The Bones She Buried: A completely gripping, heart-stopping crime thriller(18)

“The FBI?” Gretchen suggested.

“They do investigate corruption,” Josie said. “But no, I think we need to look closer. Think about it: what happens to a case once it leaves the hands of police?”

Gretchen sat up straighter in her chair, her eyes taking on a sparkle to match Josie’s. “A prosecutor.”

Josie pulled up the internet browser on her own computer and typed the words: Pratt, prosecutor, Alcott County, Pennsylvania. The moment the results popped up, it came back to her.

“Drew Pratt,” she said. “He was an Alcott County assistant district attorney. He went missing in 2006. I was in college.”

“2006,” Gretchen said. “I was working in Philadelphia then.”

Josie clicked on the Images tab and photos of Drew Pratt filled the screen. Gretchen leaned in. Drew Pratt smiled back at them, dark eyes flashing with humor. He was nearing sixty with salt-and-pepper hair thinning at the temples as he stood in front of the Alcott County courthouse.

“I remember this,” Gretchen said as Josie clicked through several more photos. “He took a ride in his car one day in 2006 and was never seen again, right?”

“Yeah,” Josie breathed. “It was one of the most famous missing persons cases in the state.”

“It’s coming back to me now,” Gretchen said. “They found his car, didn’t they?”

“Yes,” Josie said. “But not him. No body, nothing. People thought—”

She broke off as she clicked on a new photo. Her fingers froze on the computer mouse.

“Is that who I think it is?” Gretchen asked. She put on her reading glasses and leaned in close to the screen. “Zoom in.”

Josie clicked until the photo enlarged. It was Drew Pratt standing outside of a federal building with a group of men in suits, together with several men in police uniforms. All were smiling, obviously celebrating some legal victory. Standing behind Drew Pratt, looking two decades younger but no less craggy or thin, was Bob Chitwood.

“Print this out,” Gretchen said.

“On it,” Josie answered.





Thirteen





The Chief was still behind his desk when Josie and Gretchen barged in without knocking. One of his eyebrows kinked upward. “What the hell is this?”

Josie waved the photo in front of him before placing it in the center of his desk. “We think that flash drive was either intended for Drew Pratt or it belonged to him. How did you know him?” she asked. “I thought you were in Pittsburgh before this—that’s on the other side of the state.”

“You questioning my integrity, Quinn?” Chitwood snapped, giving the photo a cursory glance.

“I’m asking a question, sir,” Josie responded evenly. She’d gotten quite used to his outbursts by now, she hardly noticed anymore.

“We worked a drug trafficking task force together. Ages and ages ago. Probably when you were still in diapers.”

“What does the Kickbacks for Kids scandal have to do with Drew Pratt?” Gretchen asked.

Chitwood leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers under his chin. “Sit, both of you,” he instructed.

Josie looked at Gretchen who gave a barely perceptible shrug. If Chitwood was willing to talk, they were going to listen. They each took a seat.

Chitwood said, “If you remember the Drew Pratt case, then you probably remember there are about a half-dozen theories about what really happened to him.”

Josie had seen a number of specials on Drew Pratt’s disappearance over the years. “Yes, I do remember that,” she said. “Some said he committed suicide. Others believed he walked away from his life and started a new one under an assumed identity. There were a lot of theories floating around that someone he had prosecuted in the past killed him and hid his body.”

Chitwood nodded. “A few years back there was even a convict who claimed to know where his body was—said a gang had killed him and dumped his body in a remote area as revenge for putting one of their members away.”

“That turned out to be nothing,” Gretchen said. “I remember that being on the news.”

“Right,” Chitwood said. “The convict in question was trying to get his sentence reduced. There was no body and no evidence at all to support his claim.”

It hit Josie then—the Kickbacks for Kids connection. “Drew Pratt had evidence of what Judge Sanders and Wood Creek Associates were doing in 2005, the year before he disappeared. He chose not to prosecute. In 2010 when the scandal broke, people talked about him. His name was back in the press, wasn’t it?”

“It was. People thought he walked away from his life because he knew the scandal was coming, and he would be blamed for not prosecuting Judge Sanders earlier. That was a theory. No one could ever prove that he had evidence of the Kickbacks for Kids thing before he went missing. The DA’s office didn’t have a file. Nothing was ever found in his office or personal effects. This is the first I’ve heard of a flash drive with documents on it. I knew Drew Pratt. He was a solid guy, and he didn’t give two shits who he pissed off. If he had evidence that Sanders was taking money to send innocent juveniles to a hellhole, Drew would have prosecuted, no question.”

Josie felt Gretchen’s eyes on her. “Chief,” Josie said. “There was evidence. We’ve got it right out there on the computer. The stuff on that flash drive was proof of what Sanders and Wood Creek were doing.”