Sitting there in the living room with Jeff felt uncomfortable. I wasn’t sure where to start this bonding moment. Fortunately, Jeff took the lead.
“Nathan, I know that Allison likes you and wants us to be friendly. Maybe you’re an upright guy, but I’m just concerned about her.” He was again being direct, with no hint of discomfort in discussing this. It probably comes with being a cop, the ability to set feelings aside and get to the heart of the matter.
“I understand that,” I said. “I’m not going to take advantage of her. I’m paying my own way here. I’m not a vagrant.” I paused considering what I should say to assure Jeff. “I like your sister. I like her a lot. Yes, I’m unemployed, but that won’t last forever. I will find a job. I just hope that she’ll still want me around when that time comes.”
Jeff’s eyes focused squarely on me, but not in anger. I suspected he was searching for reasons to believe me, to trust me. After several seconds, he nodded, apparently accepting that I was trustworthy.
“I’ve done some checking up on you,” he said.
That was expected. He’s a cop. If my sister were involved with an unemployed drifter, I would do the same. That now made the second time my background had been scrutinized by the local law. No real problem. Nothing nefarious there to be found, nothing to hide. I just felt a bit vulnerable.
“I understand,” was all I offered in response.
He didn’t say anything about what he found or what he thought of me. He just continued to focus his eyes on me. After a pause, he said, “I haven’t talked to my supervisor yet about any positions with the county. It’s his day off. He’ll be back on Monday. I’ll get with him then.”
Those words said all that needed to be said. He had checked up on me, found nothing to be concerned with. He had probably also talked with Sheriff Tyler. Maybe the squabbles between Deputy Powell and me came up in their discussions, but it did not seem to be important enough to kill my chances. Regardless of what he had found or heard, he was going to help me with employment. “Thanks, Jeff. I appreciate that.”
He nodded.
“Jeff, did you want to get something to eat before you go back on patrol?”
“No, I’m fine for now. I’ll grab something later.” He paused to collect his thoughts before continuing. “I’ve heard some things about you, and I just need to learn more. What are you doing here?”
As I had been contemplating earlier, if I was going to take my investigation anywhere, I needed an ally in local law enforcement. To get an ally requires giving up something, to build a bridge. And if my relationship with Allison were to evolve into a long-term relationship, then Jeff would be part of that in some way. Any relationship brings with it a new family that needs to be folded in. It was time to start folding Jeff into my life. Not all at once, but step by step. Besides, he might even one day be my brother-in-law. So I started telling him what I was doing here.
“After the economy threw me out of my job in Cincinnati, I applied everywhere. Nothing came up.” I paused to consider how to proceed next and decided to just tell it like it happened. “I couldn’t afford to stay in my home, so I sold everything and moved into my car. Maybe not the greatest plan, but it seemed to be my only real option. And since there still weren’t any jobs, I headed west to get away. I couldn’t stay in Ohio any more. Unemployment in Cincinnati was over ten percent, even higher in some places around there.”
Jeff didn’t say anything. He just nodded in apparent understanding.
Feeling a need to defend myself, I added, “I have money to pay my bills. I’m no vagrant. And being unemployed is not my choice. It’s just the way it is.” I felt like this was a confession of my failings. It was not a normal course of conversation for me, but it had to be said.
“I’ve always liked hiking, so this was as good a place as any to do that. And since I’d written a few articles on hiking, writing as a career seemed like something I should try.”
Jeff was still silent, just peering in my direction without judgment. I suspected that Allison had already told him all of this, but he wasn’t interrupting. Perhaps hearing it from me reinforced it for him, made it real so he could better trust me as a suitor of his sister.
His silence made me a bit uncomfortable, but I plowed ahead. “You’ve probably heard about the dead man I found near the bottom of a cliff on Monarch Trail.” I focused my eyes on him, putting him on the spot to respond.
“The Sheriff seems to think you’re wrong about him being dead.”
“Yeah, well, I know what I saw.”
“And the grape vine thinks you’re just a wanna-be author looking to create a plot.” He chuckled. “You have to admit, your start here in Willow Run has been less than stellar.”
“Well, talk is cheap. Anyway, I’ve been looking into it some more.” I wasn’t ready yet to share everything. I hadn’t even done that with my long-time partner Ed Garvey. But I had to draw Jeff closer because after obtaining the dog tag, there was a certainty that very soon I would need him as an ally.
I noticed Jeff took a quick glance at his wristwatch, a telling signal that he would soon have to go to work.
“I have some thoughts and speculation on what happened out there. We can talk about all that when you have more time.” And, I thought, when I have more hard facts in hand. “But there is one thing you might be able to help me understand.”
“What’s that?” he said.
“I hiked west from the cliff on Monarch Trail because that is the direction the guy came from. A few miles out, I encountered a fence.” Before he could interject, I rushed on. “There was a barbed wire fence. It was posted about the area recovering, from that fire last fall. But beyond that was a double row of eight-foot high chain link fences, topped with razor wire. It completely surrounds Spring Valley.”
“What?” he stated with disbelief.
I showed him the images from my cell phone.
After a few moments he asked, “How do you know it was the valley?”
“I had my GPS with me,” I said firmly. “So, Jeff, what’s out there that requires an eight-foot fence?”
He was silent for several moments, staring at the images on my phone and considering what to say. “Nathan, I don’t know. I don’t know what you have here, but there’s probably some simple explanation.”
“Yeah? What might that be?” I challenged. His reaction was following the script of when I talked with the do-nothing Sheriff.
“I don’t know. And what does it have to do with your dead guy?”
“Maybe everything. Maybe nothing. I don’t know, but I have my suspicions which we can talk about when you have more time, lots more time.”
“Maybe so. I think though I need to see this fence for myself.”
Finally, the first sign of curiosity from a local law enforcement officer. “Sure. Any time you say, we can hike out there. I’ll show you exactly what I saw.”
He stared at the images for a few more seconds and then checked his wristwatch. “Look, I’ve got to get back on patrol. I’m working today and tomorrow. But on Monday we can go out there. While we’re hiking, you can tell me what else you’re thinking.”
“Sure,” I said. It was funny how this interaction had started. We were talking because Allison had dictated it. This was not how I might have scripted this to go, but it was working. And I had to tell everything to someone who at least was willing to listen, though the last time I did that, with Joseph Custer, the guy disappeared. Jeff would be different. He was armed. He was the law. He was not going to disappear. At least, I had to believe that.
“Nathan, who else have you told about this?”
“Why does it matter?” I asked.
He laughed about the absurdity of my question. “You’ve been here long enough to witness the grape vine in action. The folks around here have been talking about your dead Hispanic for days. People can do crazy things when they do
n’t understand what’s going on.”
I nodded in understanding. “Just the Sheriff who doesn’t believe it anyway. And Joseph Custer who left town suddenly.”
He hung his head in disappointment on hearing the name Joseph Custer, a reporter who might tell all in his paper.
“It’s OK, Jeff. Joseph said he wouldn’t print anything until we talked. Since he’s been gone, we haven’t talked again. And with him gone, no new papers have been printed.”
“Well, that’s a bit comforting.”
I was tempted to interject something about it being odd that Custer left town so suddenly, but then what did I really know about him? Almost nothing. He’s a grown-up who can certainly take care of himself. So I said nothing.
“I won’t say anything until we have a chance to talk again,” I offered.
Jeff nodded in approval. “Well, gotta go. I’ll call you later.”
“Thanks, Jeff.”
We left the house. He climbed into his cruiser and waved quickly, almost like a salute, as he departed.