Ryder continued. “He’s seen nothing unusual or relevant firsthand. But he senses there may be something off between Hargrove and Barry Nelson, the general manager.”
“Isn’t Nelson John Molina’s brother-in-law?” Matt said.
“Yes. Could be nothing, but Michael is watching closely. Since he lives in the garage apartment on Nelson’s property, he’s become friendly with both Barry and his wife.”
“Maybe Nelson also suspects something between Hargrove and A-Line?”
“Michael didn’t say.”
“Tell him he needs to consider that Barry or John Molina might have their own suspicions about Hargrove. If that’s the case, we may rethink approaching them with our investigation. Joe Molina hasn’t reported that anyone is suspicious of Hargrove.” Matt turned to Wyatt. “Thoughts?”
“Joe is a computer guy,” Wyatt said. “He might not be in the loop.”
“It’s a family business.”
“Remember, he wasn’t involved on-site until last year when his mom, Clare, came down with cancer. He quit his job and moved down from Phoenix and took over for his dad so John could take care of Clare’s needs. Barry is mostly running things until John comes back full time. Joe’s book smart—that’s the way the long-timers think of him. They like him because he’s John’s son, but he’s not really one of them.”
“I don’t understand what you’re trying to say,” Matt said.
“Joe is the figurehead because it’s his father’s company, but Barry has been running the day-to-day for the past year. John’s involvement is starting to increase again, now that Clare is done with chemotherapy.” Wyatt paused. “Is this important?”
“Yes,” Matt said. “At least to understand the power hierarchy and management structure.”
“Joe brought the company into the twenty-first century technology-wise this year, but he doesn’t do anything on the refinery floor or with the equipment. He’s all about computers and technology. He doesn’t get his hands dirty, so to speak.”
That made a lot of sense from what Matt knew of Joe Molina and his background in computer engineering.
“Anything else on your end, Wyatt?”
“The upcoming annual Memorial Weekend Patagonia Art Festival is going to keep us busy. The town’s population will triple those few days. We only have three deputies, plus me, but our sheriff is loaning us several more to help with traffic and trouble, plus the state troopers will be keeping a close eye on the roads outside of town.”
“Do you usually get trouble at an art festival?”
“When you have that number of people in town for anything, things happen. Mostly minor stuff, a lot of DUIs, an occasional fight or vandalism. But this festival funds the town for half the year, so it’s imperative things run smoothly.”
“Got it,” Matt said.
“You should know, too, Matt, that Billy Nixon has been around.”
That was not what Matt wanted to hear. “What is he doing?”
“One of my deputies saw him turn off the highway toward the trailhead that leads to where his girlfriend was killed. He’s still probably looking for clues, working through his grief.”
“As long as he stays away from Southwest Copper. I don’t want him asking questions that might make Hargrove or anyone else suspicious.”
Matt considered that Emma’s murder may or may not be related to illegal dumping. But his gut told him that a random murder in the middle of nowhere was unlikely. The most likely scenario was that someone had tracked Emma and Billy and, when she was alone, snuck up behind her and hit her over the head with a rock. Perhaps the killer intended to push her into the pond where she would drown, making it seem like an accident. But when Billy came running, the killer took off.
But why?
Matt had reached out to both Emma’s parents and Billy last month and informed them that the FBI was taking Emma’s death seriously, but that he couldn’t share anything more than that. Her parents were grateful, and Matt made a point to give them a status report each week, even though he had nothing new to share. At the time, Billy also seemed to understand. Had something changed?
“I’m going to talk to Billy,” Matt said.
“I can talk to him,” Frank said.
“If I can’t get through to him, maybe,” Matt said. He wasn’t certain Frank wouldn’t share too much with Billy about their investigation. He couldn’t risk the case and his people in Patagonia because of Billy’s grief and Frank’s guilt.
Frank said, “I’m taking some time off. So I can talk to him today.”
Matt eyed him suspiciously. “Where are you going?”
“Camping,” he said. “I need to clear my head. But I can check on Billy before I head out. He’ll listen to me, Matt.”
Matt weighed the pros and cons, and relented—but he didn’t feel good about it. “Make it clear to him—without giving away any details about our investigation—that we haven’t forgotten Emma and we are on top of things.”
“Are we?” Frank asked bluntly.
“Do you have something to say?”
Frank just shrugged.
After the surprise inspection of Southwest Copper two months ago, Game & Fish and AREA had inspected known waterways and found no sign of contamination. Groundwater had been tested—nothing. There was only so much they could do with the limited information they had, and Frank knew it.
Matt said, “If A-Line Trucking is illegally dumping toxic slag, we’ll know next week. If Hargrove is behind it, we’ll know that too. I have a good team here, but some cases take longer to develop than others, and we don’t want anyone walking away who should be prosecuted—or likewise, anyone blamed who is innocent.”
Frank bristled, and Matt realized he overstepped.
Two years ago, an erroneous AREA investigation into Southwest Copper had yielded no violations and created a schism between AREA and the local Patagonia community. Initially, Frank and his team believed that Southwest Copper had improperly dug a well that contaminated the water supply, forcing them to recertify the well and costing the company money. They later learned that a faulty pump in town had led to the rash of illnesses among some of the townsfolk. But the “rush to judgment” by AREA against Southwest Copper had created untold problems, adversely affecting this current, more serious investigation.
AREA’s past investigation meant Matt had to be doubly cautious in how they handled these new suspicions. Law enforcement agencies—sometimes justified, sometimes not—were being held to much higher standards now.