“I remember you saying how excited he was to attend academy.”
“It’s what he’s dreamed of since he was a kid. Always watching cop shows. He didn’t want to go to college. He thought that was a waste of his time, and for him it would be. So he passed the entrance exams and background check and was accepted.”
“But?”
“The night of his senior prom he broke into a church in Berthoud and graffitied the altar and some of the pews.”
“He was eighteen?”
“Yes, an adult.”
“Was he arrested?”
“Yes, but he was let go at the station. The church’s pastor, Fred Stratz, called Clay after calling the police, and Fred and Clay came to an arrangement. Fred asked the police if he could handle it by having Parker work for the damage he caused. In the end he didn’t want Parker to have a permanent record.”
“You said Parker’s doing well at the academy, Mary. Help me here.”
She shook her head. You don’t get it. “Technically, there was an arrest, but it was scrubbed.”
“Scrubbed?”
“It didn’t come up in the background check, and I think the pastor’s to thank for that. That doesn’t mean it can’t come up later because someone knows about it. Parker didn’t include the arrest in his application, and lying on your application gets you expelled. If he’d told the truth, he would’ve been turned down, and if he tells the truth now, he’ll be expelled, three weeks from graduation. He could wait a few years and reapply, but he’d never do that. He’d go on to who knows what in life. Being a cop—it’s his world, and it’s a good life. A good job for a kid with just a high school diploma.”
“Then why did he risk—”
Mary cut me off, eyes flashing. “Do you have kids? They do stupid things. He was two weeks from graduating high school, and on his last big night out with his best friend, he took a foolish dare.”
“What about his friend?”
“Gavin didn’t enter the church so he wasn’t charged.”
“Gavin who?”
“Gavin Inman.”
“I’m guessing it wasn’t Stratz who gave you Connor Morse’s arrest record.”
“Stratz retired and moved to Arizona not long after Parker left for the academy. Parker and Stratz ended up getting along. No, someone local put Morse’s arrest record in my mailbox. Even Gavin doesn’t live here anymore. Whoever it was knew about Parker’s arrest and threatened to tell the academy. If the academy finds out, they’ll investigate.”
“So who could’ve known about it?”
“Stratz was probably asked why Parker was helping him out, and he probably talked to family and friends. Gavin talked to some students in the senior class, I’m sure. Word spreads in a small town.”
“But it didn’t spread to Austin.”
For the first time since sitting down, Mary drank her tea. She checked her watch and glanced about the restaurant. “I need to get back.”
I couldn’t escape the feeling that though Mary wanted my help, she also wanted to tell me the bare minimum required to obtain that help. Parker was everything to her. Clay, Brodie, Dalton, Shasta, and even Isak—who stood to lose everything if his wife’s affair and his assault on a student were revealed—were distant concerns.
The situation called for a verbal shock or two. “Dalton Taylor knew about Morse’s arrest record,” I said.
She froze.
“And he knew about Brodie’s car accident in Idaho. Both incidents are in one of his paintings.”
She’d been twisting around, searching for a waiter, but now she swiveled back and looked me dead in the eyes. “What do you mean they’re in his painting?”
“You didn’t know? Dalton painted two figures that are clearly Morse and Brodie, one behind the wheel of a car with a whiskey bottle and the other selling drugs in the high school parking lot. They’re in the painting that upset Laura.”
A long moment passed before Mary said, “How could he know? That’s Hidden Little Town Number 8. He painted it last July. It’s been in our house since October, when Clay asked if he could hang it there temporarily. He told Dalton he might buy it, which was a joke. It was uncharacteristic of Dalton to agree to that.”
“Dalton shouldn’t have known about Morse in July, or October.”
“No one in Juniper Grove did. Only Morse himself.”
“And Dalton shouldn’t know about Brodie at all because right now only you and Brodie know about his drunk driving record.”
“Are you saying Dalton’s the one blackmailing me?”
I had no earthly idea. “Laura’s in that painting too.”
“Dalton blackmailing me? But how would he know about Parker and the others?”
“Better yet, why would he send you a photo of himself and Shasta?”
Mary considered. “He wouldn’t. He publicly accused his wife of cheating on him, and people say he got almost everything in their divorce, including the sympathy of unsuspecting middle-aged women.” She reached for her purse on the back of her chair and slung the strap over her shoulder. “I really have to go. Call me if you need to.”
“What are you going to do with the information you received? The photo, the papers?”
