Chapter 11

The interview with the kids and their parents had yielded nothing new or useful. The parents had, at first, been defensive although neither had brought a lawyer to the meeting. It was immediately obvious to Linda that these kids were still shaken from what they had seen and simply not capable of this kind of atrocity. When she assured the parents that the boy and girl were simply witnesses to the aftermath of the crime, the parents grew more cooperative and encouraged the teens to provide any and all information they could. Yet that was little, and nothing they didnʼt already know. So a fruitless thirty minutes later the kids and parents were on their way and Linda still searching for answers as she stood in the doorway of the sheriffʼs office and watched them leave.

“Hey, Sheriff!” called Brad, walking up from the coffee shop with two steaming cups of java.

“Mmmmm, thanks,” she said tasting the aromatic brew.

“At least something good is happening this morning.”

“Not much from the kids, huh?”

“Nothing useful. Did that additional info get here from Tohoula County?”

“Yeah. Sheila said Doc would examine the fingerprints, but she could tell with nothing but a magnifying glass that they were a match. They also sent dental records which Doc will take a look at, but, itʼs Susan Landry, no doubt about it.”

“What do we know about her?”


“Sheilaʼs got the records. She should be able to tell you.”
The two stepped back into the office where the plump jack-of-all-trades was finishing sorting through the rather skimpy files.


“What have you got?” asked Linda.


“Not a whole lot. The fileʼs pretty thin. Father is Fred Landry, a construction worker. Retired. He and the mother, Laverne, were divorced seven years ago. The girl lived with her mother in an apartment there in Talmidge. The mother said the girl left for her part time job at the local Seven-Eleven about seven PM on Wednesday the 11th. But the store manager said she never showed. He called the mother who reported her missing.”

“Thatʼs almost a week ago,” mused Linda.


“So the perv took his time with her,” said Brad disgustedly.


“Appears so,” responded Sheila.

“Talmidge police didnʼt really treat it as a missing personʼs case until the next day. She had a boyfriend, but heʼs got a rock solid alibi. Talmidge PD says heʼs as shaken up as the mother.”

“What about the father?”

“Lives in Missoula now. Says here he spends a lot of time in the local bars,” added Sheila.

“Heʼs also got an alibi but...”

“But what?”

“Well, the report says he got really spooked when he was told about his daughter.”

“Wouldnʼt you? asked Brad.

“Youʼre probably right,” said Shelia.

right,” said Shelia.

“But the report says he acted more sc red than heartbroken.”

“Maybe he thought he was going to be accused.”