Page 56 of Everything She Feared

Witness: BCSO Deputy Bob Elam

Place: BCSO Sandpoint, ID

Idaho FOIA request (Sec 74-113, Idaho Code)

24

Seattle, Washington

True Ocean Auto Dealers in Lake City

Pierce and Bentonwere walking through the expansive lots with rows of new and used cars, and vehicles in for servicing.

After leaving Sara Harmon’s home, Pierce wanted to talk to Tanner Bishop, Anna’s ex-boyfriend.

While Benton drove, Pierce consulted Tanner’s statement and contact information, then made calls. Tanner was here, at his part-time job.

Pierce’s concerns, after seeing the torn Polaroids of Tanner in Anna’s room, and her parents’ revelations about the necklace, had mounted after they’d interviewed Katie Harmon for her account of how she’d come to possess it.

In the statement he gave to Larry Grotowski, Tanner had acknowledged the breakup with Anna. But there was nothing about a necklace. It also left Pierce doubting herself for not interviewing Tanner directly.

“I still think you’re reaching with all of this, Kim,” Benton had said when they wheeled into the dealership.

“I want to be thorough.”

At the counter, the service manager had eyed their badges, listening to their request to talk to Tanner.

“Is this about that girl he knew who fell in the park by North Bend?”

“Yes, we’d like to talk to him alone for a moment,” Pierce said.

“Well, he’s alone in the far west lot, washing cars or moving them in and out of the service bays. He’s got on a neon lime shirt. You can’t miss him.”

Now, threading their way around cars, they glimpsed a flash of a bright T-shirt. Pierce was glad Tanner had turned eighteen a few months ago. It would make questioning him less complicated.

A hose hissed and a rainbow appeared in the spray as Tanner rinsed perfumed soapsuds from a Jeep Wrangler, pausing when the detectives approached him with badges and introductions. They requested Tanner show them his driver’s license to confirm his identification. After Pierce photographed it, Tanner leaned against a dry car and listened.

“Just a few questions on your relationship with Anna Shaw,” Pierce said.

“What about it?”

“In your statement you acknowledged she broke things off a few weeks before her death.”

He dragged his forearm across his forehead.

“Yes.”

“Why did she break up with you?”

Tanner looked at Pierce, then Benton, then back at Pierce.

“It was a misunderstanding.”

“A misunderstanding?”

“Shelby, my ex-girlfriend, wanted to talk to me. She was hurting about her parents’ divorce. I met her at a park. She was crying. I hugged her. She kissed me. It got back to Anna and that was that. But I wasn’t cheating.”

“After Anna broke it off with you, did you do anything to win her back?”

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