got his coffee ready.
“A million and one things,” he said, shaking his head. “I’m trying to wrap my head around Pete Carson dealing drugs. I would have never suspected him. I was so new to the police force but not to Willow Lake. I knew marijuana was being sold around town and Sheriff Barrett had arrested a couple of guys for dealing, which was probably why Carson was looking for new guys to peddle his stuff, and who better than the sheriff’s son?” He shook his head. “I was so naïve.”
I placed a mug of hot coffee in front of him. “You may have been a newbie, but the sheriff and the other deputies weren’t. Why didn’t they know? Willow Lake had less than the population now. The police had to have some inkling of what was going on with drugs in the town.”
“Another question I’ve been asking myself. How deep was the coverup? And why didn’t anyone come forward when Rita was killed?”
“I’ve been thinking the same, Dad. What if Pete Carson’s drug problem had nothing to do with his daughter’s death? Amy spoke with Betty Carson, and she said something that got me thinking. She wondered if she ignored the signs of her husband’s drug problem because she didn’t want to lose her comfortable lifestyle. Had there been any talk of the Carson’s’ having any money problems back then?”
“No, just the opposite. Pete was generous with donations to the various little leagues and the schools. His house was paid off and he spoke to me about how important it was for me to set up a college fund for Danny. Unfortunately, there was no way your mom and I could afford to do that at the time. He was a man who always seemed to have it together, congenial, polite, an all-around nice guy just like Sheriff Barrett.”
“What if Pete Carson’s drug dealing was irrelevant to Rita’s murder? What if it had nothing at all to do with it as Pete had begged his wife to believe? What if Sheriff Barrett thought the same? That there was nothing that pointed to drugs and everything that pointed to Travis.”
“But with the discovery of Travis’s body we know it wasn’t him,” my dad argued. “And if we eliminate the drugs and Travis, what’s left?” My dad rubbed his chin, a sure sign of frustration. “A thirty-five-year-old crime is not likely to get solved. DNA was just starting to be recognized back then and Willow Lake certainly didn’t have a budget for such luxury. And it would have done little good anyway since when I recently had the DNA done on Rita’s clothing it pointed to Travis.”
“The murderer could have worn gloves,” I said.
“Most likely,” my dad agreed.
“I can’t see a drug dealer wearing gloves or taking the time to bury Travis and whoever was with him, then leave Rita’s body to be found. Why not leave both their bodies to be discovered? It would have surely frightened the heck out of Pete Carson.”
“My thought as well.”
“So, you’re leaning to drugs not being involved?” I asked, but knew my dad had to have come to the same conclusion as me, and he was looking for my thoughts on it.
“When the drug bust went down at the college, Pete Carson was never implicated, and it was some heavy-duty dealing that had been going on there. People were turning on people left and right to get the best deal. With Pete Carson never implicated, I can only assume he’d never been connected to that crew. He was nothing more than a small-time dealer which allowed him to keep a low profile.”
“Any luck with the other set of bones?”
“The DNA is being run through a database but so far nothing,” he said. “I’m stumped, Pepper. I get information that points to a possible drug connection but can’t find a drug connection. DNA evidence points to Travis, but it can’t be him since he died when Rita died, and it would appear that someone intended for Travis to be blamed for it. And then there is the unidentified bones. Who is she and what was she doing there with Travis?”
I recalled something my aunt said about how a lie reached out and impacted others. The lie had started with Pete Carson. It had reached out and touched his daughter, Travis, the sheriff, the sheriff’s son, Marsh, all forcing them to do things they might not think of doing. What had the lie forced Rita and Travis to do?
A thought hit me. “Travis was blamed for bruises seen on Rita, yet Betty Carson admitted that after giving it thought she believed her husband responsible for those bruises. She thought Rita had somehow found out about her dad’s nefarious drug use and dealing. Then there was Marsh. He mentioned how much Travis loved Rita. William Strathmore told me that he offered Travis a job once he finished school, but Travis said he wasn’t sticking around. What if Travis and Rita planned to run away together? What if they had come upon something in the woods that night they shouldn’t have seen and were killed for it? What if the answer lies with the bones buried beneath Travis?”