A Darkness Absolute (Casey Duncan #2)(115)

“Fuck,” Dalton says. “Seriously, Jen?”

I expect her to crow that she did find the killer. But she only stands there, jaw set, her gaze down as she says, “I didn’t tell the town. I … had a couple of drinks and told a few people.”

“Who informed her that the fact Shawn wasn’t even in the Yukon until last year provided him with an ironclad alibi,” Anders says. “Unfortunately Shawn himself got wind of it, from someone who thought it was hilarious.”

“I’m sorry,” Jen says.

Dalton and I both stare at her.

She squares her shoulders. “I fucked up. I’ll just go let myself into the cell. You guys need to handle this.”

I think she’s joking. Or being sarcastic. She just turns and starts toward the station. After a moment of silence, Dalton calls after her, “Get your ass back here and follow us. We need all hands on deck, in case he finds a way to bolt.”

We continue on, and she falls in behind us. She straggles out of earshot, and Anders says, “It wasn’t entirely her fault. Jen’s wild accusations just got Shawn asking questions. He wondered where you two had gone, and someone said you were following up on something Roger said before he died. Someone else told Shawn you guys had been talking to Val last night. It was enough for him to decide to vamoose, leading to…”

He gestures at the icehouse, just ahead, where Kenny and two others are on guard. Dalton orders them back, and we move up to the door.

“Shawn?” I call. “It’s Casey. Will says there’s a problem.”

Ten seconds of silence. Then, Sutherland says, “I know you think I killed those women. And I know how that works up here. I remember Doctor Lowry. No judge. No jury. No trial. Sheriff Dalton put her on a plane, and we’re all supposed to think he took her back to Dawson City. No one actually believes that. Just like no one believes she was guilty.”

“If anyone honestly thinks Beth was innocent,” Dalton says, “we need to have a town meeting. She confessed. In front of a half dozen people.”

“Your people. You, your detective, your deputy, Val, Isabel—”

“Beth confessed. I took her to Dawson City. Put her on a plane. Your conspiracy theory is just a last-ditch, piss-poor effort to save your ass.”

“Eric’s right, Benjamin,” I say.

Silence.

“Yes, I know that’s your real name. Benjamin Sanders Junior. Son of Mary Parsons and Benjamin Sanders Senior. We spoke to your mother.”

“I don’t know what—”

“You were born in the First Settlement. Your mother didn’t want to leave Rockton, but your father talked her into it. Then, twenty years ago, he met a hiker. He helped her out of a jam and fell in love. Went back down south with her, leaving you and your mother behind.”

“You’ve got me confused—”

“I do feel bad for your mother, Benjamin. Betrayed and abandoned. But I feel worse for the kid who had to bear the brunt of that. Who grew up with a mother whose bitterness drove her mad, obsessed with the so-called ‘whore’ who seduced her husband. I got the full tirade. The list of things that make a whore, which apparently corresponds to the things she remembers about your father’s mistress. I know you got that list. Over and over, you got it.”

“I don’t—”

“When you were a teenager, she caught you with an older woman who didn’t meet her standards. Your mother locked you up in an old shack for two months. When you were twenty, you fell for a girl from another settlement, a girl your mother approved of. But the girl wasn’t interested in you. She disappeared, never to be seen again. Any idea where I might find her, Benjamin?”

“I have no clue what—”

“Your mother suspected you took her. She told you if you did, that was fine—you had needs and eventually, the girl would come around and be your wife. I’m guessing she didn’t come around. So you killed her.”

“I did not kill her. She—” He stops. “I didn’t kill anyone. I don’t know this Benjamin person. I think you’ve been out here too long. That’s what happens—you go nuts. The only reason that sheriff doesn’t fire you is because it’ll cut off his supply. Gotta keep his woman happy. Keep her spreading her legs.”

“Which is a skill you never actually mastered, did you?” I say.

“Because women are all whores,” he spits. “Whores who think they’re too good for men like me. Even you, Detective. That first day you were here, you got caught in that bar brawl, and I ran in to help out, and you never even noticed. But when Will and Mick came to your rescue you sure noticed them.”

He’s talking about the fight Jen started at the Roc. Anders and Mick hadn’t rescued me. They’d just joined in for crowd control as the brawl got out of hand.

“Tell us where Nicole is,” I say.

“How the hell should I know? I never touched her. Never touched any of them. How could I? I was down south when the first two disappeared. I came from down south.”

“No, you didn’t. You were here, in the First Settlement, until a couple of years ago.”

“Then how did I take those two women?”

“After that first girl died, it wasn’t safe to grab someone else from a settlement. But you knew about Rockton from your parents. So you staked it out. Waited for women to go into the forest. You took Robyn. Kept her; killed her. Then you came back and took Victoria. At some point you discovered the cave was a better place to hold them. Also, at some point, you started thinking Rockton looked a lot cozier than the First Settlement. So when Victoria died, you decided it was time to reunite with dear old dad. You knew from his stories that he came from a wealthy family. You found him down south and blackmailed him into giving you the entrance money and a decent story. Then you bought your way into Rockton, as an actual citizen. That’s why the time line doesn’t work. You were in the forest when you took Robyn and Victoria but living here when you went after Nicole.”