Rocky Road (16 page)

As it turned out, there was no need to hurry. The store across the street didn’t open until ten-thirty, and it was barely nine o’clock. Sadie decided to update her notes while they waited. She was up to three pages of information when Officer Nielson finally called her. During the two rings she let pass before answering it, she considered how much she should tell him about this morning’s discoveries. Did he want possibilities and supposition or just solid leads?

She answered his call before she’d made a decision. “Good morning,” she said into the phone.

“Good morning,” he repeated. “I’ve just pulled up the Red Rock Cancer Foundation’s articles—tell me exactly what you found.”

They discussed the different entities, and he asked detailed questions that she answered as best she could. “That’s certainly something that requires more attention,” Officer Nielson said when they finished up. “I’m heading into the admin meeting regarding the reopening of Dr. Hendricks’s case and will include this information—I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes, but I’m guessing that by this afternoon we’ll have new detectives on this case.”

Sadie knew that, to him, that was good news. For her, it was a little more difficult to face. She wasn’t ready to let go of this case, and because of that, when he didn’t ask her if she’d discovered anything else since leaving the message last night, she didn’t volunteer it. “I’ll look forward to the update,” Sadie said.

“Until then,” he said before ending the call. Sadie appreciated that he wasn’t long-winded—it gave her less time to second-guess herself while he was still on the line.

“You didn’t tell him about Dr. H,” Caro pointed out when Sadie put her phone down.

“I’ll tell him when we know for sure.”

“How do you decide what to tell the police and what not to tell them?” Caro asked, sounding genuinely curious.

There was no good answer to that question. “Um, I’m not sure. It’s kind of a case-by-case thing.”

Sadie checked her e-mail, hoping for something from Pete, but she was disappointed. She could really use his guidance right now. Rather than dwelling on that, she turned her attention back to her notes.

It felt like hours until the time on her computer showed 10:20. She and Caro were waiting when a middle-aged man unlocked the front door from inside and welcomed them. On a grease board set just inside the small store was a Monday through Friday lunch special listed in fluorescent pink marker. Today was Fresh Mex Thursday, and the special was Barbacoa Pork Salad. Sounded delicious.

To the left of the shelves that were filled with one or two options for everything from canned soup to antifreeze was a small lunch counter with napkins, flatware, and a soda fountain. Sadie assumed that when it got closer to lunchtime, that’s where the “special” would be made available. She hoped they would still be in town for lunch. Little places like this intrigued her.

“Can I help you ladies find anything?” the man asked, reminding Sadie that he was still there.

She and Caro shared a look and then faced him. “Actually, yes,” Sadie said. She wished she had some of her business cards from when she had her investigation company. They would be the perfect offering for her to make right now. “My name’s Sadie, and this is my friend Caro. We’re trying to learn more about a gentleman known around town as Wednesday Man, and we were told that you might know more about him.”

She held her breath, anticipating the same hesitation she’d encountered with Candace. To her surprise, however, his expression remained open.

“You know him?” he asked, heading toward the counter at the back of the small store. They followed him.

“He might be a friend of ours,” Sadie said.

“Seems like a good enough guy. I let him do odd jobs in exchange for some food. I’m Robert, by the way.” He reached the counter and moved behind it before extending his hand and shaking theirs. “Can’t say I know more about him than anyone else in town does, though. He’s pretty tight-lipped.”

“What kind of odd jobs does he do?” Caro asked.

“Janitorial stuff,” the clerk said, looking back and forth at them as he sat on a stool next to the cash register with his arms crossed over his chest. “Seems pretty down on his luck.”

“How long has he been working for you?”

“Well, I wouldn’t call it working for me,” Robert said with a smile. “But it’s been a couple of months.”

“And you never see this man other than on Wednesdays?” Sadie asked.

“Just at church a few times, but nothing consistent.”

“He goes to your church?” Sadie asked, remembering what Tess had said about Dr. Hendricks’s having attended church before he disappeared. The look she shared with Caro confirmed that they were thinking the same thing. “Here in Pine Valley?”

“Have you gals not taken a tour of the Pine Valley Chapel? It’s one of the main attractions in Pine Valley. The architect was a shipbuilder and basically built the church like an inverted boat. It’s more than a hundred fifty years old and still tight as a drum.”

“Is it a Mormon church, then?” Sadie asked, feeling bad for sticking to the main topic but needing to make sure she had a clear understanding.

“Oh, yeah, the Mormon church.” Robert seemed a little embarrassed to have automatically assumed they knew that. “I’m in the bishopric—that’s the clergy—so I sit at the front of the chapel. I’ve seen him slip in a few times, always after the meeting started. He sits on the very back row, if there’s room, or stands against the wall. Then leaves during the closing song. I tried to catch him once, but I think it scared him off. When he showed up to work the next week I told him I wouldn’t do that again but I hoped he’d come back. He did, which I was glad to see.”

Sadie made eye contact with Caro and knew she was thinking the same thing Sadie was: Wednesday Man had to be Dr. Hendricks. He was here, hiding out, living this odd life as a transient of some kind. Why? What had motivated him to create this elaborate hoax?

“He didn’t come in yesterday, though,” Robert said, causing both Caro and Sadie to look back at him.

“He didn’t?” Caro repeated.

Robert shook his head. “First time in two months that he wasn’t waiting for me when I opened.”

Caro’s phone rang. “Sorry,” she said as she hurried to send the call to voice mail.

“We’d really like to talk to him—do you know where he’s staying?”

“I think he’s camping up Lloyd Canyon.”

“Camping?” Sadie repeated. “The housekeeper at the motel thought he might be staying somewhere with a shower. Said he was always clean.”

“He could be staying in one of the cabins, but you’d think someone who could afford a cabin could afford food.” Robert paused and made a face. “I hope he isn’t squatting up there. I’d hate to see him in trouble with the law, but that’s something I couldn’t keep to myself.”

Sadie appreciated the warning not to tell this man something he would feel morally bound to report. Could Dr. Hendricks have somehow rented a cabin without the police tracking the payment? Maybe he’d disguised the payment as something else in his financial records. But if he’d planned all of this well enough to have hidden the plans, why hadn’t he accounted for the fact that he would need food? Frustration over the growing number of questions began creeping in until Sadie remembered that this could be Dr. Hendricks! She and Caro may very well have found him. The rising questions were insignificant compared to the impact of what they had pieced together this morning.

“Showered or not, he struck me as someone camping out. He always has the same clothes on.”

Goth Girl had said that, too.

“Why do you think he’s camping in—what did you call it?—Lloyd Canyon?”

“We talked about him in a church meeting once, people trying to figure out who he was and if he needed any help. A man at church who lives on Lloyd Canyon Road said he’d seen him around—just walking, not causing any trouble—so I figured he must be staying up there.”

Caro’s phone rang a second time, and she quickly declined the call and apologized again. “I’ll turn it off, sorry.”

“He didn’t tell you his name?” Sadie asked. “Didn’t make small talk or indicate why he was here?”

Robert shook his head. “I tried once or twice to talk to him, but he wasn’t open to it, and I worried about scaring him off, so I didn’t push. You said he might be a friend of yours?” His curiosity was setting in. Unfortunately, Sadie didn’t feel ready to give him too much information.

Robert seemed to sense her hesitation, and he smiled good-naturedly. “I’m not trying to be pushy. I just hope he’s okay. I worried when he didn’t come in yesterday.”

“Can you direct us toward Lloyd Canyon?”

“Sure,” Robert said, pointing over his shoulder. “Opposite end of town, past the church. You really should stop in for a tour when you have a few minutes. Fascinating history, that church.”