Chapter 18

CHAPTER 18

A ndi couldn’t believe the nerve of this guy. Did he think the world revolved around him?

Was Bert a killer? She couldn’t say that for sure. Not every guy with a temper was also a murderer.

But he’d shown up quickly, and he really did seem to hate this camp.

She’d already texted Ranger, asking for his assistance. He was on his way.

“This place set off a whole train of bad events in my life.” An undertone of a growl rumbled in Bert’s voice. “My wife said she didn’t like how I acted. Then she left me. She left me ! Vacation was supposed to bring us closer.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” But Andi could see his wife’s side of it also. The guy was a hothead. She could only imagine what it would be like to be married to someone like him.

“I’m a bit of an influencer,” Bert continued. “People usually go out of their way to get my stamp of approval on things. But not Calvin and Mary. No, money was the most important thing to them.”

Andi had a hard time seeing this guy as having a strong following. He was too gruff and unpolished. Plus, he didn’t have a face for the position. It was too uneven and gawky.

She kept those thoughts silent.

“You’re saying all this because Calvin and Mary didn’t give you a refund?” Duke clarified, a touch of disbelief to his voice.

Bert’s eyes narrowed. “I was entitled to one. They didn’t live up to their guarantees.”

This guy really was too much, and Andi couldn’t wait to get him out of here. He only appeared to be slowing down their investigation.

He’d come here to rant. To let everybody know he was unhappy.

She could be wrong, but she didn’t get the sense he was a killer.

Ranger successfully took Bert off their hands.

Then it was the three of them again—Duke, Andi, and Tim.

Tim had been about to say something before Bert showed up.

They all took their seats in the living room again, and Duke reminded them where they’d left the conversation—Tim was about to say something about Caleb.

“That’s right. I think you should look at Caleb Brinley.” Tim’s jaw and eyes hardened at the mention of Caleb’s name.

Duke wasn’t surprised. Caleb had already shot to the top of his list of suspects.

But he was interested in hearing Tim’s take on it.

“Why do you think we should look at Caleb?” Duke asked.

“My brother didn’t like him. In fact, I heard Calvin saying something that indicated to me they were considering firing the guy.”

“Why would they want to fire Caleb?” Andi tilted her head as she waited for his response.

“At first, I thought it was because he was interested in Juniper,” Tim said. “My brother was protective of his little girl. Then I overheard Calvin saying something about some missing money.”

“Missing money?” Andi’s voice lilted with curiosity.

“Yeah, I asked him about it. He said they couldn’t definitively pin the loss on Caleb, but he was their number one suspect.”

“When did they discover the missing money?” Duke asked. “And where was it missing from?”

“A few days before they died. They had a cash box in their office.”

Duke’s eyebrows shot up. The timing was definitely incriminating. He couldn’t deny that.

“Did your brother confront him?” Duke studied Tim’s face, interested in getting his take on the situation. The way his jaw tightened and his cheeks remained red indicated he was still angry.

“No, they didn’t. Not as far as I know. I think they wanted more information first, but they hadn’t found it before they died.”

Andi stared at Tim, appearing ready to start another cross examination. “Did you tell the police all of this?”

Tim didn’t bother to hide his frown. “No, at the time it didn’t seem like a big deal, I suppose. I assumed this killer was someone not affiliated with the camp. But since then, I’ve started to wonder if Calvin and Mary were killed for some other reason and their murders were set up to look as if the December Dismemberer had struck. Maybe that psycho had nothing to do with this at all, and it was just a copycat crime.”

Duke knew that could be a possibility. But there were some holes in that theory. “If that’s the case, no one else was found dead on that date. So either his streak was broken or?—”

“Or the victim wasn’t discovered . . . or maybe this guy died.” Tim shrugged. “Who knows?”

Duke supposed any of those options could be correct. He didn’t think they were, however.

“Does anybody know if Caleb had an alibi during the time of the murders?” Andi asked.

“I looked into that myself.” Tim’s gaze darkened. “It turns out he was patrolling one of our UTV trails. We do that every day to make sure they’re safe.”

“Where does this trail run?” Duke asked.

“On the backside of the property. The police didn’t find any tire tracks leading to the barn, but that doesn’t mean someone didn’t park a UTV somewhere, walk through the forest to my brother’s cabin, and lure Calvin and Mary to the barn.”

Tim had clearly thought everything through.

Duke had to admit the man’s theory did have some plausibility. He and Andi would need to talk to Caleb again.

“What about Pepper?” Andi asked. “Any idea what happened to her or who would want to hurt her?”

His expression remained solemn. “Not really. She was kind of annoying and had a strong personality. But I never heard anyone say they didn’t like her. I have no idea who would have wanted to kill her.”

Just then, a yell sounded in the distance.

They all rose from the table and rushed out the door to see what was happening.

Four or five people scrambled toward UTVs parked near the lodge. They jumped into the seats and sped into the forest.

Something else had happened, Duke realized. Something bad.

Did this event tie in with the case? That was the question.