The Bones She Buried: A completely gripping, heart-stopping crime thriller(17)

“I’m not interested in talking politics with you, sir,” Josie said. “I’m interested in finding Colette Fraley’s killer as fast as humanly possible. You and I both know Gretchen is the surest way to do that.”

“You questioning my judgment, Quinn?”

“I’m saying this investigation needs Gretchen.”

He gestured toward the closed door. “You’ve got her. There’s lots of stuff she can help you with from the desk.”

“We need her in the field.”

“No.”

“Sir—”

“You want to be on leave, too? I’ll pull your badge for insubordination, Quinn. This is my department now, not yours. If Detective Palmer shows me that she can stay in her lane while she’s on the desk, then I’ll put her back in the field. That’s my decision. Got that?”

Josie wanted to say more, but she knew she was on thin ice. For Noah’s sake, she had to try to stay in Chitwood’s good graces. Mettner was good, but someone needed to oversee the investigation. Josie could only do that if she was still in play.

“Yes,” she said.

“Good. See what you can get from Fraley,” Chitwood told her. “I know he’s grieving, but we’ve got a murder to solve.”





Twelve





Gretchen looked up hopefully as Josie emerged from Chitwood’s office. Josie shook her head and Gretchen slumped. Josie squeezed her shoulder as she sat in the chair beside her. “Give it time,” she said. “I’m going to keep lobbying to get you back out there.”

“Thanks,” Gretchen said.

“You get anything on Pratt?”

“No. Unfortunately, Pratt is a pretty damn common name. There are one hundred fifty businesses with the name Pratt in them in Pennsylvania.”

“Well,” Josie said. “I don’t think Pratt is the name of a business in this case.”

“There’s no Pratt in any of the records on the flash drive,” Gretchen said.

“Did you check the names of all the Wood Creek Associates board members?”

“Yeah. No one named Pratt.”

“And we know the bank statements didn’t belong to anyone named Pratt.”

“But the drive either belonged to someone named Pratt or was intended for someone named Pratt,” Gretchen said.

“Yeah,” Josie said. “I think we can safely assume that.”

“Then what was Colette Fraley doing with it?” Gretchen asked.

Josie said, “Let’s table that for a second. Focus on Pratt. Let’s say you had this evidence of the Kickbacks scandal—”

“You think Colette had this? I thought you said she worked for a quarry.”

“She did. I don’t know how she got it or why she had it but like I said, let’s stick with the Pratt angle. Let’s say whoever put this flash drive together—whether it was Colette or someone else completely—they were going to give it to someone named Pratt. What kind of person would you give this to?”

“The police,” Gretchen answered easily.

“Let’s check County Control for any officer named Pratt. We’ll start in Alcott County and work our way outward. Although the Kickbacks scandal took place here in Alcott County, so my best guess is that the Pratt we’re looking for is right here.”

Gretchen picked up her phone and started dialing their dispatch center. “Do you remember anyone named Pratt on the force here?”

“No,” Josie said. “Not since I started. Let me call down to Sergeant Lamay, he’s been here longer than any of us.”

Lamay, stationed in the lobby, picked up on the second ring. He listened to her question and said, “Let me think.” His breath filtered through the line as Josie waited. Dan Lamay had been with the department nearly forty-five years. He had seen the coming and going of five Chiefs of Police—Josie included—and survived a huge scandal. He was now past retirement age, with a bum knee and an ever-increasing paunch. Josie had kept him on as a desk sergeant during her tenure as Chief because his wife was recovering from cancer and his daughter was in college. He had been fiercely loyal to her, helping her when she needed it most. Now she was worried that Chief Chitwood would let him go, but so far, he had stayed off Chitwood’s radar, performing his duties quietly and efficiently.

“No,” he said finally. “I don’t remember anyone named Pratt. My memory’s not the best, boss.”

“It’s okay,” Josie said. “Gretchen’s on the phone with County Control now to see if they can run it down. I just thought you might remember.”

“Sorry, I can’t be of more help. But hey, you know, that name does sound familiar.”

“Thanks,” Josie said and hung up. The name was familiar to her too but she still couldn’t figure out why.

After several minutes on the phone, Gretchen hung up with a heavy sigh. “No Pratts in law enforcement in Alcott County—at least not going back as far as the documents on the flash drive.”

“We’re missing something,” Josie said. She took out her cell phone and checked but there were no calls or text messages from Noah. She could still spare some time. “We’re going about this wrong.”