The Last Dig Page 10

  “I’d rather you continue investigating than making a rash judgment about me. And for the record, you don’t know me,” she countered tersely.

  “I went by the book with this case. The evidence is all pointing directly to you.” When she didn’t reply he asked, “Did this guy push himself on you or threaten you in any way, or bother you that night at the bar?”

  “No...no...and no. Please leave.” Caroline stood up and stared at him angrily.

  Rand stood there for a few minutes staring back at her, then asked, “Caroline, what about your parents?”

  “What about them?” she asked angrily.

  “Do you want me to notify them?”

  “No, I’ll notify them when I’m ready. I don’t want them to worry about me.”

  Rand slowly walked away and closed the door behind him.

  A few hours later, the deputy entered the jail area, unlocked Caroline’s cell, and handed her food from the Chinese restaurant down the street.

  “I didn’t order this,” she said.

  “The sheriff ordered it for you,” the deputy informed her.

  She wasn’t going to eat, but she hadn’t realized she was hungry until she smelled the Chinese food. As she ate the food, she recalled the events that happened that day and still couldn’t believe it. She had just started to trust again, allowing herself to get close to Rand, and then he arrested her. He wouldn’t even believe her. If he didn’t believe her, no one else would either. Oh God, what am I going to do?

  How did her items end up at the victim’s apartment, and how did his cellphone end up in her vehicle? Who would want to frame her for the murder? She didn’t think she had any enemies. Did she? Was it one of her students? Was it a rejected student? She remembered one particular student who was angry at her for not allowing him into the program. Could that student be making good on his threats? What about her ex-husband? He had been gone for years, without a trace, but could he have resurfaced? What was she going to tell her parents? How could she tell them?

  Then she thought more seriously about her and Rand. It served her wayward heart right for allowing herself to get involved with Rand again. He broke her heart once, and now he’d gone and broken it again. In her mind, she knew better than to allow this to happen.

  She got up and paced the jail cell.

  First she was hurt, then she was scared, but now she was just plain mad. She was mad at herself for what she had allowed into her life, and she was mad at Rand for trying to mislead her. She saw through him now. He was playing her so she would confess that she murdered the guy and he could tell the whole town. Hell, he could tell the whole world that all he had to do was court her, share a few intimate kisses with her, and then when she lowered her guard, he nailed her.

  She needed to come up with a plan of action to clear her name and get this dig site done so she could get the hell out of this town. First, she needed to talk to her assistants. From there she was going to have to talk to Patty and see if any of the students were angry at her for not picking them to be on her team or if any were making threats against her or the organization. She would start there and see where it led.

  * * * *

  Caroline appeared before the judge for her bail hearing with her attorney. The district attorney and Caroline’s attorney debated with the judge on bail until the judge rendered his decision. “Bail is set at one hundred thousand dollars. Ms. Priest must also wear an ankle bracelet until such time as this case is resolved.”

  “That’s very good news,” Caroline’s attorney told her. “He set the bail so you could reach it with a bail bond and you only have the inconvenience of wearing an ankle bracelet.”

  “If you will follow me, you will now be taken up to the conference room where you and your attorney must sign some papers. You will be given the names of reputable bail bond agents so you may make arrangements for your bail. You cannot leave the station without paying the bail, do you understand that?” Carlson asked.

  “Yes.”

  After she signed the necessary paperwork—papers that threatened to take her house and her savings account if she decided to run or didn’t pay it back—Caroline was taken back to her cell to wait for a deputy to put on the ankle bracelet. About a half hour later, Carlson showed up with the ankle bracelet.

  “Will I be able to go out to my dig site wearing this?” Caroline asked.

  “Yes, you can go anywhere in Montana. It has to be charged up each night through a phone jack.”

  “Okay.”

  After Caroline was released on bail, she walked back to her room at the motel. When she arrived, she saw that her room was in shambles. They had even hacked into her computer and broke into the safe.

  She called Jody and told her to come and get her. While she waited for Jody to arrive, she called her boss back in Glendive and explained what had happened. As she spent time reading her email, she looked over and noticed that her little box, with her special treasures, had been broken into. She wondered if Rand had seen it, remembering the day he gave it to her on her eighteenth birthday.

  She changed her clothes because the ones she had on smelled from being in jail overnight. She felt dead tired. She didn’t get much sleep in jail, but was glad to be out and anxious to put her mind back on her work. She tried to forget about the murder charge and Rand’s betrayal for a while.

  Chapter 15

  Caroline was walking out of her room when Jody pulled up. “How are you holding up, Caroline?” Jody asked.

  “I’ve had better days, but I’m doing okay.” She smiled weakly.

  “Did they drop the charges?”

  “No, they released me on bail.”

  “I see. Do they really have a case against you?”

  “Yes, the evidence is pretty strong against me.”

  “Wow. I know you’re innocent. I wonder who’s trying to set you up?”

  “I don’t know. I’m wondering that too.”

  When they arrived at the dig site, Caroline told her team, “Okay, I need to meet with each of you one-on-one, for a brief meeting. I have some questions I need to ask.”

  “Okay, Caroline,” a few of her assistants responded. The rest nodded.

  “We’re having a debate on where we might find the rest of the body. So far, we haven’t found the head at the first site,” Jody said.

  “Hmm, maybe we’ll need to move the location forward a bit.”

  “Yeah, I thought about that, but John seems to think we should move it back a bit.”

  After listening to everyone and carefully eyeballing the two dig sites and their respective locations, Caroline decided they would move the first dig site forward about two hundred yards. She started to get the lay of the land where the leg was found and spotted what seemed to be a large mound that could possibly be covering the body.

  John came up to Caroline and asked, “Do you want to start with me?”

  “Yeah, that’s fine. Let’s go over here.” Caroline pointed to an area where no one would be able to hear them talking. They walked over and sat down on a couple of large boulders.

  “What did you want to meet about?” John asked raising an eyebrow.

  “How are your studies coming along?” she asked.

  “It’s coming along fine,” John said cheerfully.

  “Do you have enough time to work on your thesis?”

  “Yes, I think so.”

  “Do you need more time?” Caroline continued on.

  “No. I’d go nuts if I spent more time writing than I do now.”

  “Are you unhappy about anything personal or work related?”

  “Nope. This is the best job ever.”

  “Have I done anything to make you angry or upset?” Caroline plodded on.

  “No.”

  “Do you find digging here at this site helpful for your studies?”

  “Definitely. Caroline—”

  She waved him off before he could finish. “A few more questions. Are you ahead of schedule, on
schedule, or behind schedule?”

  “I’m a little behind, but it’s my own fault.”

  “Why?”

  “I’ve spent more time watching television than I should have.” John smiled slightly.

  “Oh, okay.” Caroline smiled back.

  “How are you getting along with your coworkers?”

  “Fine. I think we get along great.”

  “Have you noticed any changes in them that concern you?”

  “Nope.”

  “I’m asking these questions because someone is setting me up. I don’t know who, so I need to start with my core group. I don’t think it’s any of you, but I need to cover my tracks. If you’ve seen or heard anything at all, no matter how remote or odd it seems, please, please let me know. I’ve got to find out who is doing this to me and get my name cleared,” Caroline explained.

  “I’ll keep my eyes and ears open.”

  “I appreciate that. When you get back to the group, can you send Eddie to me?”

  “Sure.” John walked back to the dig site and motioned to Eddie to go see Caroline.

  Eddie came and sat down on the boulder beside Caroline.

  “Eddie, I have some questions I need to ask you.” She repeated her questions with Eddie, but nothing unusual in his answers jumped out at her. “As I explained to John, I’m asking these questions because I think someone is setting me up on a murder charge. I don’t know who, so I’m starting with my team. I don’t think it’s any of you, but I need to be sure. If you’ve seen or heard anything at all, no matter how remote or odd it seems, please let me know. I need to find out who is doing this to me and clear my name,” Caroline explained.

  “Um, you know, the day you were arrested, I saw a man standing way off over there.” Eddie pointed north. “He was so far away that I had to squint my eyes to be sure I was seeing a man and not something else. Anyway, I could have sworn he had binoculars with him.”

  “Are you sure it was a man?” Caroline asked as she cocked her head sideways at Eddie.

  “No, I guess it could have been a woman. But there was someone out there, that I know.”

  “How long did you observe this person?”

  “I watched him for a few minutes, and then he left right after the sheriff left with you.”

  “Okay, can you show me where you were standing?”

  “Yeah, right over here.” Eddie sprinted over to the spot.

  “Hmm. I wonder if you could stand here while I go over there to where you saw this man. When I’ve reached the spot, put your arm up, okay?”

  “Yeah, sure.”

  “Now, can you point out a landmark to direct me?”

  “Um, yeah. You see that boulder there that has a little bit of green?”

  “Yes, I see it.”

  “The man was standing, it looked like from here, maybe five feet from it.”

  “I’m going out there to see if there is any evidence, or something. You stay right here.”

  “Okay.”

  Caroline walked a good half mile, if not more, before Eddie put his arm up, indicating she was at the right spot. She walked around looking for any clues. Something caught her attention out of the corner of her eye and she turned and walked toward it. Behind a large rock were several empty cups with what looked like stale coffee in them. There were footprints leading to the rock and away from it. She followed the footprints for what seemed like another half mile before they stopped. There were tire tracks indicating a vehicle had been parked there.

  She walked back to the site where the man or woman had been standing and looked over to the dig site. She could barely see Eddie, so he must have had pretty good eyesight with his glasses to see that the person standing at this spot was a man. She supposed that the man could have had a pair of high-powered binoculars and could see her dig site quite clearly. She could think of only one person who would do something like that, and she hadn’t seen him since he beat her so badly she ended up in the hospital. Her ex, Dan. Could he be in the area now? she wondered. If he was, he’d be pretty angry at her. Angry enough to come after her. Of that she had no doubt. He’d view her—not his own actions—as the reason he’d been sent to prison.

  She walked back and continued her questioning with Ryan, Jody, and Cathy.

  * * * *

  Rand sat at his desk, looking out the window and thinking about what Caroline had said to him. Did he really rush through the case, not fully investigating it? Was someone really setting her up? As he went over all the events, he couldn’t think of anything he would have done differently.

  More than anything he wished that he hadn’t stumbled on her business card at the crime scene and found the dead man’s cellphone in her SUV. He allowed himself to think, what did his gut tell him? His gut told him that she was telling the truth. He never knew Caroline to lie except the fact that she didn’t tell him everything about her conversation with the victim. She didn’t try to cover it up, she didn’t try to tell him some far-fetched story, and she didn’t try to explain away the evidence. She simply didn’t know how the evidence got there, and everything she said had checked out, including her being at the laundromat when she said she was there, and when she was at the River Basin bar, and all the other places she’d indicated.

  Still deep in thought, his phone rang at his desk. “Callahan,” he answered. “Okay, will be there in a second.” Rand got up and walked over to see Dane at CSI. “Hey, Dane, what’s up?” Rand asked.

  “Well, I wanted to let you know that we got into the victim’s computer. We found a segment located in the temporary files—a recording. It was a man and a woman arguing. The woman threatened to kill him if he came by her place again. I recall you said that witnesses heard something to that effect at the apartment complex where the victim lived.”

  “Yeah, were you able to copy it so I can play it back?”

  “Yes, here it is.” Dane handed Rand a flash drive. “It’s from a CD that was removed by the perp. We got a partial fingerprint on the cellphone and we’re running it through AFIS—Automated Fingerprint Identification System. Also, the hair strand found at the victim’s apartment matches the hair from Caroline Priest’s hairbrush.”

  “Thanks, Dane.” Rand went back to his office and put the flash drive into his computer to hear the contents.

  “I told you to stay away from me. I don’t want to see you, and I don’t want you followin’ me around. You’re a violent and mean man, and I told you if you lay a hand on me that was the end. Well, you overstepped your bounds and now I want nothin’ to do with you.” The woman who was speaking had a heavy southern accent.

  “I want my stuff back,” the male voice said gruffly.

  “I don’t have your stuff,” the female replied angry.

  “What did you do with it then?” the male voice asked.

  “I put all your stuff out on the curb, probably someone came and got it all.”

  “You did what? You had no right to do that!”

  “I had every right to do that, it was on my property and in my house.”

  There appeared to be what sounded like someone slapping another person.

  “How dare you slap me,” the female screamed.

  “Oh, I dare, you lying, cheating, little tramp. You had no right to get rid of my stuff like that. The least you could have done was let me get my stuff out of there.”

  “Like hell,” she countered. “There ain’t nothin’ at my house that belongs to you, and if you come to my house again, I’ll kill you.”

  The recording ended.

  Rand called Carlson in and replayed the recording to him. After it ended, Rand told Carlson, “That does not sound like Caroline. She doesn’t talk like that.” Rand handed Carlson the flash drive. “Take this to the man at the apartment across from the victim and see if he can identify this as the voice he heard.”

  “Okay, will do.” Carlson left with the flash drive.

  Rand sat in his office thinking for a while longer. Is she
really telling me the truth? Did she really not have anything to do with the murder? What about all the evidence we have thus far? Is someone setting her up? How the hell did the cellphone end up in her vehicle? As Rand sat there thinking, he called his secretary Betty to come into the office.

  When she walked in, she asked, “What did you need, Rand?”

  “Back in early June, when this body came up dead at the dig site, Caroline Priest and her team were brought in for questioning. I’d like you to get the transcript of the taped sessions, and get the names of all the students she has working for her. There are five students.”

  “Okay, anything else you want while I’m at it?”

  “No, I just want to run the names through to see if anything comes up on them.”

  A little while later, Betty entered Rand’s office with the list of names. “Here you are, Rand.”

  “Thanks, Betty.”

  “You’re welcome.” She turned and walked out.

  As he was reviewing the list, Carlson came into his office. “Well, the guy identified the voices as sounding like the voices he heard that night.”

  “Okay.” Rand sat there, still deep in thought.

  “So, we may have the wrong suspect?” Carlson asked, observing Rand.

  “I don’t know if we have the wrong suspect or not, but we do have some holes we need to plug up. Take these student names and ask if CSI can run them through AFIS to see if anything comes up on them.”

  “What are we looking for?”

  “Anything. They are the closest people to Caroline. If someone is setting her up, that’s the only place I can think of right now to start looking.”

  “You think she’s being set up?” Carlson asked.

  “I don’t know. Caroline doesn’t lie, and she says she does not know who would do this to set her up to take the fall. So, let’s investigate the students and see where it leads.”

  “Will do.” Carlson walked out of the office.

  Later that day Carlson returned to Rand’s office and reported that nothing came up on any of the students; their names were cleared.

  “What I want you to do now is call each of Caroline’s students and schedule a meeting with them. We’ll talk to them individually,” Rand said.