Page 88 of Unexpected Danger
“Not at first. Then I went through this thought process that you guys had the wrong guy. No way could it be Linder. He could never hurt anyone, and you have no idea how convincing he is. Then I asked him about it.”
Brodie scribbled down the notes. “When you asked him about it, what did he say?”
“He told me about an ex-girlfriend named Londyn, who was out to get him and would do anything to destroy his name. He said she’d done it before in another town and that she had followed him to Pronghorn Falls. He was so persuasive. He even got tears in his eyes. I’ve never seen a guy with tears in his eyes unless someone died.”
“Go on.”
“He told me some things that Londyn had done to him, and it didn’t sound far-fetched to me at all. But now I can’t believe I fell for it.” Juanita began to sob uncontrollably then.
It made sense that this was the way Dustin was continuing to elude police—since Juanita fed him information and warned him of law enforcement’s location and ETA after he’d committed a crime. Brodie had to hand it to Haack. It was well planned, and Brodie hazarded a guess that his crimes were committed only when Juanita was working her shift. While Brodie couldn’t believe someone could be as naïve as Juanita had been, he also knew Haack had fooled Londyn as well, and she was anythingbut foolish and naïve. “What kind of information did you give him?”
She lifted her head and swiped the tears with her hand. “I told him whenever I received a call about a crime in progress. Any crime. Do you remember that time when you had to follow him up into the mountains and he was in a sports car?”
“Yes.”
“I told him when you pursued the perpetrator and where law enforcement was. And other times too, like the time after there was that issue at the animal hoarder lady’s house.” Perspiration shone on her brow. “And other information.”
“Can you elaborate?” Brodie waited for Juanita to offer clarification.
She wouldn’t meet his eye, and instead stared again at that space on the wall behind him.
“He asked me a lot of questions about your family’s ranch, and I think he already knew some things, like where the ranch was, but he also asked about your brother’s house. I found some information in the database and gave it to him.”
Brodie closed his eyes and prayed that God would help him contain his frustration. He already knew how Haack found Mom’s house due to the tracker on Londyn’s SUV. No wonder Haack knew where to go the day he showed up at Roarke and Mila’s. No wonder he knew where to send Ms. Corker when they kidnapped Londyn.
“He asked me things like your brother’s name and your brother’s wife’s name and if there were any children, and he disguised it in a pleasant conversational tone when we were talking. It wasn’t like he was interrogating me about these questions. He sounded genuinely interested.”
“Why did he say he needed to know this information?”
“He’s the CEO of this huge development corporation that is interested in offering your family a high dollar amount for theranch because they have been wanting to find some property to develop into a dude ranch. He said he hoped your family would take his company's offer, seeing as how you had a family member who was dying of cancer, and you needed the money.”
“A family member dying of cancer?”
Juanita bobbed her head. “Yes. That’s what he said. I felt sorry for you, and I knew your dad had been killed a few years back, so I wanted to be helpful.” She tugged at the sleeve of her shirt. “You don’t really have someone in your family dying of cancer, do you?”
“Thank the Lord, we do not.”
“I’ve been so stupid. I know I shouldn’t have given out any information, and I look like a dummy, but honestly, he was so convincing. You have to understand how he is.”
“What made you decide to stop helping him?”
“After I saw him with the nurse, I reevaluated. I stayed up all night thinking he’s not who he said he was if he has someone else on the side, so what else is he lying to me about?” Juanita wrung her hands. “I saw the flyer with Linder on it before, and I was thinking about it, and I thought maybe I should tell you about him. I know I am so fired.”
Brodie didn’t elaborate that being fired was probably the least of her worries. Misuse of computer information came to mind, as well as other charges. “I do appreciate you coming in and talking to me.”
Juanita nodded slowly. “I couldn’t live with myself if something happened, and I could have prevented it. I know I’m gullible, but I didn’t do this on purpose. Please believe me.”
Brodie withdrew a bottled water from the case to the left of his desk and offered it to her. He did believe Juanita, but needed to do his best to appear unbiased. “Did Linder, aka Haack, ever tell you where he was staying?”
“No. His work is headquartered in Indianapolis. Because that’s so far from here, he was staying in a hotel for a couple of weeks while he was looking at ranches to purchase.”
Haack certainly excelled at lying, manipulating, and fabricating false identities.
“Whenever we would go out, we would always meet at my place or at the restaurant, never at the hotel, so I’m not even sure if that’s true.”
“Is there anything else you need to tell me?”
Juanita shook her head. “I don’t think so, other than I really am sorry.”
