Total pages in book: 114
Estimated words: 108849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 108849 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 544(@200wpm)___ 435(@250wpm)___ 363(@300wpm)
“How did they meet?” Norrs asked.
Huck didn’t have many details. His dad wasn’t exactly one to wax on about anything. “I think river rafting. My dad was a guide on weekends to make extra money in the summers, and I believe he said that a group she was in had rented the rafts.”
“What group?” Wright asked.
Those kinds of details would have been irrelevant to his father. “I have absolutely no idea,” Huck said.
“You’re telling me that this woman abandoned you, and yet your father still gave you her name as your middle name? Huck Delta Rivers?” Norrs asked smoothly.
Huck grinned. “I think he figured I might want to take a part of her through life since I wouldn’t have her with me. But you should also know that Huck comes from his dog Huckleberry, who died before I was born. So maybe my dad just had trouble thinking up names.”
Wright crossed his arms. “Being abandoned like that, you must feel rage or anger toward her.”
Huck lifted his shoulders. “Not really. She didn’t actually exist in my mind, you know? My dad told me about her, and that was it. She was a fleeting thought.” He didn’t know how to explain it. “My upbringing was fine, and I wondered once in a while about her, but that’s as far as it went. We all make our choices in life, and she made hers.”
Norrs leaned forward. “So when she was no longer just a thought, when she showed up in your town, how did that make you feel?”
It was a good question, and Huck could see where Norrs wanted to go with it. “Considering she was dead when I saw her for the first time, it felt weird,” Huck admitted.
“It’s our understanding that you recognized her immediately,” Wright pushed.
Huck nodded. “I did. I’d seen pictures, of course, but it’s been more than three decades. She didn’t age much.” He hadn’t really thought about it. “There were definitely wrinkles and some changes, but I recognized her,” he said. “Then I figured I was wrong, because why would she be here? If she were here, why didn’t she call me or at least try to meet up?”
Norrs took a notebook out of his jacket pocket and started scribbling on the paper. “You’re telling us that she did not contact you in any way?”
Huck shook his head. “You can dump my phone. I know you’re probably already dumping the office phones. If she called me, we did not connect. I get a lot of spam callers, and if I don’t recognize the number, I don’t pick up.” That was pretty common in law enforcement as far as he knew. “If she’d ever left a message, we’d have something to talk about. But my guess is she didn’t call me.” Why hadn’t she? Yeah, he wished she had called him. He couldn’t help but be curious about her.
“How do you know that she didn’t try to contact you?” Norrs asked.
Huck shrugged. “Fish and Wildlife has been in the news quite a bit lately in connection with the different serial killer cases in Washington State. If she wanted to get ahold of me, she could’ve found me easily.” He had to wonder what she was doing in town and why she hadn’t reached out. Did she still have friends in the vicinity? If so, nobody had ever mentioned that fact to him.
Norrs looked down at his papers. “Where were you the night Delta Rivers was murdered?”
“I was home,” Huck said. “Well, after a search of the farming district for a poacher who shot too close to residences.”
Wright scratched at a scab on his chin. “You were called in to search for a poacher?”
“Yes,” Huck said. “There are several residences over in the farming land. One called in a report that somebody was trying to shoot deer way too close to their house.”
“Did you catch the person?” Wright asked.
Huck shook his head. “No. I took the report and searched, but we didn’t find anybody. You can check the call-in logs and you can interview the people I spoke with. A nice family named the Martinellis.”
Norrs shifted. “Did you find evidence of possible poaching?
“Yes. I spoke with the Martinellis, and somebody definitely shot too close to their house. They hit the siding, in fact. Feel free to talk to them.” He cracked his neck. “In addition, I took pictures and documented the scene. You can review the entire case file at your leisure.”
“We definitely will,” Wright said. “You could’ve been the poacher, right? I mean, if you wanted to set up an alibi, that’s an easy one.”
Huck frowned. “I wouldn’t shoot close to a house like that.”
Wright snorted. “Do you have a burner phone?”
“No.”
Wright scratched beneath his left eye. “Okay, Captain. Now we’re going to sit here and you’re going to recount every minute of your past week.”