Murder in the Forest, Chapter 20
The car with the investigators seeking information about the hardware store owner's home eased down the street and Ford leaned out a little with a motion picture camera. He filmed with it, and then they went down the street, turned, and cruised back. Hotchner and a deputy who usually took evidence photos and processed them both used Nikon digital SLR cameras with telephoto lenses to get added still pictures as the car paused briefly. Then, they went down the block and came back up the alley.
"If he has a fence, we won't see a damned thing," complained Ford.
But they were lucky: the fence wasn't wood, just normal wire links like most homes had on this street and indeed, throughout most of the USA. There was a garage, but it seemed to be of normal size and unlikely to hold more than a couple of cars or SUV's. They'd already taken pictures of a dark blue Jeep Cherokee in the driveway, including the license plate.
"That's it for here, folks," said the sheriff. "Let's go get some good barbeque and hope that the Rossi's see him in the store and get a sense of who and what he is."
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David Rossi parked the rented green Toyota 4-Runner by the hardware store and went around and helped Jareau out and locked the door.
"Dave, thanks, but should you be opening doors for me? How long have we been married? Do many men really do that for their wives? "
Rossi paused to think, and he nodded. "Yes, it'd be in character for me. I'm sort of courtly and like to lavish attention on women. Doesn't your husband do this for you?"
Jareau snorted and took her "husband's" hand. "No. Like, I wish! Mr. William LaMontagne's really not very gallant about such things. Said that if women are supposed to be so liberated today, I can get my own doors and pull out my own chair in restaurants. It's sort of nice to be treated like a lady, for a change. Dave, do you think we can really pull this off? Like we're really married, for four years? What if they ask a lot of personal questions?"
Rossi smiled. "Just tell them that we don't want to talk to strangers about our personal lives. They really have no business asking much beyond what we're shopping for. And I'll be very surprised if Bamka wants to talk about you as much as he'll talk about himself. He seems to be that sort of man."
Jareau grimaced. "Yeah, I've dated some men like that. Everything is about them, until they want to get my clothes off. The sort who look at my boobs more than my face!"
Rossi smiled. "I promise to look at all of you and even to listen to you…most of the time. Ready, Dear?" And he helped Jareau up onto the sidewalk and opened the store door for her.
Inside, they found a large, well stocked and arranged store, with practically anything that one would hope for a hardware store to have. There were even a couple of lawn mowers, the sort ridden by the person cutting the grass.
A clerk approached them, but he was young and didn't fit the description of the owner. "Help you folks?" he asked. He had long brown hair, down to the base of his neck, reminding Jareau a little of Dr. Spencer Reid. But this fellow's hair was straighter.
"Yeah," said Rossi. "We're thinking of moving here and rented a SUV to get around and I was thinking of driving out of town some and want to get an axe in case we get stuck, and maybe have to spend a night in the woods or have to chop a fallen tree out of the road, that sort of thing. We need some canteens and Thermos bottles, too, if you have those. Maybe those all-steel Stanley vacuum bottles? I tend to break glass bottles."
The clerk smiled. "We carry both Stanley and Nissan steel bottles, in several sizes. And we have axes and hatchets by Gerber, Fiskars, Estwing, Buck, Snow & Neely, and if you really want to spend some money, we have some by a couple of Swedish makers. They have real hand-forged heads and hold an edge really well. Got both Wetterling and Gransfors Bruks brands. Where do you want to start: with axes or vacuum bottles?"
"I'm feeling a little like Paul Bunyan today," joked the tall FBI agent. "Let's start with the axes."
"Who's Paul Bunyan?" the clerk wanted to know." Does he live here in Elk Pass?"
Rossi managed not to roll his eyes. So many people today were ignorant of America's traditions and legends. This twerp probably knew about sports figures, Online games, or about the Kardassians, but not about Bunyan. Still, if he explained about the legendary axe man and logger, they'd begin to bond to a degree and he could get the man to talking while Jareau wandered off and made herself available in case Bamka wanted to approach her.
They walked over to the back of the store, where axes and hatchets were displayed along one side wall. There was a counter, with the items stored behind it, with hatchets and smaller axes in a glass counter display. The clerk explained that if they left these out for the public to handle, they got scratched up and wooden handles would be dented and some items would inevitably be stolen. "Just browse a little and I'll hand you whatever you want to look at," he offered.
"Don't leave," said Rossi. "I have some questions, and I definitely want to handle some merchandise. First, what's the difference between the Gerber and Fiskars brands? Both are made in Finland and both have those hollow fiberglass handles."
"Yeah," said the kid, who suddenly seemed more in his element. Rossi realized that he might be more knowledgeable than he'd thought. He was afraid at first that the lad might barely be able to ring the cash register and wouldn't know much about the merchandise. But this initial impression, compounded by his ignorance of Paul Bunyan, was in error.
"First," he explained, "Fiskars bought Gerber in Portland maybe 20 years ago and the axes are made in the same factory in Finland, where Fiskars is located. But hardware and big general merchandise stores like Home Depot tend to sell the Fiskars brand, while the ones marked Gerber go to sporting goods stores, to sell to campers, hunters, and other sportsmen. Gerber usually costs more, because that's their target market. Fiskars are often sold more to homeowners and gardeners and whatnot, who want an axe to chop firewood or to cut down trees that they don't want or which are growing branches that need trimming. Whatever. So the main difference is just in the brand markings and maybe in some handle colors. We carry both, and sell a lot of them. They're good axes and those fiberglass handles are a lot stronger than they look. And see how the heads are imbedded in the handles, where the handle surrounds the middle of the axe head? You don't have to worry about the head flying off if a wooden handle shrinks a little."
"You men have fun," said JJ. "I'm going to stroll around and shop a little."
Rossi nodded and saw from the corner of his eye that the young clerk was watching Jareau as she left. He avoided being caught as Rossi turned and the men resumed talking about axes and hatchets. The clerk showed how Buck hatchets also had such handles.
Jareau wandered a bit, and soon felt that she was being observed. She looked around and saw two men in different parts of the store avert their eyes, hoping not to be seen watching her. Another stared and smiled a little. But all were customers.
And then she heard a voice behind her say, "Hello, ma'am. Can I help you? I'd be happy to help you find whatever you're looking for. And I bet we have it, too. This is the best stocked hardware store in the county. I own it, and I'm proud of our selection. My name's Mike Bamka."
She turned and looked into the face of the man who may have kidnapped two young women and was probably sexually abusing and humiliating them.