The Coroner, page 12
“David Sands?” Nick inquired.
“Yeah, I’m David.”
“I need to talk with you. Do you have a minute?”
“I guess so,” he said.
“Are your parents around?” Nick asked as he approached. “It’d be nice to have them present for this.”
“Why? Am I in trouble?”
“No. Not that I’m aware of. I just want to talk with you about Julie Dobson,” explained Nick. Nick had looked up David’s birth date and knew that he had turned eighteen two months ago. He was legally an adult, and it wasn’t required that his parents be present if Nick wanted to question him. But Nick felt it was always better to get parental support when possible.
“They’re at work,” said David. Nick couldn’t wait.
“I’m Sheriff Nick Larson.” Nick asked. “David, I wonder if you could tell me where you were yesterday morning?” Nick saw he had David’s full attention now.
“Home. In bed. I overslept.”
“What time did you get up?”
“My dad woke me up on his way out to work. So maybe eight thirty?” David said. “He got me up and told me I had to get to school.”
“So did you go then?”
“Nah, I slept another hour, and then I got up and was eating some breakfast when my buddy called about Julie … he had heard she was found …”
David started to break. Nick gave him a moment to compose himself. He understood how the death of someone you know could be upsetting, but David’s reaction seemed normal for someone who had been close to the victim, even if he was an ex.
“It’s okay. Take your time,” Nick offered.
“Do you know how she died?” asked David.
“We’re still investigating that,” Nick said. “I was under the impression you two had broken up and gone your separate ways. I don’t mean to pry, but you seem really broken up about her death for an ex-boyfriend. You must have really loved her.”
“I do … did … love her,” David said, fresh tears welling up his eyes.
“The Dobsons said Julie lost interest when you found a new girlfriend and moved on,” said Nick.
A brief smile touched David’s lips, and he wiped the wet from his eyes. “I guess it worked then.”
“What worked?”
“Her dad made us break up. He hated me. We snuck around for a while, but then he started having his security guard spy on us. So Julie thought maybe we needed to cool it,” said David. “I started fake dating my friend Jenny to get them off our backs,” he said.
“So you never really broke up,” said Nick.
David shook his head. “We were planning to get married,” he said. “As soon as she graduated and turned eighteen.”
Nick made a note of it. Scorned lovers defying parental odds. It was a tale as old as humanity. He had to give them credit for their ingenuity. They had fooled her parents, Sadie the barista, and the whole high school.
“Was there anybody Julie had an issue with? Or disliked?” Nick asked.
“Why are you wondering that?” said David, curiosity rising in his tone. “I thought it was an accident?”
“I’m just trying to rule things out. Please don’t read anything into the question. It’s part of the investigation,” said Nick, playing it down. “Anyone she had a beef with?”
“Not really. She was on good terms with pretty much everyone. But you know, Julie didn’t have a lot of time for a social life. Most of her friends were from the stables.”
“What was life at the stables like for her?”
“Mostly good. Like a family. Except lately she was really angry with Bodum.”
“Tell me about that.”
“There were bad things happening at the stables and Bodum wasn’t doing a darn thing about it,” David said.
“Bad things? Like what?” Nick asked.
“To Mercedes. Someone was coming in at night before the competitions and tying up his head so it would drop more in the ring. She also found dye on his coat, which gave him skin rashes. And she suspected his tail was being deadened so it would lie still during competitions.”
“Did she tell Bodum?”
“Yeah. She wanted Bodum to install video cameras so they could catch the person doing it. Bodum said he couldn’t afford it. Julie even begged her dad to pay for it.”
“Did he?”
“No. He thought she was crazy. Said she was making those things up in her imagination.”
Nick jotted these things down. He had heard about such things happening at barns, but never suspected mistreatment at Premiere.
“What did Bodum think?”
“None of the other horses were bothered, so he thought maybe Julie’s dad had a point. Julie was really protective of Mercedes. He told Julie he would have the grooms keep an eye out for anything unusual,” said David.
“But this was clearly abuse,” Nick said. “Why didn’t she report it?”
“We talked about it. But we knew that would cause Gary and Premiere to go under investigation, maybe have his barn shut down. Gary’s the best trainer in the state. He’s been with Julie since she was eight. Julie didn’t want to lose him in her senior year.”
“What about an anonymous call?” Nick asked. “Did she or you ever think about that?”
“Nothing’s anonymous. Mercedes was the only horse being hurt. She wouldn’t. She thought it would raise too many red flags, and she might be disqualified from competing. Julie did what she could to protect Mercedes, short of sleeping at the stables. The stress was really making her performances suffer. I was worried it would jeopardize her scholarship chances. And that scholarship money was her freedom ticket.
“What do you mean? Julie was headed to college either way, right?”
“Yeah, but a scholarship meant she could break financial ties with her dad.”
“It was that bad?”
“They’re controlling. You’ve met them.”
“They seem like normal, concerned parents to me.”
David didn’t respond. Nick mulled all this over in his mind. There was nothing about Julie disliking Bodum that pointed to motivation for murder. Bodum may have been irresponsible in turning a blind eye to the abuse or siding with the senator, but would he want Julie dead? It was almost impossible to draw the connection. Nick had gleaned all he could for the time being.
“Thanks, David. Let me know if you think of anything else,” Nick told him. “I’m really sorry for your loss. I know it doesn’t feel like it now, but your life’s not over. There will be good moments again.”
“But not with her,” David noted. “She was the one, you know?” David kept his gaze on the front yard, and all Nick could think was, Yeah, I do know, as he walked back to his patrol car, wishing he had taken the time to sort through his locker on that last day of junior year.
18
Emily drove from Premiere straight to the police station and waited for Nick to return. She was standing in the lobby when he arrived through a back door. She could see him bustling to his office with a worried look on his face.
“Surprised to see you here,” said Nick.
“You have a minute?”
He motioned for her to follow him to his office.
“Learn anything new since our visit to the Dobsons?” she asked.
Nick told her about his conversation with David and that he felt that Gary had no real motivation to kill Julie Dobson. Emily thought it was odd that Gary was so unwilling to stop the abuse on Mercedes.
“Did someone threaten Gary to keep quiet? Who would be abusing Mercedes like that? And where was Gary Bodum when Julie was being killed?”
“I know. I have the same questions,” Nick replied.
“Nick, I went to the pasture this afternoon,” said Emily. “Just to take a second look.”
“Okay.”
He didn’t seem surprised or upset about it.
“Sarah asked me to look for something of Julie’s. A bracelet. Bodum said Julie always had it on.”
“Did you find it?”
“Well, not exactly. I found this, though.”
Emily took out her phone and pulled up pictures she had snapped of the charm impressions in the mud. He paused for a moment as his brow furrowed, and color rose in his cheeks.
“I can’t believe I missed that. I combed through that area a dozen times.”
“Well, you didn’t exactly know that you were supposed to be looking for it,” said Emily.
“Did Sarah really tell you about this? Or did your dad ask you to do this?”
“It was Sarah,” she said. “And a little bit my dad.”
“I knew it. He doesn’t trust us cops to do our job.”
“Don’t take it personally. It started a long time before you became a cop.”
“Look, Em, when I first arrived on the scene, I wasn’t even aware that her death was a murder. Her body was gone. I had nothing to go on. We all thought it was an accident. And truth is, that whole area was compromised the moment Farmer Gibbons stepped in and removed her body. It was a huge guess just trying to figure out what was within the scope of the scene and what wasn’t,” Nick defended. “I’m still not entirely sure.”
“I know. I’m not blaming you. It was a tough situation,” said Emily. “I was just trying to … Nick, I didn’t come to Freeport to try and usurp your job. I just really feel for Sarah. I want to do everything I can.” The whole thing seemed so surreal. Thirty hours ago she had been in Chicago, saving lives and getting engaged. Now she was standing in the Freeport Sherriff’s Office, helping her high school sweetheart solve a murder case.
“The question now is, where is that bracelet?” said Nick moving on.
“I scoured the field and the stables and didn’t see it. My next thought is to check with Farmer Gibbons. He was the first person that we know of who saw Julie after she died.”
“You think he took the bracelet? What would he want with it?”
“I don’t know. But I looked this up. It’s a Pandora and they’re worth a lot of money. Hundreds. It would have been an easy steal.”
“I have a hard time believing Farmer Gibbons is a grave robber,” said Nick.
“Probably not. Maybe it fell off her wrist and some curious person trolling through the field found it after your investigation? Or maybe the killer took it? Just find out if Gibbons noticed it the bracelet was on when he found Julie.”
Nick sighed, “I’ve already questioned him, but I’ll pay him another visit. And I’ll put a search out at the local pawn shops.”
“Thank you. That bracelet means a lot to Sarah.”
At that moment, Emily and Nick’s phones pinged simultaneously. An incoming text with an attached video link from Jo was coming through: Have you seen this?!
Emily clicked on the link to a YouTube video with the title “Find This Man Who Killed My Sister.”
“Oh no. Sarah, what have you done?” said Emily as she touched the “Play” icon.
The roughly shot video came from a GoPro camera that seemed to be attached to the inside of a horse pen at thigh level. The video captured the horse’s legs, which looked sleek black and muscular; as the camera lens tilted up, they could see the horse was male. After a couple of moments, a shadowed person wearing men’s jeans and work boots entered the stall. Mercedes whinnied and stamped his hooves at the ominous presence, as if he knew something bad was about to happen to him. Swinging from the man’s hand was a tool that neither Emily nor Nick could fully identify because of the poor lighting conditions. What they could see was that the man grabbed one of Mercedes’ legs with one hand and used the tool in his other hand to score the horse’s legs. The beast whinnied in pain and tried to wriggle free. The man managed to steady Mercedes and continue the horrible abuse, but in the process unknowingly knocked the GoPro off its mount. The camera tumbled to the floor in a blur, landing at a slightly upright angle that caught a darkened image of the horse’s head. The camera caught just enough light to reveal that the horse was Mercedes. After a moment, all was still. The sound of the man’s boots faded away. Mercedes shook his mane and restlessly stamped his legs against the sides of the pen, jostling the GoPro to face the floor. The video went black and ended.
“How did Sarah get this?” Emily glanced at the number of views. “This video has over 25,378 hits. And counting.”
Nick moved the “Play” button back a few seconds and hit “Pause” when the man’s boots came into view, freezing the image.
“There’s your killer. Not a lot to go on.”
“But more than we had two minutes ago.”
Emily locked looks with Nick. The stakes had definitely changed.
19
After the video dropped, twice the number of media descended instantly upon Freeport and landed at the high school where Sarah Dobson was in class. Nick called Emily to go with him to the school so she could talk to Sarah, as they had formed a bond over the missing bracelet. Once they arrived at the school, Emily was directed to the teacher’s lounge, where Sarah was waiting. Emily found her standing at the window, chewing the corner of one of her nails.
“Sarah, how are you doing?” said Emily.
“I don’t know.”
“Do you need anything to drink?”
“No.”
“You want to tell me what happened?”
Sarah turned and faced Emily, and she could see that Sarah had been crying. Emily could tell by her eyes that dark thoughts were swirling around in Sarah’s mind. She remained patient and professional, hoping that Sarah would open up to her. The click, click, click, of the second hand moving around the face of the large clock on the wall marked the passage of thirty seconds. It seemed like a lifetime to Emily. Finally, Sarah spoke.
“Everyone thinks we’re this perfect, happy family. But we’re not.”
“All families have secrets, Sarah.”
“Not like ours.”
“You’d be surprised. My family has secrets. Did you know my mother died in a car accident when I was fifteen?” Emily saw that Sarah was engaged with her now. “It happened one early fall morning. Perfect weather. Great road conditions. Nothing wrong with her vehicle. After the investigation, no one could tell me what really happened. Even my own father.”
“Why?”
“Exactly. That’s a ‘why’ I’ve been living with all my life. And I want to make sure you don’t have to live with any whys or secrets. Can you help me?”
Sarah nodded.
“Do you know anything about what you saw on that video?”
“I don’t. I hardly ever went to the stable. That was Julie’s thing.”
“Do you have any idea who it is in that video?”
“If I did, I wouldn’t have posted it.” She was sounding defensive … and scared.
“I believe you.”
“Is there anything you can share with me that would help us find out who killed your sister?”
Sarah’s eyes darted across the room, then back to Emily. Classic aversion. She knows something, and she’s not gonna spill, thought Emily, who did not let up her compassionate gaze on Sarah.
“Did you find the bracelet?” asked Sarah, fidgeting with the zipper on her sweatshirt.
“Not yet. But I won’t give up. Promise.”
“Am I in big trouble?”
“Well, you certainly stirred things up,” said Emily.
“I thought posting it would help you find out who killed her.”
“I understand.” Emily paused to choose her words carefully. “But Sarah, do you realize you interfered with a police investigation here?”
“Did I ruin it?”
“I don’t know.” Emily had to be honest. “Hopefully not. The police are grateful to have another lead in the case. But you should know, for the future, that in criminal investigations there are pieces of evidence, like this video recording, that should be held back from the public until the police can puzzle it out, put it all together, and a proper arrest can be made. Does that make sense?”
“You must hate me?” Sarah squeaked out.
“I don’t hate you. No one hates you.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I know you are. I know you were just trying to help.”
“My parents are gonna kill me.”
“I doubt that. But if there are any secrets you want to share, you can come to me. Or Nick. Anytime. Okay? It’s always best to get them out in the open.”
Sarah nodded and Emily gave her a hug. At that moment, the lounge doors flew open. Mr. and Mrs. Dobson charged in, ready to devour their one remaining daughter.
20
Meanwhile, Nick had a problem on his hands. The press were legally allowed to enter the high school but had besieged administration by splitting into all directions to find students and teachers to interview as they exited rooms between classes. The principal had lost control. Nick called in for backup to corral the intruding journalists, but they refused to back down, stating their grounds as freedom of the press rights, compelling Nick to create a more organized means of information gathering. Meanwhile, scores of concerned parents began arriving after receiving texts from their kids that there was chaos erupting at the school. The parents wanted an explanation. And they wanted it now! Nick decided on the spot to hold a press conference, and instructed his police officers to direct parents and students to the auditorium, where he could address them about the matter at hand.
Once they were all settled, the principal introduced Nick. and he stepped forward to face a couple hundred probing stares.
“We appreciate your cooperation in gathering here and I’ll do my best to apprise you of what’s going on and answer any questions that I can. Currently, we are holding an investigation into the death of Julie Dobson, and we do believe that it was a homicide.”
“Who do you think did it?” a parent piped up from the benches.
“We are currently interviewing a number of people who may have information. But I can’t reveal the names of any suspects.”
“What about that monster in that video?” shouted a father dressed in a business suit. “You need get your hands on him.”
