Harm's Reach

43

Ren and Janine walked down the steps into the parking lot.

‘It’s all so strange,’ said Janine. ‘I’ll call Stateville when I get back to the office, see if they have a record of Laura Flynn visiting Derrick Charles.’

‘And I will call my dear friend, the wildly generous Robert Prince,’ said Ren.

‘Hold off until we know more about whether she actually visited Stateville.’

‘Well, I can ask about his donation,’ said Ren, ‘without getting in to anything about Laura.’

Ren was driving behind Janine, not far from Conifer, when she called.

Ren picked up. ‘I miss you too... these past ten minutes have been killing me.’

Janine laughed. ‘I just got a call from Kohler... we got a breakthrough on our Copier Bandits. A couple of kids playing in Pine Gulch Cemetery found a little black “toy”. One of them brought it home, showed it to his mom, but it wasn’t a toy — it was a GPS signal jammer, perfect if the bait money at the bank had a GPS tracker. And, we have traced it to local fool, Morgan Greene. A real idiot; you know, the kind of guy goes into a bar, shoots his mouth off, brags about whatever he can. Smart enough not to mention a robbery, dumb enough to mention GPS signal jammers. He’s twenty-nine, lives with his stoner buddies not far from here. He works for Burt Kendall or used to work for him; he lost his job last week because of the bankruptcy. Apparently the last pay check any Kendall employee got was at the end of March. We’re going to bring him in this afternoon. Kohler and I are going to take him on.’

‘Pincer movement,’ said Ren.

‘It’ll be fun,’ said Janine.

Ren hung up and dialed Robert Prince’s number.

‘Mr Prince, it’s Ren Bryce here — do you have a minute?’

‘I do,’ said Robert. ‘What can I help you with?’

‘I was wondering about your donation to Derrick Charles’ appeal fund...’

‘Yes?’ said Robert Prince.

‘What led you to donate?’ said Ren.

‘I read a piece on him in the Denver Post, during one of my visits,’ said Robert. ‘I believed his defense’s story of an intruder. Derrick had been in debt to many people. He had a lot of enemies. I just couldn’t see that there was evidence that he killed his wife and children. He looked like a very happy family man.’

‘Did you know him personally?’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Robert.

‘Had you met him?’ said Ren.

‘No, never,’ said Robert. ‘I called Kenneth Faule because of what I read and I was very impressed with him. That was why I chose The Darned Heart for Conor. I believed it was a place that would straighten him out.’

‘Did any of your contacts — friend, family, otherwise — know Derrick Charles or his family personally?’ said Ren.

‘No,’ said Robert. ‘You have to understand, Agent Bryce, I’m a man of means and it’s — I don’t want to say “easy” — but it is possible for me to see a cause I believe in and donate to that cause, without knowing more than I read in the article or the letter or whatever medium I come across a story of someone in need. It’s why you hear all the time, an anonymous benefactor paid for the surgery of some poor two-year-old cancer victim that was featured in the newspaper, etc., etc. That’s because of people like me.’

Oh, gooood for youuuu. In the tone of Christian Bale.

‘Don’t you ever question things any deeper?’ said Ren. ‘You’re putting a lot of faith in journalists.’

‘I trust that they have fact-checked, at the very least, on such important cases, and anything I’m not sure of, I follow up on.’

Could he be a little naïve? Or am I?

‘Agent Bryce, is this relevant to what happened to Laura?’

‘I need to make more inquiries,’ said Ren.

‘Do you think I have put her in danger in any way by making this donation?’ said Robert.

I don’t fucking know! ‘I’ll keep you informed,’ said Ren. ‘Thank you for your time.’

Ren arrived back in Safe Streets. Robbie was on a call. Everett got up and came over to her desk.

‘You look overly excited,’ said Ren. ‘I see financials dancing in your eyes.’

‘Well,’ said Everett, ‘I may have found our answer as to why Robert Prince set up the energy company. It turns out that, back in 1953, Walter Prince bought a second tract of land in Williston, North Dakota: a three-thousand-acre cattle ranch. For some reason, though, in January 1958, that land was transferred to a trust fund, managed by the Prince family’s law firm in Butte, Montana. This land was not inherited by either Acora or Robert Prince. It’s likely that they didn’t even know it existed.’

‘Oh my God,’ said Ren. ‘Back in November, Robert Prince was given letters from the Prince mansion that were to do with a Butte law firm.’

‘Well, it mightn’t have made good reading for him,’ said Everett, ‘because the second tract of land does come with mineral rights. The land he got is worthless, but the land the mystery benefactor got is worth anywhere up to fifty million dollars.’

‘Ouch,’ said Ren. ‘But, I don’t get it... there was obviously no bad blood between Walter and Acora and Robert. From what I read, she inherited everything when her father died... and then it went to Robert when she died.’

‘Walter Prince either had someone else he was close to...’

‘... or he was forced to sign over the deeds to someone for baaad reasons,’ said Ren. ‘If Robert Prince found this out, I can’t imagine he would have taken that information lightly.’

‘No,’ said Everett.

‘Could Robert Prince already know who owns this land?’ said Ren.

‘I don’t know,’ said Everett. ‘It’s possible.’

‘Does he have any claim on it?’ said Ren.

‘If it was handed over because of a blackmail situation, yes, but only if the blackmail could be proven.’

‘So many years have gone by — I’m wondering how easy it would be to prove...’ said Ren.

‘Maybe he was able to prove it, hence the new company,’ said Everett. ‘What do you know about Walter Prince? Was he involved in shady dealings?’

‘What I know is that he wasn’t a nice man at all,’ said Ren. ‘When he was only a teenager, he rounded up a posse to beat a man to death. Albeit a suspected pedophile... the father of one of three young girls who disappeared slash were murdered — it was called the Orchard Girls case...’

‘Did Walter Prince do time for it?’ said Everett.

‘Oh, no,’ said Ren. ‘The Princes were far too untouchable. And it was all rumor.’

‘Well, if I can follow more of this trail, I could wend my way closer to the truth,’ said Everett. ‘What makes him blackmailable.’

‘Go, Everett, go!’

Robbie had tuned into their conversation, after he had ended his phone call. He was listening to them, but with a faraway look in his eye. When five o’clock came, he got up and gathered his things.

‘See you tomorrow,’ he said. He left, his head down.

I can’t watch him suffer any more.

Stay out of it.

Don’t.

He needs help.

Don’t be so naïve. Maybe he loves this new life of pornography.

He is miserable.

Go.

Ren ran down the stairs after him.

‘Hey,’ she said.

Cold feet. Cold feet.

‘Hi,’ said Robbie.

‘Can we chat for a second?’ said Ren.

‘Sure,’ said Robbie. ‘Everything OK?’

‘Let’s go sit in your car,’ said Ren.

‘OK... I’m getting nervous.’

She laughed. ‘Don’t be.’

I’ll take care of that part.