AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“No. They saw me walk in with both of you and know you’re investigating the case. They figured you’d want the fileseventually.”
He drops down into a chair at the table and opens a can of soda.
“Thank you, Xavier,” I say, taking the files.
Sitting down, I open the file and read through the arrest report and notes from the investigation. I’ll have to go to the courts to request access to trial transcripts, but this gives me what I need rightnow.
“He was arrested ten years ago after he walked into the station and told them he needed to get something off his chest,” Isay.
“That’s an understatement,” Samremarks.
“He told investigators he was suffering from a terminal illness and was not expected to live much longer. The tenth anniversary of the murders had just passed and a news report made it all come back. It weighed on him what he’d done, and Mary Ellen’s family had been without her for so many years. He wanted to free his conscience and make amends before dying, so he told them everything and offered to bring them to the girl’s body. She was recovered from an undisclosed location, kept confidential to prevent the public from attempting to go there or cause damage.He pleaded guilty and was convicted. He only served three months before hisdeath.”
I look up from the file and frown, the new information percolating in my head. “So this man was convicted of the crime ten years ago, but the stories still say that the killer is at large and that Mary Ellen’s body was never found. And they wonder why people say the place is cursed. If they don’t give people accurate information, they have to expect them to come to their ownconclusions.”
“And that’s exactly what they did,” Detective Garrison says as he comes into theroom.
I take a step toward him. “Why didn’t you tell us about Reginald Merriweather? You ask us to come help you with this investigation and then don’t tell us that the person responsible for the first killings is not only dead, but already confessed and showed the location of the missing girl. That completely changes the scope of thisinvestigation.”
I’m angry and I have no problem showing it. When I’m brought in to solve a case, I expect to be provided all the relevant details. This isn‘t a game for me. I don’t appreciate being expected to put together puzzles and go through scavenger hunts just to do myjob.
“I didn’t tell you because I didn’t think that it should be used as part of the current investigation,” the detective replies without flinching. “If you knew the body of Mary Ellen Conner had been located and a perpetrator was identified, you would have cut off that part of the investigation and not considered anyalternative.”
“Don’t presume to think you know me or how I run investigations,” I say with a warning edge in my voice. “You don’t know what I’m thinking or how I will view any of the details or evidence put in front of me, and it is not up to you to decide for me what I know and what I don’t know based on the narrative you have designed. I don’t need your guidance or your hand-holding, Detective Garrison. I expect full disclosure if I’m going to give my time, energy, and professional expertise to this case rather than continuing to focus on my own work. Please don’t forget I am here because youaskedme tobe.”
His jaw hardens, but he doesn’t argue.
“Why didn’t you say anything about this?” Sam asks.
Garrison takes a breath. “Because I don’t believe Reginald Merriweather is responsible for the deaths in1964.”
That isn’t the response I was expecting. I stare at him, unsure of what to make of thatassertion.
“What do you mean?” Iask.
“Reggie Merriweather was a half-cracked hermit who roamed around in the middle of the night scaring the shit out of people and then explaining it as he wanted to soak up the moonlight because he thought it was good for his health. People who knew him said he was brilliant, but something happened and it just sent him off the deep end. He constantly talked about creatures in the woods and in the lake, and believed there were ghosts from some old settler group that came into this area and all disappeared. But there was never a settler group that everexisted.”
“This man was only thirty-five when he died. That means he was twenty-five when the murders happened,” I say. “You sound like you’re describing an ancientman.”
“You don’t have to be old to be strange,” Garrison shrugs. “But I don’t think being strange makes you a killer, either. After the massacre, he always talked about how bad he felt for Mary Ellen’s family and how he wished there was a way he could convince the ghosts to return her to them. I think he found out he was sick and wanted to do something great at the end of his life. He happened on Mary Ellen’s body and knew there was no way anyone was ever going to be held responsible for it, so he took the blame to ease her family’ssuffering.”
“The location of the body wasn’t released,” Isay.
“That’s because there were concerns there would be a mob and it would cause irredeemabledamage.”
“Where was it?” Iask.
“In a burlap bag tied beneath the dock at the camp boathouse. It was there for ten years and no oneknew.”
“You want me to believe that there were extensive police searches of the camp, not to mention at least six by volunteer search parties, and it was just never noticed?” Iask.
“Go out to the camp. Look at the boathouse and tell me you would think to look beneath it for a body,” hecounters.
“But you believe Merriweather just happened on itcoincidentally.”
“He spent a lot of time there when he wasn’t supposed to be there. He was known for his obsession with the lake. There isn’t any evidence that links him to these crimes, Agent Griffin. His house was searched. He was spoken to several times. He took the fall for somebody else, and that means the real killer is still out there. He could have been responsible for this massacre, too.”
“You’re still up?”
