“Yes, of course.”
“Can you verify your father, Tyler McCall’s, whereabouts on the night of July twelfth?”
Having already gone through this with Officer Devon, she was more prepared to answer that question at least. “My dad was at his paramilitary training compound.”
“Are you absolutely certain of that?”
“Yes.”
“Did he call you from there, or in some other way confirm his presence on the mountain to you? Perhaps you were there with him at some point?”
“Why are you asking me this?”
“His entire compound burned to the ground, Ms. McCall.”
“I’m aware of that.”
“I see. Do you mind telling me how you learned of the fire, Ms. McCall?”
“It’s hardly a state secret. It’s all over the news,” she said, hedging around the truth, and then added, “and one of your officers came by to tell me of my father’s death yesterday.”
“A state policeman came by your house to inform you of your father’s death?”
“Yes.” Surely that wasn’t such a surprise, unless the departments didn’t speak to each other—which, when she thought about it, wasn’t all that farfetched of an idea.
“Do you have the officer’s name?”
“Barry Devon.”
“Thank you.” He paused as if taking the time to write the name down. “Apparently the fire started with an explosion.”
“Yes.”
“Did the officer tell you that as well?”
“He did.” She wondered why the detective was asking her about what his colleague had said. Why not simply ask the other officer? “He also said the Forest Service believed it was an accidental explosion. Is that still the case?”
“Can you hold on for a moment, Ms. McCall?”
Chapter 12
“Certainly.”
She pressed the mute button on the phone and asked the others, “I’m on hold. How much do you think I should tell him?”
“If you don’t tell them you were on the mountain with your dad, you could be charged with obstruction of justice,” Claire said.
“Did you read that on the Internet, too?” Josie asked tongue-in-cheek. Her roommate had a brilliant mind filled with bits of knowledge about pretty much everything.
“Nope.” She grinned. “I grew up watching Perry Mason.”
“Her source might be suspect, but Claire’s right,” Hotwire said.
“But then I have to tell them Dad isn’t dead.”
“They’re going to figure that out soon regardless, and once they do, it won’t take them long to contact the closest emergency rooms and find record of you and your dad’s visit, even if you gave an alias.”
Hotwire was right. Not many women came into ER with a wounded man and smelling like smoke if they hadn’t been in a fire. “Do I tell him about the break-in and the laptop locator?”
“If you do, they can tell you faster than anyone else what or who might be located in that supposedly uninhabited area.”
“If they’re as open about sharing information as you’re suggesting Josie be,” Daniel added, sounding skeptical.
The detective came back on the line. “Ms. McCall?”
“I’m here,” she said after turning off the mute function.
Claire waved, getting Josie’s attention. “I have to go,” she mouthed silently.
Josie nodded, indicating with her hand that Claire and Hotwire should take off.
“Are you positive it was a state policeman who came to speak to you?” the detective asked, bringing her attention back to the phone.
She had to think a second to refocus her train of thought, and even when she did, she couldn’t figure out why he was asking her that. “He was wearing a uniform and driving a police cruiser, what else would he be?”
“I can’t answer that, Ms. McCall, but he wasn’t a state policeman. There is no officer by that name in the force, and no orders were given to inform you of a death we have yet to verify. Someone will be contacting you later for a description of the suspect.”
“Suspect?”
“Impersonating an officer of the law is illegal.”
“Yes, of course.” But why had the man done it? She was fairly certain it was linked with everything else going on, but she couldn’t see what the purpose would have been. Then the other half of the detective’s comments clicked in her brain. “You don’t think my father is dead?”
“There are no bone fragments in the debris.”
“And if he had died in the fire, there would be?”
“Yes. It’s a myth that everything is destroyed in a fire. There should be some indication of your father’s remains in the debris if he were a victim of the explosion.” He paused as if waiting for her to say something. When she didn’t, he went on. “Either your father woke in time to get himself out or he set the explosion himself.”
“Why would he do that?”
“According to our investigation, he does not have a completely stable temperament.”
“My father is not crazy.”
“Past students say that he subscribes to conspiracy theories.”
“That’s hardly unique in this country.”
The detective actually chuckled. “True, but your father chose to act on his theories, living a lifestyle well outside the norm.”
“Different does not equate to crazy, and my father would have no reason to blow up his own school. Training elite soldiers is his life.”
“It’s an avenue we have to explore, particularly since there is no evidence of his demise in the blast.”
“I understand.” And she did, but it wasn’t a scenario she had anticipated. “Was there anything else, Detective?”
“There were three vehicles found at the sight that were damaged by the blast.”
“Yes?”
“One of them was registered to you, Ms. McCall.”
“Yes, my car was on the mountain that night.”
“I asked you a question earlier that you neatly sidestepped, so I’ll ask it again. Were you at your father’s compound when the explosion occurred, Ms. McCall?”
“Are you accusing me of setting the blast now?”
“It is my understanding your specialty is explosives, is that right?”
“Yes, but I can assure you that I did not blow up my father’s training compound.”
Daniel went rigid beside her at her words. She met his eyes, hers asking him what she should say.
“Tell the truth,” he mouthed.
She nodded. At this point, it was the only thing that would do.
“Ms. McCall.” The detective was talking again. “We have to investigate every possibility when a crime like this is committed.”
“So you are positive it was a crime?”
“It’s highly likely, yes.”
“Besides myself and my father, do you have any other suspects,” she asked.
“No.”
“What about the media’s belief it was an ecoterrorist?”
“We do not know where they got that information, Ms. McCall. While every fire that threatens national forest must be investigated with that possibility in mind, there is no evidence to support that theory at this time.”
“So, you’ve ruled it out?” Someone should have told the reporters milling around on her lawn.
“Not entirely, no.”
Well, that was as clear as mud.
“We had hoped you might be able to shed some light on the subject.”
“I’ll try.” And she told him everything that had happened from waking up and taking a walk in the dark, to identifying the whereabouts of her laptop.
She also gave him a detailed description of the phony officer, able to add the number on the patrol car because Daniel remembered it.
She hung up the phone and turned to Daniel. “He’ll be here in an hour or so. He wants the backup copy of Dad’s files.”