The Vanishing at Opal Creek by D.D. Black

Author:D.D. Black [Black, D.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Darkness and Light Publishing
Published: 2024-09-29T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Two hours later, what could only be described as a motley crew sat in the conference room of the Marion County Sheriff’s Department, staring up at the screen on the wall. Lucy had filled Austin in on the video Adams had shown her and Sheriff Barker, but he was still shocked by it—both by how boring it was and by what it seemed to prove.

Sitting next to Adams, Lucy kept her eye on Justin Jones, who had calmed down significantly and had been released from the cuffs with Adams’ okay. In fact, Adams had insisted that he wasn’t going to press charges. He just wanted the whole mess to be over so his show could move forward. And, as he kept pointing out, he now had a great story to tell his kids.

Unless the video was doctored, which was always an option, it showed that Jones had been in town and at the bar until around noon on the day that David Dierdrick Zwart died. When Lucy flipped off the television and the screen went blank, they all sat in silence for a long moment.

“Is there any way,” Adams said, breaking the quiet, “that we can just put this behind us? I know you all are just doing your jobs, but this was a tragic accident.”

Adams didn’t know what Austin had seen in the garage, didn’t know that Jones had tried to burn it to the ground. And Austin wasn’t about to share that information. “Sheriff Barker, my suggestion is that we send Marty Adams on his way and have a little chat with Mr. Jones.”

Barker nodded and stood, then ushered Adams out, returning to his seat a moment later. “He insists he’s not going to press charges for the assault,” Barker said, turning to Jones. “Lucky for you, Justin.”

Jones shrugged. “Done enough time. It wouldn’t matter to me one way or another.” Then his face grew serious, and Austin could almost hear him thinking. But he didn’t say anything.

Rarely had so much contradictory evidence regarding a single suspect emerged in the span of an afternoon. It struck Austin that while Lucy and Sheriff Barker had been watching the footage that supposedly cleared Jones, Austin had been discovering evidence that Jones had been monitoring the entire television crew and all the cast members.

Jones folded his arms defiantly, but his words came out like an explanation. “You’re going to want to know what all that stuff in the garage was, and why I tried to burn it down.”

“That is the understatement of the year,” Sheriff Barker said.

Austin had filled him in on his pursuit of Jones, and Barker had sent two uniformed officers to the site to investigate further and lock down the crime scene.

Barker held his phone up to Jones, showing him a series of photographs the officers had texted him in the last few minutes—preliminary evidence, pending a full cataloging, but enough to make Jones wince.

“First of all,” Jones said, “that video was accurate. I passed out drunk that night, like I often do.

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