Chapters Eleven through Fourteen

Chapter Eleven

Pete Webb looks up from his computer, chief of detectives Robert Scott is at his office door "what you got boss? Rosemary and I have a full book okay. Not a new case."

"You hear about what is going on over west of Staunton, Flat Top Gap?"

"Not really, some beef about a deputy beating up some punk, they found a couple of dead dealers. Some local kook started pointing fingers at the sheriffs office, sounded kind of crazy. I tuned it out when I saw the talking heads rattling on about it on TV. It got political and the governor's office got involved, you sent Smerdon and his partner over there."

Scott gestures for Webb to follow, "I have Craig Smerdon on the line in my office, listen to what they have, I think you will be interested."

Pete gets up following Bob Scott to his office, Scott punches conference on the desk top phone.

Scott sits down and leans forward, "Hey Craig, I got Pete Webb, give him the capsule summary of what you just told me."

Pete leans against the wall, curious but wanting to get back to his own work.

Smerdon responds, "We have two dead guys, single GSW to the back of the head, flex cuffs hands behind their back execution style. In the same room we have bags of dope, money and notebooks with the records for the local dealers. We finished interviews with the sheriff's office yesterday, they got nearly three months of surveillance pictures of these guys and dealers doing business."

Pete steps closer to the phone, "Okay doesn't sound unusual."

"Bob didn't tell you about the pictures, thousands of high quality surveillance pictures, they aren't from the sheriff's office. Sheriff says he got the pictures on a USB in his mail box one morning before work."

Pete looks at Bob Scott with surprise "Holy Crap!" Scott nods, "doesn't that sound like what you found last summer."

Pete moves next to the desk leaning over the phone, "Craig, were there some dealers that just turned themselves in? They got text messages with pictures of the dead guys threatening them."

"Yeah, how the hell did you know that?"

"We found the same thing last year in southwest Virginia, Clear Creek. I kind of suspected the Sheriff had gone vigilante with a partner, but there was not a shred of evidence. What is the background on the sheriff there?"

"Let's see, Peter Clay grew up in Blacksburg Virginia, went to Virginia Commonwealth University, degree in criminal justice. Just emailed you and Bob the summary."

Webb raises a finger in the air, "that sounds really familiar, be right back!" He nearly runs back to his office, digging through a box of his files on the floor, here we go. He sits down at his computer, prints the short summary that Smerdon just sent, runs by the printer and grabs the single page summary.

Webb comes back into Scott's office and sits in the chair in front of Scott's desk next to the phone, he is looking at the profiles side by side. "Sheriff of Clear Creek is Paul Bachman graduated Blacksburg Virginia same high school graduating class as Peter Clay. VCU Commonwealth criminal justice degree on Army ROTC scholarship, then went into Army CID. They went to high school and college together, boss these two are working together somehow. If this didn't blow up in the media in Flat Top Gap, we never would have connected these murders, not likely anyway. This is big, two sheriffs possibly working together in multiple homicides."

Craig Smerdon sighs, "Bob this is too big for us here. We can't take that on."

Peter Webb shakes his head, "I don't want to try and take this on either, not even both of our teams working together. We have to work with Sheriff's across the state all the time if we go after these two guys and we are wrong. But we can't just ignore this connection."

Bob Scott is tapping his fingers on his desk top, "Yeah you are right about that, I know Dan Popp a section chief in the FBI BAU pretty well, maybe they would help us out."

Dan picks up his phone as he reads the status reports on his sections cases, "Popp BAU."

"Dan it's Bob Scott, you got a minute."

"Sure thing Bob."

Dan listens to the description of what the Virginia criminal investigation bureau has found, nearly one year apart in two small towns one hundred and forty miles apart. Dan is about to interrupt when he hears the clincher, "okay, Bob I was about to say pass, but let me check and see if we can take this on, I know who I would like to give it to just not sure we can squeeze it in. I will get back to you in a couple of hours."

Louise is reviewing paperwork from Toledo, signing her approvals on the computer for the transcript reviews by Stan and Janet. She sits back putting her reading glasses down on the desk, she hears Dan chuckle standing in her doorway, "I remember when you used to call me old man because I have reading glasses, welcome to middle age."

Louise smiles, "what you got old man?"

Dan sits in the chair in the corner of Louise's office, under the FBI seal. "You think you can fit in a new case? It could take some time, could be a vigilante mission."

Louise sips her green tea as Dan plays back through the summary of what the Virginia SBI found last summer in Clear Creek Virginia and what they have in Flat Top Gap this summer. "I remember reading a short summary last year about Clear Creek, nothing about these pictures the sheriffs say they got on a USB, must be the same UNSUBs. Could be drug related, maybe a supplier that is playing rough with locals not paying up or a competitor that wants to take out the competition. Not sure what to make of them giving the sheriff's the USB's maybe to make it clear the killings are drug related, especially sensational for the media. You say the SBI suspects the Sheriff's might be involved, they have any evidence of that?"

"I was about ready to say pass on this until I heard the real kicker, the two sheriffs were in the same high school graduating class and college together the same majors. The SBI investigator in Clear Creek had a suspicion the sheriff was involved, just a hunch but they did not have any evidence and thought he would need a partner. They had no evidence of any partner, but now with this connection. The SBI doesn't want to chase it, if they are wrong, they could jeopardize relations with other Sheriff's offices. What do you think? If they are vigilante or public service killings, it fits into your teams specialty area."

Louise is tapping her pencil on the desk top. "Yeah, we will want the files on the underlying killings in both towns, as well as what they have looking into the sheriff's office in Clear Creek. Everything the Virginia SBI already has so we can hit the ground running."

Bob Scott sees the number come up on his desk phone, "do you have good news for me Dan?"

"Send us everything you have, send it to Louise Spalding, I am sending you an email that we are available for the case with Louise on copy."

"Spalding, the one that led the Olympic National Park investigation, good very good."

                   *******

Louise is on the phone with Craig Smerdon, "we will be there Monday, tell the Sheriff's office to keep that conference room in the library for us, we will have a lock smith re-key the lock to the room for us."

"You don't need us to stick around?"

"No, we have all of the files, if we have questions we will track you down, I am sure you are busy."

"Great, thanks Agent Spalding, to be honest I hope its not these two guys, they are both well respected, both have been sheriff of the year in Virginia. But I have a bad feeling, these things have to be linked and it doesn't feel like a drug dispute to me. But there are some narcotics investigators that think they could be trafficking related crimes."

"We will consider all the possibilities and go where ever the evidence takes us."

                   *******

Late on Friday Louise is meeting with Stan Reese and Janet Taft in a BAU conference room, they have been plowing through the files from Clear Creek and Flat Top Gap. They are wrapping up their review, Louise ties her hair back in a pony tail, "okay Julie capsule summary of what the SBI found in Clear Creek last summer."

"The two deputies and sheriff have three suspected dealers, in town but it's hard to get them, it's a small department. Sheriff Bachman comes in one morning with a USB, tells the deputies and dispatcher it was in his mail box with a sticky note with sheriff written on it. The USB has more than two thousand surveillance pictures, for last few months the three dealers. There are also pictures of the dealers with a local businessman who owns a pizza restaurant, duffle bags coming in and out after business hours. There are pictures of the pizza restaurant owner on a drug run with the lead dealer to Charlotte, sophisticated surveillance"

"The afternoon after they look through the USB, the lead dealer and pizza restaurant owner are found dead in the restaurant. There is a lot of cash in the restaurant and they find drugs and notebooks for the drug deals in the lead dealers garage. The sheriff gets a phone call the other two dealers have gotten a text message with a threat to turn themselves in or be killed. It's clear the sheriff could not have pulled this off by himself. It could be a public service or vigilante killing but it could be a supplier or another drug dealer sending some kind of message."

Stan gives the rundown on Flat Top Gap, he is wrapping up, "lots of similarities to Clear Creek, including the quality of the surveillance work the sheriff claims he got on the USB in his mail box. The timing is a bit different, but very similar with the killing of the two apparent partners, the commotion with the local media and the arrest and release of one the dealers by a deputy seems to have complicated things for the killer. On the surface, this case could be a vigilante killing, public service killing or some narco trafficking dispute."

Louise gets up, looks out the window, the sun has just about disappeared below the horizon. "The coincidence of these two Sheriffs being so closely connected requires a close look." Louise turns from the window, "That's what the Virginia SBI lead detective suspects, let's keep an open mind and see where the evidence takes us. We are not going to run away from the possibility that these two sheriffs are somehow behind this possibly working with another person, doing surveillance for them."

Louise leans forward with her hands on the conference room table, "We already looked at their financials, they aren't paying any body, this likely was not a paid assassination, or at least not financed by them. We drive to Flat Top first thing Monday morning, expect to be on the road for a while. Don't let on to the people in Flat Top Gap that we are looking at these as connected homicides. If Clay and Bachman are working together and we tip that too soon, that would give them a chance to take care of any loose ends and get their stories in line."


Chapter Twelve

Saturday evening Carol Clay is at the desk in the family room on the laptop, reading the Richmond paper online titled FBI Investigate Possible Corruption in Virginia the byline says by permission of the Flat Top Report by Kendra Morris. They picked up Kendra's story, they have been running almost all of Kendra's articles since this mess started. Everyone in town has been reading, now people all over Virginia are reading it and damn Kendra is in overdrive. "Bitch!"

Peter and Chance are watching a ball game, Peter looks at her with eyebrows raised, she shrugs, "excuse me."

Peter shakes his head turning his attention back to the professional baseball game, "don't read it, it will just make you angry. She can say what she wants about the sheriff's department, it's a public office."

Carol keeps reading, Mayor Mark Ingram confirms the FBI is sending a team to investigate the murders of local businessmen Gavin Scott and Richard North. He would not confirm what the scope of the investigation is, however credible sources indicate that the FBI is involved because of potential wrong doing by the sheriff's department. "Yeah, right credible sources."

Carol takes a drink of wine and keeps reading. It is reasonable to speculate that the FBI will be looking into the possibility that the sheriff's department had some role in the homicides, or planting evidence on the scene after the killings to implicate both men as being involved in illegal narcotics. "Bitch!"

Peter and Carol are in bed, Carol rolls over facing him talking in a hushed tone, "Peter, are you worried about the FBI coming?"

Peter stays on his side, eyes closed. "No reason to be worried."

"You don't think Phil could have maybe got into a fight with those two, maybe things got out of hand?"

He rolls over facing her, "Carol no, the scene was not like that. It was cold and calculated and it probably took more than one person or a skilled professional assassin. You know Phil, he would not do something like that."

"I know but the FBI, the SBI is leaving doesn't that mean something?"

"It does, someone wants them to investigate us and that's what they will do."

"You, they will investigate you, why aren't you worried?"

He rolls back over, "Because they are good at their job, don't worry about it, go to sleep." Peter exhales deeply, he is worried about the FBI being called in.

                   *******

Sunday afternoon Peter is sitting on the deck relaxing, his eyes are closed there is the sound of a lawn more in the distance several houses down. His mobile phone buzzes on the small wrought iron patio table, "hello Peter Clay."

"Peter it's Ginna Murray, you need to stop Reggie! He is headed to the bookstore with some friends, he took a baseball bat with him. I think they are going to bust up the book store and if Rudy gets in the way they might hurt him. Please I don't know who else to call."

Peter's eyes come wide open, his adrenaline flowing, "Why is he angry?"

"He is really pissed off about these articles that Kendra is writing, she works out of the bookstore on that online rag she writes."

"Okay I am on my way."

Peter sees Reggie and three other guys headed for the book store, as he pulls the patrol vehicle up on the sidewalk. Before he can say anything one of the guys throws a brick through the front window of the book store. He jumps out walking towards them, "Hey! Stop right there." He is regretting he did not bring his gun; he is not even in uniform. But they all know who he is.

Rudy Morris comes outside, "what the hell! What is going on?"

Reggie is waving the bat, "tell that bitch wife of yours to quit writing crap defending those drug dealers, everyone knows what was in those pictures the sheriff got, they got what they deserved!"

Peter gets to Rudy Morris and pushes him back towards the doorway, Kendra is now beside him. Peter yells out, "okay, you four step back right now. If someone promises to pay for that window and apologizes, maybe Rudy will not press charges."

Kendra pushes toward Peter, "hell no, we are going to press charges!"

Rudy turns glaring at Kendra, "damn it Kendra this isn't some federal conspiracy, Peter is here without a gun trying to defend us, get a grip."

He turns back facing the men, "Reggie, I am sorry for what happened to your family, it is terrible. Kendra has a right to say and write what she thinks. I do not know if what she is saying about the sheriff's office is true, but she has the right to voice her opinions."

Rudy turns to Peter, "Thanks for coming Peter, we aren't going to press charges. I would appreciate someone paying for the damages."

Reggie lowers the bat, and waves his hand for the other three to leave. They walk away, Reggie puts the bat back into his car. He walks back towards the book store stopping a few feet away from Peter, Kendra and Rudy. "Sorry Rudy, I will pay for the window, I read one of those article's and I just lost it. Kendra, I wish you would watch what your write, the whole damn state thinks Peter is a Gestapo. Its crap the whole town knows it's crap, you know its crap."

Kendra frowns shaking her head, "thank you for helping Peter and I am sorry what happened to your family Reggie. Let's hear what the FBI has to say about who shot those men in cold blood and what the truth is about the drugs in this town. That is not how justice is supposed to be done in this country, even if they were dealing drugs. I hope you three have not forgotten that, including you." She pokes her husband in the chest. "I will keep writing." She turns and walks back into the bookstore.




Chapter Thirteen

Monday morning Louise, Janet and Stan arrive in Flat Top Gap, they check in a small hotel on the north side of town, and drive over to the public library. The receptionist at the desk has been expecting them, "FBI right, you are the talk of the town, did you hear about the excitement yesterday?"

Louise shakes her head, "no mam."

"Mob attacked the bookstore; Pine Leaves Books Rudy Morris owns it his wife Kendra has been writing the articles about everything going on. I heard it was twenty five people, busted out the window and was threatening to burn down the place. But that might be an exaggeration, I don't know anyone who was actually there."

Janet puts her back pack on the floor, "really, what happened?"

"Sheriff Clay, broke it up, didn't even have a gun. After all that nasty stuff Kendra wrote about him. I know you all have a job to do, but you are barking up the wrong tree if you think Peter had anything to do with those killings, planting evidence or any that other stuff. I don't know who killed Ricky and Gavin but he didn't have anything to do with it. That's my two cents, let's get you situated. I have set you up with a coffee maker, in there so you don't have to run in and out and Green tea like you asked for with a kettle for heating water."

                   *******

Wednesday morning, the three FBI agents are in the room they have in the library, its comfortable but the furniture is dated, looks like from the 1950s worn but good quality hardwood. The natural light from the large windows, allows them to work without the overhead lighting in the daytime. They have just finished going through the SBI crime scene reports, forensics and reports of what the SBI concluded regarding the activities of the victims. Louise gets a cup of coffee, "okay, it's clear, Gavin Scott was the money man and Richard North was the warehouse and made the runs to the supplier in Pittsburgh. They were definitely running the drugs into Flat Top Gap."

Stan nods in agreement, "Yeah and Scott Peters, Roger Stanley and Harry Powell they confessed to dealing, and their statements are comprehensive as well as the evidence against them."

Louise sits back down, "Janet?

Janet rubs her temples elbows on the table, "to be honest, the pictures from the USB and what the killer left behind made a convincing case, but with what the SBI added to it, there is no doubt. Regardless of who ever killed them, they were the source of this towns drug problem. I don't see any point in interviewing the dealers."

Louise nods, "I agree, none of them know who sent them the threat and none of them were pointing fingers at the sheriff, they do not have any idea of who killed Scott and North. The SBI did not get far with that, stopping when they found the connection between Bachman and Clay. The crime scene and forensics don't help."

Louise pauses, glancing out the window. "Let's move on to deep dive's on the deputies and the sheriff before we start those interviews. I want to do a detailed side by side of Paul Bachman and Peter Clay before we interview Clay."

Janet has been writing the summaries on the white board for the deputies, as the three of them identify key pieces of evidence that might implicate them in the murders. "Is that about it? All three grew up here in town, Phil Mann is the oldest and was a deputy straight from high school before Peter Clay became Sheriff. Butterfield and Bird went to community college, they are two years apart in age. Nothing in their financials, there are witnesses and a solid time line for their movements leading up to the killings. The only flag is Mann blowing up and going after Roger Stanley but that seems to have been a one-time thing. Are we done with them?"

Stan is typing the summary from the white board into a spreadsheet on the lap top, "got it, don't see how any of them could be involved in the killings, the surveillance pictures on the USB, still an open question. Hard to imagine any of them, including the sheriff having the time and frankly the skills to gather all of those surveillance pictures."

Louise pours a cup of warm green tea, "yeah that's good you can erase the board, I agree Stan, there is no way the deputies or sheriff could have been responsible for those surveillance pictures. Can you take over the white board, lets see Paul Bachman and Peter Clay side by side, see how close they really were. Janet, you get it down on the laptop. It's getting late, let's finish this piece up."

Stan writes a summary on the white board as Janet reads and types on her laptop an overview of the timelines of Bachman and Clay. Janet looks up from her lap top, "that's it."

Stan finishes writing and sits back down, the three of them are quiet looking at the white board. Janet blows a loud sigh, "I'm not seeing BFFs here, its not the slam dunk it sounded like on the surface. Same high school graduating class of 234 students, Clay a football player and Bachman basketball, Bachman was in student government not Clay. Same college, pretty big class of students in criminal justice, but they had to know each other, they could have gotten close in college."

Louise looks at the white board her left elbow on the table with her hand under her chin, tapping her index finger on her cheek. "Then things diverge, Clay moves to Roanoke right after college, gets married to Carol three years later, she went to VCU and is from Roanoke. Her father is chief of detectives in Roanoke city police, no doubt he helped Peter get a job as an entry level detective. A year after they are married, they have their first child and six months later he is hired by the previous mayor of Flat Top Gap to replace the sheriff who retired, been there twelve years."

"Bachman was ROTC at VCU straight into the Army after graduation, gets married a year after graduation. Seven years in Army CID, three rotations into Afghanistan. His wife Betty is from Pulaski her father is the county manager. She went to Virginia Tech; an accountant had a brother at VCU that knew Bachman from ROTC. He gets the job as sheriff in Clear Creek six months after he is out of the army, about a year after Clay became the sheriff in Flat Top Gap. Daughter Kelsey is ten years old."

Janet slumps in her chair, "they are friends in social media accounts, but rarely send messages other than a holiday greeting, their wives are not connected in any way. They know each other, they definitely know each other."

Louise grips the arms of the chair, "but well enough to conspire to murder four people? Let's see what we get from the interviews, here then we will head to Clear Creek."

                   *******

Louise is lead for the last interview in the makeshift interview room, using the room they have in the library. They have a court reporter from Staunton for the interviews of the deputies, the dispatcher and Peter Clay. They want accurate transcripts; the court reporter takes the burden of note taking off of them. Clay is the last interview; Louise is following an outline she has prepared for interviewing him. It's been mostly background up to this point, allowing them to get a baseline of Peter Clay as he responds to questions. She is moving to questions involving the critical two days involving the homicides.

Clay is responding to a question about how he discovered the surveillance USB, "I was pulling out of the drive way, saw the mail box door was open, got out of the patrol vehicle and saw the USB with the yellow sticky."

Louise nods watching Peter his hands on the table, fingers comfortably interlaced, "that is the same day that deputy Mann arrested Roger Stanley and later that day you told him to release Stanley. Same day?"

"That's correct."

"We already covered that in detail, what happened when you got home that evening, was it a typical night or was there anything unusual you can recall."

"Hmmm, nothing stands out, the article by Kendra Morris was the next day, that was an eventful day."

"I want to stay with the night before for a moment, anything that stands out? Did you leave home, were your wife and son home?"

"I remember telling Carol what happened with Phil and Runt, I mean Roger Stanley. I don't like to bring work home, but I knew she would hear gossip around town. We had dinner watched TV and stayed in, we both had to work the next day, Chance was home I remember he was in his room reading some book he had just bought."

"Did your wife know about the USB?"

"No, it was law enforcement related business no reason to talk to her about it."
Louise glances at her outline, "did she see the USB?" She watches Bachman closely.

He shakes his head slowly, "no, like I said I got it on the way out of the house."

Louise has several questions about the next day, his movements and the deputies, they want to closely compare this to what they have from the deputies and dispatcher. Louise can see that his description of movements lines up with what they got from the others. Clay on patrol in his vehicle, came into the office after the mayor called him about the online article. While he was there, the dispatcher told him to contact the deputies, they told Bachman they had discovered the bodies of Scott and North.

Louise stands up, "Let's take a break, I don't have many more questions."

As they sit back down, Louise closely focuses on Peter Clay, looking for any body language or micro-expressions for this next series of questions, she has a decent baseline on him. He is an experienced law enforcement professional but very few people can completely control these things, "Going back again to the night before the killings, you said you and your wife did not leave home."

"That's right."

"Would she know if you had left the house at any time, gotten out of bed and left for some reason?"

"Most likely, she is a pretty sound sleeper, but I am guessing she would notice."

"What about neighbors, would they notice if you got into the patrol car late that night or someone picked you up."

Clay slightly cocks his head, "Agent Spalding, you know I can not speak to what other people may or may not have seen, I was at home all night."

Louise nods writing a note on her outline, no strong reaction on alibi at home. "Okay the next morning you were on patrol alone in your patrol vehicle, would anyone in town have seen you?"

"It was a general patrol; I am sure people saw me."

"Do you remember anyone in particular who could place you in the patrol vehicle, that morning?"

"No one in particular."

Louise writes on her outline, no reaction on patrol movement, "Have you been to Clear Creek

Virginia anytime the last two years?" She watches him carefully.

"Clear Creek? Hmm, no I don't think I have ever been to Clear Creek, well I have probably driven through there sometime in my life."

Louise writes on her outline, puzzled or playing a game with us about Clear Creek? "Have you been there since Paul Bachman has been sheriff?"

"Paul, let's see I am pretty sure no, he has been sheriff just about as long as I have been sheriff."

"When is the last time you two talked?"

"We usually see each other at the annual Virginia sheriffs convention in the spring, but I didn't go this year. I remember seeing him there last year, that would have been in April, we always get together one night and catch up."

"You have not met or communicated with Paul Bachman since April of last year, by any means?"

"We have not communicated or met since then, wait I take that back I sent him an email that I would not be at the convention this year, he sent a short reply, something like catch you next year. I am confused what are these questions about Paul, what does that have to do with Flat Top Gap and these killings and the drugs here?"

Louise shakes her head, "Are you in the habit of taking questions when you are doing interviews?" She jots a note, confused or deflecting on Bachman?

"No agent Spalding, sorry."

"You were classmates in high school and at the same college together, the same major. Are you two close friends?"

"We know each other, we were not close friends in high school and in college we were in different social circles, we did some study projects together in college. We are colleagues, but no we are not close."

"Did you know they had killings last summer?"

"Yes, through the law enforcement network reports, sounded like a drug deal thing gone bad."

"Did you know he got a USB with surveillance pictures in his mailbox the day of the killings?" Louise focuses, watching Clay closely.

Peter stares, "you mean just like we got, they got the same thing in Clear Creek."

Louise nods, "yes, did you know?"

"No agent Spalding not until this moment." Louise writes a short note, confused or surprised about USB in Clear Creek.

"Thank you for your time, Sheriff Clay. Please do not discuss your testimony with anyone."

"Yes mam, I understand." Peter Clay walks out, the court reporter is packing up. Louise waits till she is gone. "What do you both think?"

Janet shakes her head, "I don't know, you don't want to interview his wife or push harder on that night and morning? His timeline is still fuzzy, he could be involved in the killing and his alibi could be weak, we would have to push on his wife and neighbors and do some digging."

Louise leans back in the chair, rolling her head side to side cracking a kink in her neck, "not until we see what we get from Bachman."

Louise looks to Stan waiting for his thoughts "well the only time he showed any emotion, was when you said they had gotten a USB in Clear Creek. Seemed to be surprised, but it could be surprise that they had the same thing he had gotten here or it could be surprise that we might be connecting the dots between him and Bachman. I couldn't tell, like you say let's see what we get from Bachman."

Louise nods "let's see if he tries to communicate with Bachman, we have the warrants for their mobile, email, and social media. Surely, they would be too smart for that, if they are behind this, they will be using burners, encrypted no doubt. There is no other communication between them.


Chapter Fourteen

Stephanie Fox comes in to Glenn Buckland's office, "sorry I am late, what is this about the FBI Paul? You say they will be in town all day tomorrow."

"They want to interview me the deputies and Jemma about the murders last summer, agent Spalding was a little bit vague to be honest. Just wanted you to know they would be here; people might be talking."

Stephanie looks at Buckland sitting at his desk, he shrugs "nothing from me, sounds like law enforcement cooperation. They must have some suspects, making sure they have everything they need to know from the day it happened, I don't know."

Stephanie is standing tapping her left foot, "okay Paul thanks for the heads up, still no sign of any drugs in town?"

Paul shakes his head, "as far as we can tell nothing being dealt in town, the hard core users must be driving over to Pulaski or Blacksburg, but this summer we haven't seen anything around town."

                   *******

Stan is driving, they just passed through Blacksburg, He looks at his watch, "another thirty minutes."

Janet looks out the window, "it is pretty, I haven't spent much time in the mountains, maybe I will start hiking. Louise you sure about Miranda, we are not going to give them a warning not even Bachman?"

"No same as Flat Top Gap. None of them are suspects at this point, if something changes during the course of the interviews, especially with Bachman then we will stop, advise them of their rights. I am sure if there is another round with Bachman or Clay, it will probably be a formal interrogation, but they could stop talking."

Janet winces, "not very comfortable, looking at law enforcement like this."
                   *******

Jemma has the furniture polish and a duster in the conference room, Paul walks over to the door of the conference room. "What are you doing Jemma, its not a social visit?"

"Paul, the FBI BAU these people fly around in jets, big offices with high tech stuff. I want to make a good impression."

Paul chuckles, "somehow I think the TV version, might not be the same as reality."

Minutes later Paul sees the front door open, he walks over. "You three must be from the bureau, sheriff Paul Bachman."

Louise steps forward, "yes sheriff, SSA Spalding and agents Reese and Taft, where should we set up."

"Conference room Jemma can help you out, Jemma radio the deputies to come in. Agent Spalding can you give us any more background?"

Louise pauses before heading towards the conference room, "we are looking at the double homicide from last summer, we can't say anymore at this time. We can start with the dispatcher, Mrs. Baldwin if that is okay. These are just background; we will record them if that is okay."

Bachman nods watching as the agents set up in the conference room, "sure thing."

Jemma smiles at the agents as they set up in the conference room, "we have sandwiches and soup coming in for lunch, did you fly in from DC to Blacksburg?"

Louise smiles, "we just drove, have a seat Mrs. Baldwin it will not take long."

Jemma nods her head, "let me call the deputies on the radio and I will be right back."

When the lunch arrives, they are finishing up with Tony Barnes, Louise opens the door to the conference room. "We can eat and then interview you sheriff Bachman if that is okay."

"Sure."

Jemma is clearing the lunch left overs, Janet and Stan helping her, "I hope everything was okay.

Coffee is in the corner."

Stan smiles, "yes mam, it was very good, thank you."

Paul Bachman sits across the table from the three agents, he is not used to being on this side of the table, they have their notebooks open and Louise starts the tape recorder. She starts with general background, then she moves onto what he knew about the three dealers.

"You and your deputies had a pretty good idea, Green, Heaslip and Hart were dealing but you thought the drugs were coming in from outside of town."

"Yes, we figured Hart to be the leader we thought he was probably running over to Blacksburg, but we don't have the time or resources to do surveillance for trying to monitor him. The best evidence we ever had was on that USB."

Louise watches Bachman, "yeah we heard about that from your deputies and the dispatcher, that is a strange thing, what did you think?"

"I really did not know what to think, strange. Who would be capable and why?"

"You ever hear or see anything like that before?"

"Not like that, you know a few pictures with a note about some minor complaint, vandalism or trespassing. Nothing like those surveillance pictures."

"You were in the office, when the dispatcher got the call from Holland's wife, you went to the pizza restaurant and she called the deputies to respond."

"That's right."

"From the forensics, it seems like they had been dead since between midnight and three in the morning, anything unusual from that night?"

All three FBI agents have their poker faces on but they are focused intensely on Paul Bachman's body language, his head movements, eye, hand gestures. Jemma Baldwin told them Paul looked tired that morning and he had said it had been a long night. This could be the point where everything changes, he could soon be a suspect.

Bachman puts his hand to his mouth, he looks up, then his hands go back onto the table fingers interlaced. "Nothing strange or unusual, we did not have any call outs, no reports of gunshots or disturbance nothing like that related to the office, it was a long night for me personally."

Louise nods, "how so?"

"Betty got sick, around ten thirty at night, throwing up and had a slight fever. I took our daughter Kelsey next door to stay and drove Betty over to the ER in Pulaski I was worried. It turned out to be food poisoning, Betty had eaten yogurt after dinner. Kelsey and I did not have any of it, had to be the yogurt. I called the neighbors from the hospital and said it wasn't serious, they let Kelsey spend the night. They gave her some fluids, and gave her some medication to get the temperature down, she felt really bad for a while."

Louise stays focused, "Sorry to hear that, she was able to come home that night?"

"Yeah, but we didn't get back until just before three, I got her to bed. She was fine in the morning, but I didn't get much sleep maybe three hours. Next morning, I went next door to get Kelsey so she could get ready for school that's when I saw the mail box was open. Anyway, nothing strange related to the murders."

Louise sits back, "okay tell us about the crime scenes what you remember."

Louise is wrapping up with Paul, "you know Sheriff Clay in Flat Top Gap."

"Peter Clay, yeah sure, known him since high school, why do you ask?"

"We were over there looking at these recent murders they have, there appears to be a link."
"Okay. I can not believe the bad press they have been getting, some idiot over there writes a blog pointing the finger at Peter. Soon every liberal news outlet and politician in the state jumps on the band wagon. I hope you can help him out, no way he would be involved in planting drugs much less covering up a homicide."

"You talk to him by chance about what is going on over there or these killings in Clear Creek, you see any connection?"

"We don't really talk much, usually at the state sheriffs convention we will catch up, but he wasn't there this year. I really don't know what they had over there, or if there is a connection. Is it important? Should we be looking at that?"

Louise shakes her head, "no I don't think it is." She turns off the recorder, "thanks for your time sheriff and thank the deputies and Mrs. Baldwin as well, we have what we need."

                   *******

The three FBI agents are quiet, Janet is driving on the way back to the hotel at Flat Top Gap, they called the Pulaski hospital before they left town, verified the timing of Betty Bachman's trip to the ER and that her husband was with her the whole time. No way for him to have been directly involved in the actual killing of Holland and Hart. Louise is looking out the window, "it is beautiful." The sun is getting low on the horizon over ridges toward the west.

Stan is lightly tapping his fingers on the window, "these are connected crimes, not sure how or who, but they are connected."

Louise slowly nods, "Janet what was our lesson learned from Olympic National Park?"

"See if you can find victim zero and ask what triggered the killings, you think there might be another similar killing?"

"We haven't checked, did we fall down the same rabbit hole? We should look when we get back to the hotel see if there is anything before we head back to Quantico. Let's widen out to North Carolina, West Virginia and Tennessee, see if there was anything similar the last few years."