“First, a reality check. You don’t know where this is all going to lead. You can’t develop a Gantt chart, or create timelines, or do any of the other things you’re used to doing to move a project. Face it. It’s highly unlikely that you will ever find the circumstances leading to Terry’s death.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that given the time that has passed, it’s almost impossible for you or anyone else to determine what happened to your brother. Maybe it’s time to cut your losses and move on. Continuing to pursue this is probably a waste of time, energy, your emotional resources, and could possibly put you in harm’s way.”
“So what about seeing Sabotny on the beach. Something is going on. I don’t want to cut and run too soon.”
This time Ken Lee was slow in responding. “Yes, if we only knew. Sabotny has moved back to the area in a very public way. He’s gone to a class reunion, posted on a social network, purchased an expensive place in a very visible location. He’s not in hiding. And he’s flashing a lot of money. He could afford to live anywhere in the world, but it appears that he’s planning to settle in Cedar County. The old story: local boy makes good, then returns home.”
“I’m not ready to fold,” Mackenzie reiterated. “I need a few more weeks, maybe a month.”
“You know, you can afford to hire some very competent private detectives to take this over. You could even put them up in that lovely house of yours. You could be back here living your life, and they could carry on the investigation.”
“I need to do this. I thought I had your backing.”
“You do, you do. I just think given what you’ve learned, it would be better to recruit people with the appropriate skill-set to continue with this task.”
“Ken Lee, I’m not going to take any chances. Like you said, I’m not a risk taker. I just need to do this a bit longer.” She took a deep breath. “What do you suggest I should focus on next?”
Ken Lee took a deep breath of his own. “How about Jim Moarse? Why don’t you focus on him for a while, like you did with Sabotny. Get a sense of his patterns, what he does, who he hangs with. And do this from afar. You’ve got the optics and cameras. I can send you more GPS units if we decide to track his activities. I’d like his address, see if Sabotny ever visits.” He paused. “And there are two more things,” said Ken Lee.
“Yes?”
“I’ve sent you some phantom phones.”
“What’s that?”
“Phones, cell phones. They’re set to make 911 calls. If you see something going down and you want to involve law enforcement, you can toss one of these phones near the action. You’ll be long gone by the time the police arrive, and your identity is protected. They’ll be at FedEx in the morning.”
“And the other thing?”
“I’ve decided to do some headhunting of my own. I’m going to get you the names of people who could take this over. You’ve got to start thinking of an exit strategy. Start organizing what you’ve collected so far and think about how you can best facilitate their success.”
“Ken Lee, you can go ahead with your recruiting, but I need a few more weeks. I appreciate what you’re doing. But please don’t bug me too much.”
“Hey, you know me. And you, go to yoga in the morning. Pick up those phones on your way out of town.”
32
“How was your meeting with the county Board of Supervisors?” asked Sue as she entered Ray’s office, holding a coffee mug and her laptop. Simone followed her, dragging her lead.
“As enervating as always,” he paused. “Let me take that back; this one was worse than the norm.”
“What happened?” asked Sue, setting the coffee on the conference table and opening her laptop.
“It was all about ‘over.’”
“Say what?”
“This morning’s theme was that under my leadership, this department has grown fat. We are overstaffed, over-benefited, overeducated, etc. That we are living in hard times, and everyone has to sacrifice, and this department hasn’t done its share.”
“Where does this stuff come from?” asked Sue.
“I don’t know. There’s a kind of mythology that’s not attached to any reality or data. I put up a spreadsheet that showed the department’s budget has been flat for several years, and when inflation is factored in, we’ve been doing more with less year after year. And this isn’t new information. I’ve done a similar presentation the last several years. I’ve pointed out that while the county’s population continues to grow, our staffing has remained the same. And some of them just don’t hear this.
“During my presentation, Elmer Lentro kept interrupting me, saying that several of his constituents had told him that they had seen deputies parked at the side of the road playing video games on those expensive, fancy computers we’d put in the cars.
“I told him that was impossible and explained again the use of the computers in the patrol cars, and as they remember, we did a presentation for the supervisors when we first installed them. I reminded them that we were able to purchase the systems with money from a federal grant, and it was an example of how we were using technology to improve our productivity and cut costs.”
“Did that shut him up?”
“No. I don’t think he hears too well. And I know he doesn’t listen. He believes what he wants to believe, and he’s playing to an audience that keeps electing him. That was just the beginning of his rant. He wanted to know why I keep hiring college kids; they’re overqualified and overeducated. He reminded me that Orville just hired locals, he trained them on the job, and they did just fine. He also said Orville had lots of citizen deputies, so if he needed help in an emergency, all he had to do was make a few phone calls.”
“I don’t understand,” said Sue.
“Back in the day, 30 or 40 years ago, especially before elections, Orville would pass out cards that said something to the effect that so-and-so was a Cedar County deputy sheriff. I don’t think Orville was the only sheriff who did it, but he was probably the last. It’s a remnant of the distant past when the sheriff would form a posse.”
“So what was the reaction?”
“He went too far this time. Everyone was embarrassed. The chair had to be absolutely obnoxious to shut him up. If fact, I think it helped move things forward. The board approved our budget with fewer questions than I expected.”
“And how did Elmer vote?”
Ray chuckled, “He abstained, like he was making some kind of point. I think the poor guy is losing it.”
“Ray, he’s never going to forgive you for that DUI.”
“True, that and not hiring his grandson. Like he once told me, ‘Orville knew how to make things work for friends, and you don’t, Ray Elkins.’ I guess I am guilty as charged.”
Ray joined Sue at the conference table, Simone in his lap. “So what have you been up to?”
“You left early yesterday. There were some things I want to go over. In fact your early departure….”
“Go ahead.”
“Well, we had a 911 call for the marine patrol to provide assistance. I ended up taking the call after dispatch explained that our equipment was in dry dock and water emergencies were handled by the Coast Guard.”
“So what was the emergency?”
“One of our elderly citizens was concerned about two kayakers who seemed to be out of control on Lake Michigan. I asked if they were out of their boats. He said sometimes they were and sometimes they weren’t, but that conditions were far too rough for anyone to be kayaking. I told him I’d investigate. I was on my way to talk to Mrs. Schaffer again with some more questions about Terry, so I drove over and took a look. Once I established who the kayakers were, I dropped in on our concerned citizen, Curmudgeonly Charlie, and explained that the boaters in question were known to the department, and while we didn’t approve of their choice of paddling conditions, they were within their rights. Then I thanked him for his vigilance and concern. I didn’t mention that one of kayakers was the sheriff. Given that Elmer Lentro is the county supervisor in that area, I did my best not to throw gasoline on the fire. I mean, weren’t you on the water during normal working hours? You never would have caught old Sheriff Orville out kayaking in a storm.”