Chapter 31

CHAPTER 31

L ATER THAT AFTERNOON, DEVINE WAS driving down the dirt road away from the Odoms’ home when he observed something curious. He stopped, got out, and looked at the skinny line in the middle of the dirt road. Devine knelt down and more closely examined the tire track. He took out his phone and compared the track with the one he’d taken a picture of last night.

Perfect match on the tread. So the mysterious silent rider had come here as well. But how had the person tracked him? Devine thought for a few moments and then concluded that the person had ducked back into the woods and then taken up the tail on Devine when Devine had passed by after escaping from the kidnappers.

Yet, something seemed off about that theory; only he wasn’t sure what.

He drove on and arrived back in Seattle over two hours later. But he kept a close watch behind him. He never saw an e-motorcycle or any other vehicle back there that was with him the whole ride.

He turned in his trashed rental, and was being read the riot act by an irate agency employee until he flashed his badge and instructed no one to touch the vehicle. He called Braddock, explaining what had happened.

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes with a scrub team,” the detective said.

Braddock, Beth Walker, and other CSI team members showed up nineteen minutes later.

They looked in astonishment at all the blood on the seats and the cracked windshield, the blown-out rear window and all the bullet holes. Devine had told them what he’d done to turn the tables on his captors.

“Lucky thing they weren’t into seat harnesses,” said Braddock.

“And quick thinking on your part, Travis,” said Walker admiringly.

“You fight with what you have, not what you wish you had,” he noted.

“There should be enough in here for DNA analysis,” opined Walker.

“Guess the rental company wasn’t too happy,” said Braddock.

“Don’t think I’m ever going to hit their premium club status.”

“So you went to Ricketts, then what?” asked Braddock.

Devine gave them a more detailed account of the attack, as well as his meeting with Eric King and his wife.

Braddock sipped on a cup of coffee and said, “So they basically stonewalled you.”

“Looks to be. Oh, one more thing.” He reached into the car and pulled out the wineglass from the glove box and carefully unwrapped it. “I need you to run prints on this.”

“Who used that glass?” asked Braddock.

“Mayor Mercedes King. I just want to know if she is who she says she is.”

Braddock said, “How did you come by it?”

“She willingly left it behind in a public place that I had access to.”

Braddock stared hard at him for a few moments before nodding at Walker, who put the glass in an evidence bag and marked it.

Braddock said, “We’ll run the prints, but I don’t have any pull on this, Devine. My superiors will not want to get into a pissing contest with Eric King.”

“It’s enough that you go over the car for me and run the prints.”

“You could get a warrant to access the evidence the Ricketts folks collected,” suggested Walker.

“They already closed the case. And they’ll say they found nothing in the car. And the bodies have been cremated. So even if I get a warrant for the remains, can you get DNA, anything really, from ashes?” he asked her.

“No. The cremation process shuts all of that down for the most part.”

“And Glass authorized it?” said Braddock.

“What I was told, yeah, but not by a person I necessarily find credible. And her statement has not been corroborated.”

“So you really think King had something to do with this?” Braddock said, indicating the shot-up Toyota.

“Which King, the police chief or the mayor?”

“Either or both.”

“I have no proof of either one being involved, but the timing is a little coincidental. I don’t think Mayor King was planning on having dinner with me, primarily because I wasn’t supposed to be breathing. She showed up late with a bullshit excuse and then got all defensive and left in a huff.” He gave Braddock a look. “Know anything about her?”

Braddock shook his head. “That slice of the state is just not in my purview.”

“And Danny Glass?” asked Walker. “What’s his connection to all this?”

“Glass asked me to meet with him. Right before I drove to Ricketts.”

“What did he want?” asked Braddock.

“He intimated that I owed him because he helped out my platoon when we were both in the Army.”

“And what did you tell him?” asked Walker.

“That I could and would do nothing for him when it came to Betsy Odom.”

“And his response?” she asked.

“That the meeting had been worth it because he knew where he stood with me.”

“And then you go to Ricketts and somebody tries to kill you,” said Braddock. “I’d call that the mother of all coincidences, which means it isn’t.”

“But there’s no proof he was involved in what happened to me,” Devine pointed out.

Walker slapped on a pair of nitrile gloves. “Well, let’s see if we can find some.”

She headed over to the battered Toyota.