Darkness in Appalachia

Chapter 10

David drove back to town with Howell once again in the passengerseat. He was talking on his phone with McCormick didn't acknowledgeDavid's presence, though.

"I agree. There's something off about that Ms. Elmore. The problemis proving it." He was silent while McCormick spoke, nodding hishead in agreement. "We don't have anything to suggest that she hasany link to the other victims and we can't prove that she has been inWest Virginia anytime recently. Unless we come up with something, wewon't be able to get a warrant to search her property." More silentnodding. "We've already been told to head back to the local office.We'll just have to try and find something in the paperwork to make alink and see if we can convince the higher ups that she bearswatching." He clicked his phone off and leaned back in his seat,staring out the side window as if lost in thought.

"You know, you could have rode with your partner if you needed totalk to him." David didn't try to hide his annoyance.

Howell didn't even turn his head. "I would have but he's aterrible driver. He enjoys trying to make me sick on these kind ofroads. Besides, I want to keep an eye on you. Everyone around hereseems to think that Ms. Elmore is something special just because shehas money. It's disgusting."

David shrugged. "I'm not from around here. I didn't even knowabout the Elmores until two days ago so there's no reason for me toregard her as anything special. Besides, she may be wealthy by thisarea's standards but she's nothing compared to some of the peoplewhere I used to work."

Howell finally turned his head, regarding David with a new look inhis eyes. "That's true. We looked over your record before we met.You used to work up in New York for a while, right? And Chicagobefore that?"

David nodded. "That's right. And a lot of the people that I had todeal with had more money and power than Ms. Elmore could even dreamof. She's nothing special as far as I'm concerned." He was lyingthrough his teeth but if it made Howell more amiable it was worth it.

"Well, then what's your impression of Ms. Elmore?"

David was silent as the considered what to say that would defertheir suspicion away from her. "I think that she's suspicious but Idon't think that she has anything to do with the case you'recurrently working on. She seems to be more the type to do blue collarcrimes. She's a bit eccentric but my experience when that kind ofperson is that they will commit crimes to further their money andpower but won't get their hands dirty on other things."

"That's true. It could be that that's why she seemed suspicious.And it's true that there's no evidence to suggest that she has beenanywhere near the other scenes or has anything to do with any of theother people that we've connected to the cases. McCormick was justsaying something similar on the phone."

David risked looked at him out of the corner of his eye. "So, whatare you going to do?"

"We've been ordered to return to the head office. We will continueto investigate her there and see if we can find anything after a deepbackground check. If we can't, we will have to wait for more evidenceto come to light or another body to fall that we might be able tolink someone to."

"That sucks."

Howell shrugged. "Yeah, but that's the way a lot of these casesplay out. We're stuck waiting for more information and bodies and theperpetrator just keeps doing what they do until we have enough.Sometimes, it can take years but we will eventually catch up tothem." He returned to staring out the window. "We can't allowourselves to get bogged down by one case or one suspect when thereare so many that need to be solved." There was a hint of anger inhis tone but David suspected that it wasn't directed towards him.

"That's why I moved to this small town. Too many cases that wecouldn't solve and too many families that came begging answers yearsafter their loved ones were killed. The most we have to deal witharound here are some traffic stops and drugs. Violent crimes are rareand are normally cut and dry."