Chapter 9: Off the Record
Interstate 92
Winterville County, Vermont
6:30 PM
After hearing that Karen Harrison had found the surreptitious van on the interstate, Sheriff Harrison, Lieutenant Asher, and Bill Harvey piled out of Harrison's rented black 2020 Ford Expedition SUV at the staging area now designated at Interstate 92. Sergeant Voight, along with Detectives Halstead and Upton, parked right behind them in their own almost matching black Expedition, meeting up with them at the front of the first vehicle.
Both the Winterville County Sheriff's Department and the Vermont State Police had responded to Karen's 911 call. By now, the State Police Crime Lab had also arrived on the scene and were in the process of analyzing the van for fingerprints and other evidence.
Two groups of sheriff's deputies were doing an on-foot line search in the dense woods adjacent to that stretch of interstate. Detective Robbie Mannell and a uniformed female state trooper had Karen off to the side, taking her initial statement.
"How do you want us to handle this, Troy?" Asher asked.
Harrison swallowed his apprehension before replying. "Obviously I can't take her statement myself," he said to Asher, "So I want you and Jay to do the interview here to save time." The sheriff then looked to Halstead. "You okay with that, Jay?" he inquired.
The handsome Chicago detective nodded. "Totally," he replied, "No worries, man. We've got you. We'll take good care of your mom."
Harrison nodded himself in retort. "Thanks, brother" he replied before returning his attention to Asher. "Abby," he continued, "Do me a favor and go tell Robbie that I want to talk to him, would you, please?"
"Copy that," Abby replied before going over to speak with Mannell as asked.
While he waited for the state police detective to come over, Harrison waved Voight and Upton over. "You doing okay, Troy?" Voight inquired.
"Yeah," Harrison replied, "I'm just pissed off that it was my mom that found the damn van. I mean, that's a hell of a coincidence, right? Abby's mom finds a body and my mom finds the van we've been looking for?"
Upton nodded. "Sure," she said, "I'll admit that it's creepy. But you have to remember, we're cops. This metaphysical shit is fine any other day, but don't let it mess with your head too bad."
"Right on," Harrison replied, "I appreciate that, Hailey. Thanks."
"Is there anything you want us to do?" Voight asked.
Harrison looked toward the woods and pointed. "I want you and Hailey to take charge of the line search," he said, "There's no way those six deputies out there can cover enough of those dense-ass woods."
"Okay," Voight replied, "You got it." He then looked to Upton. "Let's go." The sergeant and the detective then made their way out toward the woods.
Bill Harvey then went over to his cousin. "What's up?" he asked.
"I need a favor," Harrison asked.
"Name it," Harvey said.
"I want you to follow the state police techs to their garage and be a fly on the wall while they search the van," Harrison explained, "It's not that I don't trust them or anything, but I just want one of us to keep an eye on things so there aren't any unanswered questions later."
Harvey nodded. "Not a problem," he replied, "I'll call you if we find anything interesting." He then patted him on the shoulder before going over to the van to speak with the technicians.
Detective Mannell came over as requested. "Hey," he said, "Abby said you wanted to talk to me."
"Yeah," Harrison replied, "Would you be okay with her and Halstead taking point on interviewing my mom?"
"That's fine," Mannell said, "Obviously I'd like to be there too, of course."
"No objection here, bro" Harrison replied, "I just didn't want to step on your toes."
Mannell nodded. "No worries," he said.
The sound of shutting car doors then caused the sheriff to look behind him, at which point he and Mannell turned to see a white, wood-paneled 1980 Mercury Zephyr station wagon parked just behind the Chicago team's Expedition. Its driver's-side door was emblazoned with the Winterville Chronicle logo. "Aw shit," Harrison softly said to Mannell, "The newspaper's here."
"You want me to have the troopers boot them out?" Mannell asked.
Harrison took a few seconds to consider the idea before shaking his head. "Nah, man" he confidently replied, "I know the reporter. He's been covering stories in Winterville since I was in sixth grade. I'll go talk to him and keep him occupied."
On the opposite side of the scene, Lieutenant Asher and Detective Halstead walked over to Karen Harrison, who now stood on the interstate's grooved shoulder wrapped in a neon yellow blanket given to her by one of the responding sheriff's deputies.
"Hi Karen," Asher said to her in a purposefully warmhearted tone before motioning to the Chicago detective, "This is Detective Jay Halstead from the Chicago PD. He and his fellow detectives are here helping Troy, Bill, and I with our investigation."
Karen nodded a silent but convivial salutation to Halstead. "Did you work with Troy and Abby back in Chicago?" she asked him.
"I worked with Abby for a brief period of time," he cordially clarified, "But my sergeant, Hank Voight, worked with your son for a while. He's always spoken highly of him, and since I've met him myself, I can see why."
The still anxious Karen managed a responsive chuckle. "Thank you for that, Detective" she said, "Now what questions do you have to ask me?"
"Did you get a look at the guy driving the van?" Asher asked.
Karen shook her head. "Not much of one," she replied, "No. I mean, all I pretty much did see was just a fast-moving blur that looked like a person."
"Did you see anything that was distinguishable at all?" Halstead inquired.
Karen took roughly 40 seconds to really think before responding. "He was tall and seemed to be quite skinny," she replied.
"Like rail thin?" Asher asked, "or I guess a better word would be 'lean'?"
Karen nodded. "Yeah," she said, "He was actually pretty lean. Sure."
Halstead jotted everything down in his memo book. "Anything else?" he queried.
"He was kind of tan-skinned," Karen explained, "It seemed as if he was either a light-skinned black person or maybe Hispanic."
Asher nodded as she noted the information down in her own memo book. "Alright," she said, "What about his hair?"
"He was bald," Karen replied with certainty in her voice, "I did happen to notice that despite how fast he ran."
Asher and Halstead traded looks for a beat when they heard this. "Bald," Halstead parroted, "Okay. What kind of clothing was he wearing?"
Karen shrugged her blanket-covered shoulders. "I couldn't really tell, to be honest" she said, "But it was some kind of dark clothing. Like maybe a set of coveralls or a baggy black hoodie and black pants."
Asher nodded and jotted this down before putting an arm around Karen. "That should be good enough for now, okay?" she said, "You did really well."
Karen embraced the young lieutenant in a compassionate side hug. "Thanks for sticking by me, Abby" she said before nodding to Halstead, "And you too, Detective. Thank you for your help."
"You can call me 'Jay' if you want, ma'am" Halstead sympathetically replied, "And you're very welcome."
Meanwhile, Harrison approached the 1980 Mercury Zephyr station wagon with the Winterville Chronicle logo on it. He saw longtime local reporter M.W. Hawk standing beside it with his reporter's notebook and a pencil in hand.
The veteran newspaper reporter, whose full name was Mitchell Werner Hawk, was a tall and rather homely white man in his mid-60's of average build who sported a shaggy, unkempt white-haired mullet. He was dressed in a tweed blazer with a plaid button-down shirt underneath, matching tweed pants, and light brown loafers.
Standing next to him was Freddie Heggs, Hawk's recently hired new assistant and photographer who very much yearned to be a reporter somebody. Heggs was a tall, lanky white man in his mid-30's who sported a thick brown-haired combover. He was clad in a big Navy blue vest that came complete with what seemed like 100 pockets on the sides, a white Winterville Chronicle t-shirt underneath, faded blue jeans, and raggedy white running shoes. A high-end Nikon digital camera also hung on a strap around his neck.
An always humble Harrison extended a hand to Hawk. "Mister Hawk," he said, "Good to see you again, sir."
"Hello Mister Harrison," Hawk replied as he reciprocated the handshake with a dead fish handshake of his own, "Or should I say 'Sheriff Harrison'. Welcome home."
"I appreciate that," Harrison said, knowing full well that the snarky reporter wasn't entirely being sincere, nor was he with his own half-hearted sentiments.
Hawk gestured to his assistant. "Sheriff," he said, "This is my new assistant-slash-photographer, Freddie Heggs."
"Hi Freddie," Harrison said, "It's nice to meet you."
"Likewise," Heggs replied in a rather soft-spoken tone, "We have some questions for you if that's alright."
Harrison nodded. "I figured as much," he replied, "Fire away."
Hawk flipped open his notebook and referred to it momentarily. "Do you have any comments about the controversies surrounding the Chicago Police Intelligence Unit?" he asked, "I understand that you and your colleague Lieutenant Asher invited some of the unit's members here to help you with your investigation into the Black Star Killer."
Harrison let out a very uneasy chuckle upon hearing the contrived and overly sensationalized nickname he had given the killer. "I'm sorry," he said, "the what?"
"The Black Star Killer," Heggs chimed in, "Based on the black stars that've been discovered at each scene."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah" Harrison interjected, "I get it. I just thought that a seasoned reporter like our buddy M.W. here could've come up with something more original."
Getting no response from either of the miffed men, Harrison cleared his throat. "In response to your question," he continued, "Sergeant Voight and his detectives are some of the best investigators that the Windy City has to offer. Myself, Lieutenant Asher, Special Agent Harvey from the FBI, the Winterville PD, and the State Police are all very humbled to have their assistance in this. These 'controversies' to which you earlier referred have no relevance to us."
Holding up his portable Dictaphone recorder to memorialize the sheriff's words, Hawk nodded. "We also wanted to know if you had anything to say in regards to Guy Marvel's book, 'Breaking Eden's Gate'", he said.
Breaking Eden's Gate was a controversial book written by overzealous sci-fi movie director Guy Marvel that rubbed all of Hope County, Montana and especially the Sheriff's Department, the wrong way.
Published in late 2018 after the takedown of Eden's Gate, the death of Faith Seed, and the incarceration of Joseph Seed, what was meant as an in-depth inquiry into the cult and those who worked so hard to investigate them instead turned into a poorly researched and denigrating indictment of the Hope County Sheriff's Department under then newly appointed Sheriff Harrison's administration.
Among its many ridiculous, unfounded claims were the absolutely untrue insinuation of a romantic and sexual relationship between the sheriff and then Sergeant Asher, the very untrue allegation that Aubrey and Kevin Dodd had prior knowledge of their adopted daughter Amelia's true identity, and various other confounded claims.
Harrison sighed deeply. "I want this off the record, Hawk" he said with a very stern tone, "Turn your Dictaphone off, please."
A hesitant Hawk relented, clicking the recorder off. "Go ahead," he said.
"Guy Marvel is an arrogant stoned-brained mushroom head who got his rocks off slinging shit at me and my department," Harrison sharply began, "And the only reason he published that inflammatory horseshit excuse for literature was to get back at us after Deputy Staci Pratt and I discovered that he was growing illegal psilocybin mushrooms in his trailer on the set of 'Blood Dragon Three' and arrested him."
"That's why the Hope County shoot was shut down," Hawk interjected.
"Yes," Harrison replied, "I had the mushrooms confiscated by the DEA and Marvel was sentenced to sixty days in our jail with two months of probation afterwards. As you can imagine, he was none too happy about being stranded in our rural county for all that time."
Hawk nodded. "I suppose you're done answering questions for now," he assumed.
"I am," Harrison confidently replied, "It was great seeing you gentlemen."
Harrison then walked away back towards the scene.