Page 69 of Never Stay Gone
“Cell phone records put her in the park, so she made it to Big Bend. Her last activity on her debit card was for a gas purchase a few days later, at a—”
“Truck stop outside Rustler,” Dakota said, at the same time Dr. Trevino did. “Damn it. That’s the intersection, then. Several of our girls were last seen there.” Along with Frank Lynn. “You know a lot about Sophie, Doc.”
“I made a call to the detective at College Station. Her roommates reported her missing, but the detectives out there couldn’t do too much since they waited so long to make the report. Though, since she was last seen in Big Bend County, I would have thought she’d be more on your radar. Or, at least, on your Big Bend sheriff’s radar.” There was a chiding note in her voice.
Who took that missing persons call at the department?
Khaki fibers under Shelly’s fingernails. Damn it.
“The missing persons case stalled right after the cell phone records and the debit card transactions,” Dr. Trevino said. “There was just no trace of her. No sign of her car, no sign of her cell phone. She disappeared, until now.”
“Unfortunately, it’s not hard to make cars and phones disappear out here.” He stared over the unending desert, miles and miles of parched desolation. Mountains and mesas rose in the hazy distance. Even though he could see them, they were probably hundreds of miles away. A whole lot of nowhere to get lost in.
How many more bodies were out there?
“This is true. It’s unusual we even found her grave.” Dakota heard the flick of a lighter. He could almost taste the nicotine from Dr. Trevino’s cigarette. “I’m emailing the College Station detectives her death certificate so they can do the official notification later today.”
“That will be good closure,” he said. “How about the other ID?”
“That one is more interesting. Jane Doe three, killed the same time as Sophie Espinoza. Ninety days ago, or thereabouts. Did you ever hear of the Carly Hurst case?”
Dakota searched his memories. Three months ago, he’d still been deep in rehab for his gunshot wound. Out of the hospital, but working on his physical therapy and trying to understand why Governor Riggs wanted him to work for her. His hip hurt all the time, and when he wasn’t sweating it out at rehab, he was flat on his couch, alternating ice packs from a cooler he kept on the coffee table and an electric heating pad. He usually fell asleep with HGTV droning and dreamed about houses he’d never own and mornings with Shane beside him he’d never wake up to. He hadn’t paid much attention to the news. “She went missing from Amarillo?”
“Close. Abilene.”
Not very. At least he’d got the first letter right, but the geography was all wrong.
“Mrs. Hurst was something of a local celebrity in Abilene. The young and beautiful wife of one of the city councilmen, the much older Wilbur Hurst, famous for owning a string of car dealerships in the Abilene area. Mr. Hurst was wealthy and powerful in his little pond in the middle of Texas. He was active in Texas politics. Mrs. Hurst enjoyed being the face of money and influence. She was on local magazine covers, attended ribbon cuttings for local store openings. Welcomed troops home from deployment at the air base out there.”
“I think I know where this story is going.”
“If you’ve heard it once…” Dr. Trevino took a deep drag on her cigarette. Dakota heard embers crackling. “Mrs. Hurst apparently kept more than a few lovers on the side. Strapping things, mostly young airmen from Dyess. She went through them quickly too. According to the reports, she’d just plucked a new one from a charity event on base and was enjoying his athleticism and endurance when she went missing.”
“Doc, you know a lot about a lot.”
“I love Texas gossip.” Another crackle of her cigarette. “Pathologists love to talk, though no one expects that of us. We listen well, too, especially when detectives talk to us. They think we won’t tell anyone, and they’re mostly right. Who are we going to talk to?”
Dakota chuckled. “So, what happened with Mrs. Hurst’s investigation?”
“The indefatigable Mrs. Hurst had apparently told her husband she was going on a spa weekend out to San Angelo, but she and her new lover made a trip to—three guesses—Big Bend National Park. They stayed at Chisos Lodge in the basin, but I’ll bet they didn’t see much of the park. Park records show both driving in separately before checking into one room. Both of their cell phones ping at the same location all weekend. They left at the same time on Sunday but drove back separately. Her lover made it back to Abilene. She did not.”
“Her route from Big Bend National Park back to Abilene would have taken her right through Rustler. And the truck stop.”
“Bingo.”
“I’m assumin’ the lover was looked at hard. And the husband. He was bein’ cuckolded for a while, it sounds like. That’s red-hot motivation right there.”
“They both certainly were. I don’t have details on that. Only gossip to get you going. I do know that when Mr. Hurst filed a missing persons report, her whole sordid history blew up. Abilene police were overwhelmed, I heard, with all the interviews of young lovers they had to conduct. Mr. Hurst hasn’t been seen in public since.”
“Don’t blame ’im. That’s a hard hit to take. She didn’t want to be with him, she shoulda left.”
“She wanted parts of him, Ranger. Just not every part.”
“Yeah, the money part, not so much the lovin’ part.”
“You’ll have to call the investigating officer for details. The Rangers worked this one. It was high profile and quickly overwhelmed Abilene. Company E ran it, since her last confirmed location was Big Bend. Ranger…” He heard her shuffling through papers. “Bennet Riley.”
“I know Bennet. Good guy. Friend of mine. I’ll give him a call.”
