Chapter 49

FORTY-NINE

Jenna walked into her office waving the arrest warrant. “This will hold him until we have more evidence on the murders. The DA is willing to do a deal with anyone who’s prepared to talk about what happened to Cole and Abby. Is Wasser back from the hospital yet?”

“Yeah, he’s in interview room one with Sam Cross.” Kane leaned back in his chair and smiled at her. “He’s in a wheelchair but it seems I didn’t inflict as much damage as I imagined. My bullet missed the bone and took out his calf muscle, so no surgery, but I’d say he’s got a fair few stitches.” He stood and went to the refrigerator, poured a glass of milk, and gave it to her. “I anticipated the deal offer and sent Rio and Rowley to round up the rest of the suspects. They have been bringing them in, but I can’t split them all up. I placed Wyatt Twotrees and Josie Campbell in interview rooms two and three. That leaves no room for the other two.”

Jenna sipped her milk. “Double them up, but leave Rio and Rowley in the rooms with them to prevent any conversation. When Cross has finished speaking to Wasser, we’ll tell him there’s a deal on the table and give him time to speak to his clients. Did you read them their rights?”

“I told Rio to do that before they put them in the truck.” He dropped into a chair in front of her desk. “Wolfe called, and the sample he took from Lily’s wound is the same blood type as Marissa. They found numerous amounts of blood on the ax. It’s just as well the DA charged him with another offense because Wolfe says it’s going to take around six or seven hours to get a result.”

Nodding, Jenna stared at her phone when it chimed. It was Norrell.

“We’ve hit paydirt here, Jenna.” Exuberant voices buzzed in the background. “We’ve found a blood-soaked scarf, a jacket, and gloves. The name inside the jacket is Clint Wasser. They are all in good condition. The jacket we found at the bottom of a pit. It was wet but I’m sure that Shane will be able to extract DNA from the blood on the jacket. If it’s from both victims, you’ll have him. We’re heading home now.”

Grinning at Kane, Jenna high-fived him. “That’s incredible news. Everything is finally slipping into place. Now all we need is to discover exactly what happened that night on the mountain.” She’d just placed her phone on the table when it chimed again. “Bobby, have you got something for me?”

“I do indeed.” Kalo’s excitement came through the speaker. “I’ve discovered the owner of the fraternity pin. There’s no doubt the owner is Clint Wasser. If you check your inbox, I found four photographs of him wearing the pin. After enlarging and enhancing the images, the damage to it is visible. I used the image of the pin taken from the hand of the victim as a reference. They’re identical.”

“Great job.” Kane gave Jenna a wide smile.

“That’s what I’m here for. Catch you later.” He disconnected.

Jenna opened her inbox and displayed the photos on her screen. “I figure this alone sews it up for Wasser—Abby’s murder and hopefully Cole’s, with the evidence found in situ at the crime scene. That’s enough evidence for the DA to take Wasser to trial, although it would be really nice if one of the others involved took the deal and explained what actually happened that night.”

“I guess we wait and see.” Kane blew out a long breath.

Twenty minutes later, Jenna made her way downstairs to the interview rooms to listen to what Sam Cross had to say. She met him in the passageway. “Is your client prepared to speak with us?”

“You can conduct your interview with him shortly. I asked to speak to my clients separately and your deputies moved them around to achieve that end.” He gave Jenna an inquiring look. “I’m finding it hard to believe you didn’t split up the suspects, rather than allowing them to speak to each other.”

“The deputies were instructed not to allow them to speak to each other.” Kane rested one hand on the handle of his weapon. “We didn’t want to put them in the cells before they’d been charged as you were on your way and you gave us explicit orders not to question them.”

“Only one of them is prepared to speak to you and will consider a deal.” Cross frowned as he looked from one to the other. “This is not something I advised him to do, but as he has a wife and child to consider, he figured it may save him some jail time.” He turned his attention to Jenna. “We can speak to Mr. Hallon now. Do you have the details of the deal?”

Trying to control her enthusiasm, Jenna shook her head. “I’ll listen to what he has to say and if it’s relevant to the case, I’ll take it to the DA personally. He assured me that he will take everything Mr. Hallon tells me into consideration.” After dropping her weapon alongside Kane’s in a locked compartment in the passageway, she flashed her card over the scanner outside interview room two, and they all walked inside.

Nodding to Jess Hallon, Jenna turned on the camera and recording devices. She gave the date, time, and who was present in the room. She asked Jess Hallon to confirm that he had been read his rights and was willing to speak to them with his attorney present. “Mr. Hallon, before we discuss what happened twelve years ago over Halloween, I want to advise you that the DA is going to charge you with tampering of physical evidence, which carries up to a ten-year prison sentence in the state penitentiary, a $50,000 fine, or both. If you plead guilty and give me all the information you have about the night Cole and Abby went missing, I will personally go to the DA and ask for a deal to have your sentence reduced for cooperation. As this evidence tampering occurred at the time of their murders, there is no statute of limitations.” She leaned on the desk and stared him directly in the eyes. “We know Clint murdered Abby. She had his fraternity pin clutched in her hand. We have images of Wasser wearing the damaged pin. Dr. Larson discovered skin under her fingernails, which is being DNA tested as we speak. A court order is being obtained by the DA to compel Wasser to supply a sample of his DNA.” She flicked a glance at Cross, who had said absolutely nothing. “Now taking that all into consideration, tell me what happened on Halloween twelve years ago.”

“I don’t need to tell you the names of who was in the group that night because you know who they are.” Hallon stared at his linked hands resting on the table. “Everything was fine. We were all having a good time. We built a fire near the Whispering Caves and everyone was taking turns telling stories about the axman. Cole and Abby got up and walked away hand in hand. I didn’t really take much notice because they often wandered off alone together. After that, Clint said he needed to pee. I don’t recall hearing anyone screaming or calling out. In the forest there’s a variety of noises that could be described as screams. Owls and cats all make noises like that, and no one takes any notice.” He glanced at her for a second and then back at his hands. “I don’t know how long Wasser had been away. We were all talking and having a good time.”

“Had you been drinking?” Kane was leaning up against the door. He stepped forward and sat down in front of the table.

“Yeah, we’d been drinking heavily.” Hallon narrowed his gaze. “We were all over twenty-one. Beer and tequila shots mostly. Not just us guys, the girls were into it as well.” He paused a bit and then sucked in a deep breath and stared at the table again. “Clint came back soaked in blood and carrying an ax. It was the one that Wyatt had brought to chop up wood for the fire and to scare the girls. You know like the Whispering Caves Axman?”

“What did he tell you?” Kane leaned forward in his chair.

“He said that Cole was murdering Abby with the ax when he came upon them. He said he fought with Cole and managed to get the ax away from him, but Cole pulled a knife and came at him, so he used the ax in self-defense. He was crying. We didn’t know what to do but followed him back up the mountain and into a cave. Cole was lying on top of Abby and in his hand was a knife, so we all believed Clint.”

Not wanting to interrupt his story, but compelled to do so, Jenna went into the folder and removed the image from Cole’s autopsy clearly showing the three deep ax marks in his back. “You must have seen Cole’s body. Do these wounds look like a frontal attack to you? He was struck from behind and these were the only wounds on his body.”

“I recall seeing a ton of blood. I didn’t get close enough to check out every wound.” Hallon stared at the image and ran both hands down his face. “Now with a clear head I can see it looks like Cole was trying to run away.”

“Okay, so you went with him to the bodies. What happened next?” Kane folded his arms across his chest and stared at him.

“Clint said he couldn’t go to the cops because they’d figure he murdered Cole because of jealousy.” Hallon’s expression changed from reluctance to deep concern. “Everyone knew that he had a thing for Abby that went back a long time. So we dug a hole deep inside the cave and placed his blood-soaked clothes into it and then dragged Abby and Cole to the grave and buried them.”

Taking a deep breath Jenna stared at him. “Did you check first to see if they were dead?”

“No. We could see they were dead. Clint pulled up their shirts and made us put our hands on them and swear we would never tell. They both felt cold. I will never forget it as long as I live. After that we cleaned up every inch of our camp. Clint threw the knife and ax into the river along with Abby’s phone. He changed into clothes he’d brought with him. We’d planned to camp overnight and had extra clothes with us. We went down a back track to avoid the others camping on the mountain and then came back along the regular trail that everyone was using to get to the river. We made a big noise when we arrived so that everyone would notice us. We wanted everyone to believe we’d arrived late.” He stared at Jenna. “We’ve kept Clint’s secret all these years, but I can tell you he was paranoid about one of us breaking our silence.” He placed a hand on his chest. “I swear to God, I did not know he’d murdered both of them. I figured as it had been in self-defense, we owed him as friends to help him. If he’d gone to trial for murder, his life would have been ruined. I admit drink probably affected our reasoning at the time, but I can tell you in all honesty, we all believed we were doing the right thing.”

Nodding, Jenna looked at Sam Cross. “I’ll have Maggie type up the transcript of this interview. When your client signs it, I’ll send it over to the DA right away.” She looked at Hallon. “Thank you for your cooperation. It’s not for me to decide what happens next. As soon as the DA makes a decision, he’ll come here personally to speak to you.” She turned off the recording, stood, and turned to Sam Cross. “I’m ready to interview Mr. Wasser.” She headed for the door.

When they’d stepped outside, she took Kane to one side. “What do you think?”

“I figure he’s telling the truth. If they all decide to speak up and give the same story and not the one they’ve practiced over and over again, I figure the courts will go easy on them. They were a group of drunk students not thinking straight at the time who got themselves influenced by a psychopath. They’ve led exemplary lives since that night and aren’t a threat to the public. My guess is they’ll get a suspended sentence or, worst case, a year, maybe two. There are extenuating circumstances. I figure they’ve already done their time living with this terrible crime and not being able to tell anyone.”

Part of Jenna agreed with Kane’s evaluation of the interview; another part of her was dismayed that these people covered up the whereabouts of Cole and Abby, leaving their parents to wonder what had happened to them. She gathered herself and followed Sam Cross into the interview room, set up the recording device as before, and sat down to face Clint Wasser, this time with Kane at her side. “Mr. Wasser.”

“Why so formal, Sheriff? Please call me Clint. It’s so much nicer.” Wasser smiled as if he didn’t have a care in the world.

Unimpressed, Jenna placed a folder on the table. “Deputy Rio has read you the details of the arrest warrant. As we have three witnesses to the attempted murder of Dr. Larson and Emily Wolfe, I’m going to move on to the murders of Marissa Kendrick and Lily Jones.”

“I didn’t kill Marissa Kendrick or Lily Jones.” Wasser chuckled. “They happen to be old friends of mine. Why would I kill them?”

“Friends that you haven’t had contact with since you left college.” Kane leaned forward in his chair and eyeballed him. “Was that because those friends discovered you covered with blood and carrying an ax after you murdered Abby and Cole, over Halloween twelve years ago?”

“No.” A flicker of doubt crossed Wasser’s face. “I don’t know anything about their murders.”

Jenna opened the folder and removed the photographs of the fraternity pin found in Abby’s hand with the distinctive chip out of the enameled surface. She laid the photographs alongside the enlarged images of him wearing the exact pin. “Is this your fraternity pin?”

“You can see it’s mine.” Wasser shrugged. “What’s that got to do with Abby and Cole?”

Although she wanted to smile, Jenna kept her expression bland. “We found it clutched in Abby’s hand. She tore it from your jacket the night you murdered her, and strangely enough, we have your jacket too. It was excavated from the grave where you buried Cole and Abby. There’s no doubt it’s yours. The torn, bloodstained jacket has your name inside.” She paused a beat to allow him to absorb the information. “Your friends have decided they don’t want to go to prison to save your hide and have explained exactly what happened the night you murdered Cole and Abby. We have enough evidence to prove that you murdered Marissa and Lily as well. When Cole’s and Abby’s bodies showed up, you believed they were going to speak to me about that night. In fact, they all kept your secret up until today. Now they’re going to save their own necks and are willing to go to court to tell the truth about that night. This is your chance to tell your story. Why did you kill them?”

“You’re deluded if you believe my friends would rat on me.” Wasser gave her a look that chilled her to the bone. It was the look of a serial killer. “Everything you’ve said is lies.”

A shiver slithered down Jenna’s spine and she avoided his death stare as she collected the photographs. “I’m afraid not. Ask Mr. Cross. We have DNA evidence from the ax you used to attack Dr. Larson and Emily Wolfe. Not to mention trying to attack me as well. You’ll be formally charged again with four counts of homicide and sent to County to await trial. I can assure you, from the evidence we have against you and the witnesses, you’ll be spending the rest of your life in the state pen.” She turned off the recording device and walked out of the room.