Page 61 of Hoodoo House
There were a few seconds of silence on the phone before Henry spoke. “Yeah…I think I may have told them that you were here looking for a missing computer.”
“And did you tell her we found it?” Charlie continued.
“I might have,” he said. “She asked if I had any idea what the man who broke in was looking for, and I may have mentioned the computer. Please don’t be mad at me, Charlie. I didn’t mean to tell.”
“No, it’s okay, Henry. No one’s mad at you. We’re just glad that everyone is okay. Look, we have to meet with the RCMP in Drumheller this afternoon. After we’re done, is it okay if we come to Hoodoo House and check up on everyone?”
Charlie whispered to Declan, “That’s okay, isn’t it?”
Declan nodded.
“I’d like that,” Henry replied. “The police still have some stuff they want to do, but you could come out later in the day.”
“See you about six then? And make sure you tell Gramma Carol we’re coming.”
“You bet!” Henry said. “Charlie, will I get that ride in your car?”
“Maybe. We’ll see you at six.”
Charlie disconnected the call and took a deep breath.
“I take it something went down last night at Hoodoo House involving the police?” Declan asked.
Charlie nodded. “Someone attacked the house. Henry said he fended off the intruder, although he was so excited by it all, I’m not sure what really happened. The police came and everyone seems to be all right.”
“Well, at least we know how the cops found out about the computer.”
“Henry said that the guy who attacked them was big and rode a large motorcycle.”
Declan pursed his lips. “BurlyBiker27?”
“Maybe. Declan, if he was capable of tearing the place apart, maybe hewasinvolved in Malcolm Tull’s death. After all, the email on the computer shows he threatened to kill him.”
Declan scowled. “Something still isn’t sitting right with me about Malcolm Tull’s death, but I’m sure it has to do with that computer and what’s on it. Maybe Tull really did take his own life for some reason—out of fear. You know, he killed himself before someone else did it for him? Although I’m not really convinced about that. We haven’t seen any evidence that would push an egomaniac like him to commit suicide. What seems more likely is that someone killed him to shut him up, and then tried to find the computer. But the biker seems a more violent type. He’d have been more likely to choke Tull to death or use a knife on him rather than to take his chances on poisoning him with an overdose of his medication.”
“True,” Charlie said.
Declan continued, “The evidence we’ve seen from the videos and emails points to either Sinclair or Cody White.”
“They were both in the house around the time of Tull’s death,” Charlie added. “I mean, they had motive and they were both being threatened. But I still don’t think Cody has it in him to be a killer. He could barely get through the interview without chewing his nails to the quick. Do you think he’d have the guts to do it?”
“I don’t know. His behaviour around you could have been a result of guilt, or fear of being found out. It’d be nice to put him under pressure and see if he snapped. But even then…”
“And Sinclair raised a valid point that if he did kill Tull,” Charlie continued, “it wouldn’t make sense for him to hire you and risk being caught.”
Declan sat up on the edge of the bed. “I’m not convinced that either of those guys did it. At least not enough that I’d be willing to put their necks in a noose. We don’t have enough information yet. Maybe the RCMP can shed more light on what actually happened.”
“So what do we do?” Charlie asked.
Declan paused for a moment. “We’ll take in the computer and turn it over to the cops. First, though, I want you to scrub the manuscript and the video files with Cody White and Sinclair Yamada off the computer. Can you do that so there’s no trace?”
“I guess,” Charlie said. He didn’t like the idea of tampering with evidence.
“We’ll still have them on your backup server if we or the cops need them in the future,” Declan assured him. “The only video we’ll leave for now is the one forBurlyBiker27, who you identified as Adolph Moses. We’ll see if the cops are willing to share any information they have about him. From what Henry told you, it’s possible that it was him who attacked the house. I suspect the police would be interested in the connection anyway, and there’s no reason to point them towards the others until we have proof that they were involved.”
Declan smiled. “This is fun. Solving cases in bed together.”
Charlie looked down at his hands. “Shouldn’t we give everything we have to the RCMP?”
