Cades Cove 01 - Cades Cove: A Novel of Terror (21 page)

“
What, are you saying he was murdered?”

David couldn’t picture anyone bearing a grudge against Norm, other than a miffed boyfriend of one of the many females he’d bedded over the years.

“
All they’re saying right now is it looks like a homicide,” Ned advised. “Two detectives from the Denver Police will be here this morning to interview everyone who works here. Knowing how especially close you were to Norm, I’ve asked the Captain I spoke with earlier to have them make a special trip this afternoon to speak with you at your house, unless you’d rather meet with them at Ms. Andrew’s home.”

“
I’d rather not trouble Jan with this,” said David, thinking it would also be best without the kids present. “Why don’t I come in to the office and speak with them there along with everyone else?”

“
No, David,” said Ned. “I’m placing you on mandatory bereavement leave from today until next week, after Norm’s funeral arrangements have been finalized. The days will be comp’d for you, since Stephen and everyone else around here knows you two were like brothers.”

“
But, what about the amortization details and the other unfinished reports for Applewood you mentioned before I left last night?” asked David, annoyed. How in the hell would he survive? Not by spending idle time at home, where the loss of Norm would bring a constant assault upon his psyche and soul. “What if I come in for awhile today and take everything with me to work on over the weekend?”

“
Not happening,” said Ned. “After the police interviews are finished this morning, we’re closing the office until Monday. Stephen has already decided to call the Applewood folks and make them aware of what’s happened, and that it will take a few days for us all to recover. He’s confident John Meier, their chairman, will understand. We’re slightly ahead of our original completion schedule anyway.”

“
What time will the detectives come by this afternoon?” David resigned himself to the fact he had no choice but go along numbly with his boss’s decision.

“
I told them two o’clock, but if you’d rather change it to another time either earlier or later, I can do that.”

“
Two will be fine.”

“
All right. Again, I’m so,
so
sorry, David.”

“
Me, too….”

He started to weep again, and Miriam pulled him closer. For the next half-hour he cried in her arms. Reluctant to leave him, she needed to take care of her patients who couldn’t be rescheduled for next week. She left just before eight-thirty, mentioning on her way out the door that the glass company would come by their house sometime in the afternoon to repair Tyler’s window. David offered to let the repair crew inside the house since he’d be there anyway to talk with the detectives.

He finished getting dressed and shared a few cups of coffee with Janice while they talked about Norm, whom she once dated back in college and remained on good terms with since. When ten o’clock arrived, David left the townhouse and headed for the Park Meadows Mall. He hoped to kill some time and distract his thoughts by visiting the various stores. It didn’t take long to recognize this wouldn’t help. Instead, he stopped by the closest liquor store and purchased a twelve-pack of beer.

Just before eleven he arrived at the house. He sifted through the mail while opening his first Heineken, confident whatever supernatural presence had besieged his residence had left. Good to be home again, he hoped it lessened the terrible grief that would come for him in the coming days and weeks. In the meantime, he flipped through the latest National Geographic until noon, when he made himself a sandwich. He then straightened up the main floor and grabbed another beer while he awaited the detectives’ arrival.

***

“
David Hobbs?”

The two DPD detectives stood at the front door, and the one who spoke held his badge up near his face.

“
Yes,” said David, opening the front door wide enough for them to step inside. They arrived ten minutes early, right before he moved on to his fifth beer. The lightheaded affect from the first four made him glad he hadn’t opened another bottle.

“
I’m Detective Daniel Colby and this is my partner, Detective Mike Kenyon,” said the first detective, motioning to the other as they stepped into the foyer.

A slender man in his early forties, Detective Colby’s sandy hair hung in short bangs on his forehead. His face flushed slightly, and the prescription eyeglasses he wore magnified his light blue eyes. Daniel sported a curved moustache, almost Fu-Manchu, and his voice seemed unusually raspy, like he’d spent many a long night on the short end of a whiskey bottle.

Mike Kenyon, much younger and more handsome, stood almost a foot taller than his partner. Mike’s hazel eyes shined bright within his dark face. His generous smile, chiseled features, and sharp hairline made him look more like a TV star than an actual policeman.

David closed the front door and they followed him into the living room, where he invited them to sit on the sofa.

“
Can I get you guys anything to drink?”

“
At the moment we’re okay, I think,” said Daniel, nodding to Mike, who indicated he didn’t need anything either. “We appreciate your willingness to discuss Norman Sowell. We understand you were quite close. You might want to take a seat and get comfortable, Mr. Hobbs. We have several questions.”

He motioned for David to sit across from them in the loveseat. Both detectives pulled out small steno pads and Daniel also produced a small recorder. For the next half hour, both detectives asked him questions...many more than the ‘several’ they intimated at the outset of the interrogation. All had to do with Norm, his various ‘vices’, and David’s close relationship with him. Near the end of the conversation, David became antsy, wondering why neither detective had shared anything about Norm’s murder with him.

“
You think he was murdered, right?” he finally asked them. “Can you tell me what happened?” Not knowing any details left terrible images running through his mind.

“
We’re still gathering evidence, but at this point, yes,” said Daniel.

“
What have you been told so far?” asked Mike.

“
Nothing, other than the fact Johnny Townsend and Nancy Geddings found him this morning when they came in,” said David. “That’s all Ned told me when we spoke earlier.”

“
Did he tell you where Norman’s body was discovered?” asked Daniel, glancing at his partner.

David nodded he didn’t.

“
Certain aspects of the investigation must remain secret for now, but Norman fell from the second floor landing onto the fountain in the lobby,” said Daniel.

“
At this point, we’re trying to get a lead on finger prints and blood samples we found at the scene, as well as other evidence from Mr. Sowell’s office,” added Mike. “It could take a few weeks to get the final analysis from our labs downtown. Did Norman ever prefer sex partners other than female?”

“
Huh??”
Surprised, David couldn’t picture what the question implied. “Norm was a strict heterosexual...as far as I know, anyway.”

Both detectives nodded in silence and then closed their steno pads. When they asked David if he had any more for them, he told them no.... Although their last question engendered a plethora of unpleasant musings about Norm While Daniel collected his recorder from the coffee table, Mike asked to use the bathroom before they left. As he moved past the living room, one of the bedroom doors upstairs suddenly slammed shut.

“
Is anyone here with you?” asked Daniel, stepping into the foyer and glancing up the stairway.

“
No,” said David, following close behind him. “One of my kids must’ve left a window open.” Certain that Tyler’s door had shut, since it sounded like a door rattled against a splintered doorframe, he thought the plastic trash bags came loose from the window.

“
Do you mind if we take a look?” Mike rejoined them and turned his attention up the stairway as well.

“
Is that really necessary?” It irritated David that either one cared about the noise upstairs. Especially after the barrage of compassionless questions and evasiveness regarding Norm. But he also worried what the detectives might think if they discovered the damage inside Tyler’s bedroom.

“
Just a quick look,” said Mike, as he moved past him.

Before David could react, he’d already moved up the stairway. Daniel and David followed. The detectives walked down the hall toward Tyler’s bedroom. After examining the fractured doorframe together, Mike opened the door and they stepped inside. David noticed the curious looks on their faces as they looked around the room, their gazes settling on the damaged window. David’s patch job remained intact.

“
My son had an accident the other day when he came home from school, and he fell through the window,” offered David, beginning to grow nervous in the detectives’ presence. They merely nodded while moving about the room. “I’m sorry I didn’t mention this downstairs, but with what happened to Norm and all, I didn’t think it was important. Does your need to look around up here have anything to do with him?”

“
Like I said earlier, we’re in the early stage of our investigation,” said Daniel, his tone even. He turned to look directly at him. “Are you sure there’s no one else in the house with us now? I doubt the wind slammed this door shut, don’t you?”

“
No, I suppose not,” David conceded, looking at the sealed window patch again. “As far as I know, there’s no one else here. My wife’s at work and the kids are at school.”

“
I’d like to have a look at the other rooms up here, if you don’t mind, Mr. Hobbs.”

Daniel didn’t wait for David’s response, brushing past him as he moved into the hallway with his partner right behind him. What could he say or do to stop them? They could probably get a warrant if necessary, and it wasn’t like he had something to hide…or did he?

Oh shit!

Until now he forgot about the strange circle made from leaves and his personal items, which still lay on the floor in front of his dresser in the master bedroom. The circle would probably mean nothing to them, but he didn’t want to get caught up in a discussion on how it got there. He cursed the fact he didn’t clean it up earlier when he returned to the house.

The detectives had already moved to the other side of the hall, satisfied with what they’d seen in Jillian and Christopher’s bedrooms. David caught up with them just as they reached the first guestroom. Since nothing else resembled Tyler’s bedroom, he hoped to get them to return downstairs. He tried to focus on what to say, regretting the beer buzz he still had, when the phone rang. The only active handset upstairs sat on Miriam’s nightstand.

“
We can wait for you to get that if you would like,” said Mike, after the phone rang for the third time.

David moved past them to the master bedroom, closing the door behind him after stating he’d be just a moment. By the time he reached the phone, it ceased ringing. The caller ID showed the call came from Miriam’s office, and he intended to call her back as soon as the detectives left. He moved quietly over to the cedar chest at the foot of the bed, where he pulled out a blanket from inside. Three firm knocks resounded from the other side of the bedroom door.

“
Mr. Hobbs?”

“
I’ll be right there!”

David hoped his voice sounded relaxed enough. Not sure what it would take to make things look less suspicious, he laid the plaid blanket on the floor, careful to cover the circle. Then he closed the lid to the chest and tiptoed toward the doorway, opening it just as Detective Colby prepared to knock again.

“
Sorry about that, it was my wife calling me.”

Both Mike and Daniel looked annoyed, and David hoped it hadn’t sounded like he scurried about from outside his door. They stepped into the bedroom. After scanning the room, Mike moved to the bathroom while Daniel checked the closet. Finding nothing out of the ordinary, the detectives prepared to leave. Mike noticed a small curled yellow leaf sticking out from under the blanket on the floor. He quickly moved over to it, while David’s throat constricted on him.

“
Check this out, Dan,” he told his partner, lifting the blanket and revealing the circle beneath it. He pulled out a pair of latex gloves from his jacket’s inside pocket.

“
Well I’ll be damned,” whispered Daniel, who pulled out a similar latex glove and placed it on his right hand. “Would you mind telling us what happened here, Mr. Hobbs?”

The detective pulled out a compact camera from his front coat pocket and took several pictures of the circle. Then he and Mike stooped down and removed a few leaves and twigs and placed them inside small plastic evidence bags.

“
I don’t know for sure,” said David, sighing deeply and shaking his head, angry with himself for not getting rid of the circle earlier.

“
But you didn’t want us to find it, did you?” accused Mike. He sealed the first bag and placed it inside the same pocket he withdrew his gloves from. “‘Are you sure you don’t want to tell us anything?”

Both he and Daniel eyed him serious, and David doubted either man would believe what actually happened. But without knowing what else to tell them and realizing any further deception on his part would be ill advised, he told them the truth. A summarized version, anyway, that focused on him and his eldest son hearing or catching glimpses of a mysterious female in the house.