Until Dark - Mariah Stewart [85]
Kendra handed over the paper, waited while Gamble made a copy, then folded it and put it back into her bag when he returned.
“Shame he’s the way he is,” the sheriff was saying. “Might have had something meaningful to tell us about that day. Sorry you made the trip all the way out here for nothing.”
“It wasn’t a wasted trip. We got to see the files on the investigation, and look over the trial notes.” Adam rubbed his chin. “Which reminds me. Kendra said that Ian might have had several hundred dollars with him when he left New Jersey. That Zach had told him about an old man who claimed to be a descendant of Cochise who was going to sell some items to Ian. But I didn’t see where he was interviewed.”
“There’s a mention in the file that one of the boys from the ranch did say that Ian and Zach were going to see some old Indian, but no one knew who or where. I believe there was a search made for this man, but there’s no indication that any such person was ever found. Who knows, maybe he didn’t exist. Could be that Zach had made it up.”
“Why would he do that?” Kendra frowned.
“Hey, who knows why kids do half the things they do, make up the stuff they do. You should hear some of the stories I hear.” Gamble paused to answer his ringing phone, gave a few instructions to the person on the other end, then hung up. Turning back to Adam and Kendra he asked, “Now, where will you go from here?”
“I guess the next logical move is to talk to Webster.”
“As in, Edward Paul? Are you serious?” Gamble raised an eyebrow.
“As long as we’re here, we might as well.” Adam turned to Kendra, who was trying to look as if she was not as startled by Adam’s comment as the sheriff was. “Why leave a stone unturned?”
“You won’t learn a damn thing from him. One of the assistant county DAs was out at the prison two weeks ago on another case. Says Webster is still insisting he’s innocent.”
“Maybe he figures if he continues to profess his innocence, sooner or later someone will listen.”
“Who knows?” Gamble looked up from his desk and met Kendra’s eyes. “I’d be happy to call the warden out at the prison and arrange for Agent Stark to see Webster. I’m assuming that you won’t be going with him.”
“No, no, I’ll go,” Kendra told him. “I’ll go.”
“You don’t have to do this, you know,” Adam told Kendra as he pulled up to the gatehouse and gave their names to the guard.
“I know I don’t have to. There, Adam, he’s waving us through. Thanks,” she called out the window. “I want to. I mean, I may never again get this close to him. I want to hear what he has to say. And who knows, maybe he’ll slip up and say something.”
“Something like what? Something like, okay, I confess. I killed your brother and your cousin, here’s where the bodies are, and oh, yeah, I gave your brother’s watch to some guy I passed on my way back out of the hills?”
“Hey, it could happen.”
“Ready?” Adam asked after he’d parked the car in the visitors lot.
“As ready as I’m going to be.” Kendra opened the door and got out. The sun had already warmed things up to a toasty ninety degrees, but on the advice of Sheriff Gamble, she wore long pants to keep her legs covered and a camp shirt that covered any shape she might have.
“You don’t need to hear some of the things the men might be yelling, if they see you,” Gamble explained. “So my advice is to cover it all up and pretend not to notice them.”
Kendra had taken the advice, and as a result, was overly warm by the time she reached the prison door. Gratefully, the interior was air-conditioned, though claustrophobic, with an endless series of doors that locked with a heavy, solid sound, and narrow, endless, colorless halls that led farther and farther into the depths of Arroyo State Prison, halfway between Benson and Tucson. The plan was to stop at the prison, meet with Webster, and go directly to the airport for the flight back to Philadelphia.
The guard paused in front of a dark green door that had a large screened window set in the middle. Through the glass, Kendra could see a table, painted the same green as the door, and several mismatched