TBI’s extensive crime lab. We walked down to the ground floor where
three vehicle bays equipped with suction devices provided the techs with a
place to thoroughly examine anything on wheels. A tractor-trailer cab sat in
the largest bay. We found two guys going over Bradley’s Jeep with their version
of a fine-toothed comb. Evidence bags sat around for placing trace evidence
they collected.
“What have you got, Larry?” Fought
asked a burly man with a large black mustache.
“Not a lot that will likely do us
any good. Two days underwater doesn’t leave much to go on. Any exposed fingerprints
are gone. We found a few papers in what passes for a glove box that weren’t
soaked through. Apparently these old military vehicles weren’t equipped with
glove boxes, but somebody had fashioned one that closed pretty tightly. We’ll
send them up to the fingerprint folks.”
“The water probably washed away any
fibers, too,” Fought said.
“There’s plenty of mud and silt. And a couple of small items that were wedged in beside the seat. A matchbook, for one. Also, we found a piece of
stainless steel tubing on the floor behind the front seat. I’ll send it
upstairs to see what they can make of it.”
“Okay, thanks. I’ll check back
later.”
Agent Fought escorted us back to
the main entrance. On the way, I asked about the two Trousdale County men who
had been involved in fights with Pierce Bradley.
“They’re on my list to question.
The sheriff provided names and addresses.”
He didn’t volunteer anything
further, and I didn’t ask. I knew I could get it from the sheriff.
I shook his hand as we reached the front
door. “I hope you turn up something soon. We’ll get back to you the minute we
track down any kind of link.”
He smiled and nodded to Jill. “Nice
meeting both of you.”
Out in the parking lot, she looked
around, shading her eyes from the sun. “He seemed like a nice enough man, after
he finally came around. Don’t forget to thank Phil Adamson for that.”
“Yeah. I
wish I had something to give Phil in return.”
“Like what?”
“Like what Harold Sharkey was after
when he knocked on Kelli’s door.”
I wished even harder when we got
back to the office and found a message to call our favorite homicide detective.
Chapter 16
“Hi, Phil,” I said when he answered. “Thanks for giving me
good marks with TBI Agent Fought.”
"You meet with him?”
“Just got back. He was willing to give us a little slack thanks to you. But he wants a solid
tie-in with my case before he’ll really cooperate.”
“Can’t blame him
there. One of the other boys in Homicide told me he’d worked with Fought
on a case. Said he was a no-nonsense investigator. A lot of
talent. I think he has a criminal justice degree and worked for a few
years with the Knoxville PD.”
“He seemed pretty competent to us.
But Agent Fought wasn’t the reason for your call, was it?”
“No. I thought I’d warn you not to
get too excited when you hear your friend’s been called into the DA’s office.”
“Warren Jarvis?” That didn’t sound
good. “What’s up?”
“I did some checking on the
colonel, and the military seems to think very highly of him. However, the
assistant DA handling the case wants to talk to him. He’s one of these cocky
young lawyers, thinks he can dig stuff out of people they won’t give to cops. I
told him we hadn’t come up with any idea of what Sharkey was doing there.”
I decided it was time to level with
Phil. I owed him that. “I had a message on the answering machine from yesterday
afternoon about one-thirty. Harold Sharkey called to ask in effect what I was
doing at Arthur Liggett’s house. Apparently he came by while my Jeep was parked
out front. The idiot talked like he expected me to tell him.”
“Interesting.” Phil’s voice had an edge to it. “So he thought you’d tell him more than you
told me, huh?”
That hit more like a jab with a
hypodermic needle
three vehicle bays equipped with suction devices provided the techs with a
place to thoroughly examine anything on wheels. A tractor-trailer cab sat in
the largest bay. We found two guys going over Bradley’s Jeep with their version
of a fine-toothed comb. Evidence bags sat around for placing trace evidence
they collected.
“What have you got, Larry?” Fought
asked a burly man with a large black mustache.
“Not a lot that will likely do us
any good. Two days underwater doesn’t leave much to go on. Any exposed fingerprints
are gone. We found a few papers in what passes for a glove box that weren’t
soaked through. Apparently these old military vehicles weren’t equipped with
glove boxes, but somebody had fashioned one that closed pretty tightly. We’ll
send them up to the fingerprint folks.”
“The water probably washed away any
fibers, too,” Fought said.
“There’s plenty of mud and silt. And a couple of small items that were wedged in beside the seat. A matchbook, for one. Also, we found a piece of
stainless steel tubing on the floor behind the front seat. I’ll send it
upstairs to see what they can make of it.”
“Okay, thanks. I’ll check back
later.”
Agent Fought escorted us back to
the main entrance. On the way, I asked about the two Trousdale County men who
had been involved in fights with Pierce Bradley.
“They’re on my list to question.
The sheriff provided names and addresses.”
He didn’t volunteer anything
further, and I didn’t ask. I knew I could get it from the sheriff.
I shook his hand as we reached the front
door. “I hope you turn up something soon. We’ll get back to you the minute we
track down any kind of link.”
He smiled and nodded to Jill. “Nice
meeting both of you.”
Out in the parking lot, she looked
around, shading her eyes from the sun. “He seemed like a nice enough man, after
he finally came around. Don’t forget to thank Phil Adamson for that.”
“Yeah. I
wish I had something to give Phil in return.”
“Like what?”
“Like what Harold Sharkey was after
when he knocked on Kelli’s door.”
I wished even harder when we got
back to the office and found a message to call our favorite homicide detective.
Chapter 16
“Hi, Phil,” I said when he answered. “Thanks for giving me
good marks with TBI Agent Fought.”
"You meet with him?”
“Just got back. He was willing to give us a little slack thanks to you. But he wants a solid
tie-in with my case before he’ll really cooperate.”
“Can’t blame him
there. One of the other boys in Homicide told me he’d worked with Fought
on a case. Said he was a no-nonsense investigator. A lot of
talent. I think he has a criminal justice degree and worked for a few
years with the Knoxville PD.”
“He seemed pretty competent to us.
But Agent Fought wasn’t the reason for your call, was it?”
“No. I thought I’d warn you not to
get too excited when you hear your friend’s been called into the DA’s office.”
“Warren Jarvis?” That didn’t sound
good. “What’s up?”
“I did some checking on the
colonel, and the military seems to think very highly of him. However, the
assistant DA handling the case wants to talk to him. He’s one of these cocky
young lawyers, thinks he can dig stuff out of people they won’t give to cops. I
told him we hadn’t come up with any idea of what Sharkey was doing there.”
I decided it was time to level with
Phil. I owed him that. “I had a message on the answering machine from yesterday
afternoon about one-thirty. Harold Sharkey called to ask in effect what I was
doing at Arthur Liggett’s house. Apparently he came by while my Jeep was parked
out front. The idiot talked like he expected me to tell him.”
“Interesting.” Phil’s voice had an edge to it. “So he thought you’d tell him more than you
told me, huh?”
That hit more like a jab with a
hypodermic needle
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