Sheriff Walker marched into his office’s only large conference room with an evidence bag more valuable than a dozen of the biggest campaign contributions that he’d received in the last five elections combined. He was a perennial winner, universally popular, and had to know that what he held in his hand could have a huge bearing on the GreenSpirit murder investigation. It might also shock many of his supporters, but his record suggested that ultimately he was an officer who’d rather be viewed as a no-nonsense lawman than a nice guy.
“Gentlemen,” Walker announced in a courtly manner as he looked around the room where the law enforcement officers had set up their computers and other investigatory tools. The sheriff appeared to savor the instant attention of the senior homicide detective for the New York State Police, and a serial killer profiler from the FBI, who was examining possible links between GreenSpirit’s murder and the savage slaying of a Vermont Pagan. Two agents from the FBI’s New York City office also looked up at Walker, who said, “I have found something in the woods that I think will be of great interest.” He held up the evidence bag.
“What’s in there, Sheriff?” asked Agent Mullins, a mulish-looking man who could have been thirty-five or fifty. Either lucky with aging or cursed by it.
“It’s a piece of fabric with what appears to be a bloodstain on it. Looks like it might have come from a bandana; it has part of a paisley pattern, near as I can tell.”
Mullins peered through the clear plastic. “Where’d you find it?”
“About three miles from the cabin. I couldn’t figure how someone could have gone through all that bramble and dead forest and not left a trace of himself, so I kept looking.”
Sheriff Walker might have felt bound to perform such a review because he’d “compromised the crime scene.” That was the scorching assessment of the New York State Police homicide team. The review also noted dryly that “The murder is the first one the sheriff has investigated.”
“How did we miss it?” Agent Mullins sounded incredulous.
“Don’t feel bad, Agent Mullins. I found it on a deer trail that runs down the east side of the mountain. It’s tight in there.” He held up the bag with the bloody swatch again. “It was stuck to a branch that had broken off a tree. It’s not a trail you’d ever take if you could avoid it, but—”
“If you were a panicky killer you might,” Mullins finished for him.
“I believe you’re right, and I believe this has got mud and blood dried on it,” Walker said.
Mullins took the bag from him and stared at the stains. “Hard to tell when it’s all dried up like that, but we’ll get it to our lab.”
The FBI profiler, an older woman named Barb Lassiter, looked up. “The Robb kid had a paisley bandana on in that CBS report. I remember that. I wonder if he’s missing a piece of it.”
“My thoughts exactly,” the sheriff said.
“Let’s run DNA on that right away.” Lassiter flipped aside her straw-colored hair and eyed the sheriff closely. He thought her smile had “Good work” written all over it.
Mullins was staring at the evidence bag. “Pretty brazen of that kid, or his lawyer, to hold a press conference to proclaim his innocence, if he’d left that kind of evidence behind. Like waving a red flag in our face.”
“He passed the polygraph,” Lassiter said, still looking at Sheriff Walker.
“He did, indeed,” the sheriff agreed.
Mullins held up the bag to the light for another look. “Forensics rules for a reason. If you’re a good enough bullshitter, especially if you believe your own lies, you can pass Miss Poly. But we all know that, don’t we, Sheriff?”
Walker nodded.
* * *
Jason Robb ran another passing drill, feeling pretty damn good about his performance—at yesterday’s press conference. They’d believed him. Damn right, mon, ’cause you be righteous.
Carl Boon hiked the ball through his chunky legs, and Jason back stepped before delivering the pigskin into the hands of Ryan Petress, who dropped the fucker. Petress apologized when he came running back to the line. Jason had noticed that his teammates had become unusually respectful since his return to the team, treating him like a goddamn deity.
The whole experience had been exciting. Even the CBS story a few days ago had turned into a big plus. As soon as Aly Wennerstrom saw him, on the tube in her family’s cabin, she got totally