Gun Games - Faye Kellerman [28]
The week following Hesse’s memorial had been busy, the station house humming with crimes of every stripe. Most of his detectives were in the field, attempting to gather enough evidence to bring in bad guys who were at current, walking the public streets. Marge and Oliver seemed to be in and out of court, testifying on cases that took over a year to bring to trial. Thursday afternoon, Decker received a call from Romulus Poe of the New Mexico State Police.
“It appears that your serial killer, Garth Hammerling, was in fact around my area. I’ve been trying to retrace his movements, but I’ve got gaps. The last I heard, he had bought a bunch of camping equipment and was headed for the National Forest in northern New Mexico. The area is the southern tip of the Rockies and it’s easy to disappear there. Around this time, it’s also real easy to get lost and freeze to death. You’d have to be a real good survivalist to make it through the winter, especially the one we’re having now.”
Decker said, “I don’t know anything about Hammerling’s survival skills. I know he’s done some camping in the past.”
“Camping in the Rockies in wintertime isn’t Yosemite in summer with power hookups and porta-potties. It’s rigorous and it’s dangerous.”
“Good thing for Hammerling that he knows how to kill,” Decker said.
“Maybe he’s good with drunken women. A mountain lion is another beast altogether. And let me tell you, in the winter, they’re hungry. I myself live off the grid—been doing it for decades. But even I wouldn’t camp up north in wintertime.”
Decker said, “If you flew over the area in a helicopter, could you see anything?”
“The area is filled with pines so even in the summer you can’t see much from up top except green. At this time of year, it’s all white, and after a few minutes you get snow blindness. I suppose if you got extremely lucky, you might see some smoke or something. Best to wait until he comes down to civilization. If we don’t hear from him, we can start looking when the thaw comes in March and we’d be just as likely to find a body as a live person. I’ll apprise the park rangers and let you know if we get any action. If he was smart, he’d realize that it’s cold outside and shimmy back down to warmer temperatures.”
“Okay. Just don’t drop your guard. He is a very dangerous guy.”
“Understood. If I get a bead on him, you’ll be the first to know.”
“Thank you, Sergeant Poe, we’ll keep in touch.” Decker hung up the phone just as Marge Dunn was coming into his office. She said, “My schedule just cleared up. Anything you need?”
The clock read ten after three. “I’m sure I can come up with something.” He checked off items on his to-do list and was left with Gregory Hesse. “Could you run an errand for me?”
“Pick up your dry cleaning or wash your car?”
“Everything I have is wash and ruin, and my car is hopeless.” Decker pointed to a chair and Marge sat down. Today she was dressed in brown slacks and a pink sweater. Color looked good on her. “I’m still looking into a motive behind Gregory Hesse’s suicide.”
“How’s that going?”
“I’m still waiting for the tox report. I keep thinking that maybe the kid was high on something, because every one of his buddies seems to be in the dark as to why.” He gave her a recap of his conversations, especially the one last Sunday with Joey Reinhart. “Why don’t you go to Wendy Hesse’s house and pick up Greg’s laptop and his camcorder. Videotaping seemed to be Greg’s passion. Also ask Mrs. Hesse if you can look around his room. Greg’s best friend, Joey Reinhart, implied that maybe there was a girl in Greg’s life.”
“And if we find her?”
“Ask her about the relationship and if it went south. Maybe that was the reason behind the act.”
“We don’t want to make anyone feel guilty,” Marge said.
“No, of course not. For Greg to do this, he was clearly disturbed. Most guys can get over girls pretty quickly. Even if their brains are still sad, their gonads are still heat-seeking missiles. But there are those rare sensitive types that can’t see a future beyond a broken heart. Did