“What can I do to help?” Emily asked.
“Just pick a box on this end of the table. When we got here, we moved everything to this side. As we finish a box, we move it to the far end, so we know it has been examined.”
“Got it. Good plan. I guess you boys aren’t as dumb as you look,” Emily said, grinning.
Soon, they were all going through the boxes of information one page at a time. Each person would pull a sheet out, read its entirety for even the smallest clue, then place that sheet down and retrieve the next one from the box. If they found something they thought was even remotely helpful, they made a copy and labeled the document with a post-it note for easy future reference. The cycle continued for what seemed like days until, finally, Emily exclaimed, “I found something!”
Steve looked up to see she was holding a file in her hand.
“It is the sworn statement of Brent Whitmore. He says he was at his parents’ house the morning of the murder,” Emily explained. “It further states that he and his parents were on the back porch when they saw the police lights pull into Ashley and Scottie’s driveway.
He says he had ridden his four-wheeler up to visit them, so when he saw the lights, he immediately drove across the acreage to see what was going on at Ashley’s house.”
“That would explain why he showed up so quickly,” Steve said, “and it would explain why Deputy Blackburn is so sure he isn’t the one who killed Ashley.”
“It is at least a good story,” Booger said. “Is there a statement from either of his parents backing up his alibi?” “Not that I saw,” Emily said.
“We need to keep looking. That story seems almost too convenient for me,” Booger said. “If we don’t find a confirming statement from at least one of the parents, then I am still not sold. If Whitmore was the murderer, he would be smart enough to make up an alibi that explains why he showed up so quickly but also puts him far enough away at the time of the murder that it exonerates him.”
As 3:00 p.m. neared, the contents of nearly all of the boxes had been examined. Yet, they still hadn’t found anything else that looked material to their task.
“Emily, since it looks like we have plenty of time to finish here, why don’t you go to my house and start looking through my file,” Steve said. “You have a lot to catch up on to be up to speed with us on this case. The file is spread out in my dining room. On a yellow pad is an outline I prepared of the trial testimony. I would suggest you start there.”
Emily held out her hand. “Okay. Can I have your key?”
“I don’t carry a key to my house. I know it’s kind of weird, but I saw this movie once called Sex, Lies, and Videotape. James Spader played the main character in it. He had a theory that the more keys you carry around with you, the more baggage you have in your life. I thought that kind of made sense on some eccentric, karmic level, so I try to have as few keys as possible on my key ring. I get into my house using the garage door opener and I leave the door inside from there unlocked.” Noticing the look he was getting from the other two, Steve quickly said, “I do keep a key outside for situations like this, I leave it under a small Oklahoma Sooners yard gnome in a flower bed in my backyard. The gate to the right of the garage is unlocked. The gnome is to the left of the back door. Go through the gate, find the key, and then use it to get in the house. Once you get in, please put the key back in its place.”
“There are several layers to you, Mr. Hanson,” Emily said. “I can’t wait to unravel them all. Too bad we are coworkers now. You know I have a rule against dating coworkers. Right?” She winked at him and left.
It took Steve and Booger a couple more hours to finish going through the remaining boxes. After Emily had left, they found one more item of interest, which Steve carefully took a picture of. He looked forward to showing it to her when they met up at his house later.
CHAPTER 34
When Steve and Booger pulled up to Steve’s house, Emily was waiting on the front porch, smoking. She remained seated and put out her cigarette when she saw them pull up.
“How are my new partners doing?” Emily asked.
“Worn out,” Steve replied. “Hard to imagine how exhausting it can be sitting in one place, reading through pages and pages of investigation material. It’s not like we ran a marathon or something.”
“Yeah, too bad you didn’t have an outline to assist you. I was able to expedite the process here by using your notes and only looking at the information that was germane to our mission. I feel like I’m caught up with everything you know. All I need is for you to tell me exactly what Scottie has told you, and I will be completely in the circle. Did you guys find anything else of interest in the investigative file?”
“Kind of,” Steve said. “We found a piece of notebook paper where Deputy Blackburn noted the inconsistency of the door being intact and the 911 call claiming Scottie broke it.”
“So, he didn’t lie when he told you guys, he already considered that information?”
“I’m not sure if I would go that far just yet,” Steve said. “The paper the note was on seemed new compared to all the other handwritten notes in the files. I took a picture of it since we could only leave with copies. Let’s go inside, and I’ll show you what I mean.”
They sat down at the table in the dining room, which Steve had turned into his war room for the case. All of the files he originally obtained were in there, along with the notes and pictures he and Booger had taken during their investigation. Emily had organized everything during her review of the material. The boxes containing pleadings and other materials that wouldn’t help with their investigation were moved to the living room. The items she had deemed pertinent to their work were placed neatly in specific piles all around the table.
Steve pulled out his phone and showed Emily the picture he had taken of Deputy Blackburn’s notes. The picture showed two pieces of paper side-by-side on a table. The handwriting on both appeared to be from the same person, and each note was written on paper pulled from a yellow legal pad with perforations at the top. Even from just the picture, Emily could tell the paper looked different; one appeared faded and old while the other looked fresh and new.
“The notes about the door not being broken sure look new to me,” Emily said. “You should attach that picture to a motion and ask that both originals be placed into evidence with the court.”
Steve nodded. “I agree. I will get to work on that after we finish up tonight.”
“At this point, I think we should make a list of what we know and don’t know,” Booger said. “I think that will help us decide on a direction moving forward.”
“Good idea,” Emily said. “I would even take it a step further and suggest we make a separate list of what we know for each suspect—a sort of pros and cons list for them. Except instead of pros and cons, we divide the list into evidence pointing to guilt versus evidence pointing to innocence.”
Steve reached for a legal pad and tore out four pieces of paper. At the top of each sheet, he wrote the names of their suspects: Scottie Pinkerton, Heather Walters, Brent Whitmore, and X factor. “Based on the note that appears to have been recently added to the police file,” Booger said, “I think we need to add one more suspect. Deputy Blackburn was the last person to see Ashley alive, and now he is tampering with the police file. He could just be trying to cover his ass in regards to the investigation itself, or he could be trying to cover the fact he is the killer.”
“Okay,” Steve said and tore out a fifth sheet. “Ackerman did warn us that he is one of the bad cops; plus, we know he may have killed that black teenager a few months ago without cause.” He wrote Blackburn’s name on the fifth sheet. “Now, who do we want to look at first?”
“I say we start simple and work toward the more complex,” Booger said.
“Okay,” Steve said. “Who would that be?”
“To me, the easiest suspect to dismiss is the X factor, or unknown assailant. If it turns out that it was some random person who killed Ashley, there is basically no chance we will figure it out seven years later, and I think the chances of that are slim to none anyway. As much as I hate to dismiss a subject without evidence, I think we shouldn’t waste any more time considering the unknown assailant theory.”
“I agree,” said Steve. “Even if that is what happened, I don’t think the judge would grant Scottie a new trial based on our suspicion that some unknown person committed the crime. For us to succeed, we will have to find some hard evidence to present to the court that we know who killed Ashley—and that it wasn’t Scottie.”
“So, we all agree the unknown assailant theory is unlikely. And short of the discovery of new information, can we set that aside for the moment?” Emily said.
“Yes, but we must still keep our eyes open for all possibilities.
Just in case,” Booger said.
“Then, the next easiest elimination is Walters,” said Emily.
