Page 50 of The Burning

“Bogart,” I put in.

“Right.” He heaves a sigh. “Kate, he called Agent Chambers this morning and made a statement saying he saw your brother, Jacob Burkholder, arguing with Milan Swanz a couple of days before Swanz was killed.”

I stare at him, my pulse quickening because I realize I’ve already made my first mistake. While I mentioned the list of addresses I found at Swanz’s residence, I didn’t follow up by sharing the names of the property owners with my team, nor did I add it to the evidence log. “Okay.”

“Were you aware of that?” Chambers asks.

“No,” I say honestly.

“Have you talked to your brother about the case?” Chambers asks.

I don’t hesitate; I know they already know. “Yes.”

“When was that?” Chambers asks.

“Yesterday.”

“It’s interesting that he didn’t mention the argument,” Chambers says.

I think of the list I’d dropped in the drawer of my desk and feel sweat break out on the back of my neck. “My brother told me Swanz had done some work for him,” I say.

“Did you document that, Chief Burkholder?” Chambers asks, but I know he already knows.

“Not yet,” I return. “With all due respect, we’ve had our hands full and I haven’t had a chance.”

Chambers cocks his head, his brows knitting. “Why did you seek out your brother in the first place?”

There it is, I think, and take the plunge. “There was a list of addresses at Swanz’s residence,” I tell him.

Chambers looks at Rasmussen and raises his brows. “Do you know anything about a list of addresses?”

“Chief Burkholder mentioned the list during our first briefing,” the sheriff replies.

Chambers turns his attention back to me. “Is there a reason why you didn’t log that list into evidence?”

“I didn’t consider the list evidence,” I say.

“Why is that?”

“For one thing, it wasn’t found at the crime scene.” I shrug. “When I initially discovered the list of addresses at Swanz’s home, I honestly didn’t feel it was important or relevant to the case.”

“Because you have so many other leads?” He adds a generous dose of sarcasm to the question.

“Because it’s a list of addresses,” I say evenly. “Swanz was known to do casual labor. It wouldn’t be terribly unusual for him to have addresses written down. Even so, I looked up the names of the property owners and I was following up.”

“So even though the list wasn’t ‘evidence’”—he makes air quotes—“you looked into it as if it was, indeed, evidence. Is that correct?”

“I looked up the owners of the properties,” I say.

“Who’s on the list?” Rasmussen asks.

I tell him.

“They’re all Amish?” he asks.

I nod. “I talked to the individuals on the list and determined that each of them had had some kind of contact with Swanz.”

“Well, that’s really interesting.” Chambers leans back in his chair. “And yet you didn’t see fit to share the information with other law enforcement? Or even document it?”