Bone Harvest - Mary Logue [56]
Claire sat down next to Harold Peabody and whispered, “I talked to Carl Wahlund.”
“What did he have to say for himself?”
“He told me about Theo Lindstrom.”
Harold pursed his lips. “One thing you should know. Those two never got along. Since they were kids.”
“Who? Lindstrom and Schuler?”
“No, Lindstrom and Wahlund.”
“Why didn’t they get along?”
“Who knows how far back it goes? Those two were at each other all the time growing up. But it got worse as they got older. When the war broke out, Wahlund didn’t join up right at first. He stayed home and farmed. Lindstrom called him a coward on more than one occasion.”
“So you think he might have been trying to pin the murder on Lindstrom to get back at him?”
Harold thought for a moment. “I wouldn’t put it past Wahlund, although why he’d bother now with Lindstrom long dead I’d be hard put to say. There probably was some truth to whatever he told you.”
As always Claire was astonished by how the lives of the people in Pepin County swirled around each other. Most of the people who lived in the county had lived there all their lives. They had been kids together, grown up together, fought for and against each other, loved each other. There was no easy way to read what went on between any two of them. Their history was so deep, it was hard to plumb.
Two men came to the door. It was obvious they were the agents sent from Madison. For one thing, Claire didn’t know them. For another, they wore suits, not uniforms. And finally, the taller of the two had darker skin than even Carl Wahlund’s, and it wasn’t from sitting out for a thousand hours under the sun.
They came in and Sheriff Talbert introduced them to everyone. “Agent Sean Tyrone and Agent Phil Singer.” Phil Singer was short, with frizzy blond hair and a wide face that made him look surprised. Sean Tyrone was at least six feet tall but quite slim, dark chocolate complexion and a pair of Malcolm X glasses. Claire wondered which one of them was the leader and which the follower.
Singer spoke up and said, “Sorry we’re late. Traffic was bad on Ninety. We’re mainly here tonight to hear where you’re at with this case. I will serve as the liaison to the forensic labs at DCI. Tyrone will work with your investigator coordinating the investigaton. But we’re here to help you out. Just let us know what you need.”
Sheriff Talbert filled them in on what had been happening in Pepin County since the first of July. He did it by talking and writing on the white board as he went. The two men listened and wrote and asked questions.
Talbert asked Scott Lund and Billy Peterson to summarize their interviews with the people who were at the park last night.
Scott stood up and began his report. “Nothing seems out of the ordinary. The couple of people who weren’t from the area turned out to be relatives of people we know. From what we could gather today and from the interviews last night, it appears that whoever did this was from around here. There were no strangers unaccounted for.” He resumed his seat.
The sheriff turned the meeting over to Claire, explaining, “I’ve done the overview, but Claire Watkins is in on all the particulars. She’s been out in the field all day long and I haven’t even had a chance to touch base with her. What have you learned?”
“Well, this isn’t all just from today,” Claire said as she rose to her feet, “but what I’d like to add to what Sheriff Talbert has laid out here is that we’re dealing with two separate crimes. The first happened nearly fifty years ago. Many of the people who have information about it are dead or gone. But I think in order to hope to catch whoever is doing the most recent series of crimes, we’ll have to understand what happened to the Schulers. If not solve the murders, at least understand how they impacted this community. However, there is a very good chance that our pesticide guy is also the Schuler killer.”
Tyrone raised his head and Claire nodded at him. “Why not just focus on what’s at hand and try to catch the