“He could find a way.”
“That might be true,” Francesca conceded, “but…Dean doesn’t seem that resourceful.”
Finch heard her. “He doesn’t? He can pick any lock in existence. If that’s not resourceful, I don’t know what is. Anyway, it’s been a long day, I’m exhausted, and now I’m sorry I took the time to notify you. I thought we’d finally be on the same page, but… Never mind. I have to go. I’ve got a lot still to do.”
“Wait a second.” Jonah stopped him before he could hang up. “You said there was blood in the freezer.”
“That’s right.”
“So where did you find the remains?”
“Same place we found Dean. At a cabin in the Juniper Mountains.”
Jonah’s eyes met Francesca’s. “The Schultz cabin?”
A shocked silence followed, then Finch asked, “How do you know about the Schultz cabin?”
“I hired a security guard to watch the salvage yard last night. He saw Butch put a black garbage bag filled with something in the back of his truck. He drove it up to that cabin. When he came home, the bag was gone. I was there all day, looking for it.”
“Why is this the first time I’m hearing about it?” Finch demanded.
“Because you haven’t been returning our calls, for one!”
Finch cursed. “I don’t know why I’m getting upset. It doesn’t matter. That business about Butch driving to the cabin doesn’t necessarily mean anything.”
“Are you kidding?” Jonah said. “Why would Butch drive a black garbage bag into the Juniper Mountains in the middle of the night?”
“Because he was looking for Dean.”
“And the black bag?”
“Could’ve been garbage. That’s what black bags are generally used for. Wait until you see some of the other stuff we uncovered on the property. Most of it can be attributed to Dean, like a notebook full of macabre drawings of skeletons and cadavers. Dean’s fascinated with death.”
News of the drawings, which fit so closely with what her father had relayed, made Francesca question whether they were just being obstinate in thinking it had to be Butch.
“Tell me about the remains,” Jonah said. “What were they in? Where were they found?”
“They were in the cellar, in a black bag, but that doesn’t mean it’s the same bag your guy saw in Butch’s truck,” he was quick to explain.
“You have to admit it’s a major coincidence,” Jonah insisted.
“I’ll give you that much. But black bags are so common that one coincidence isn’t enough to override all the other evidence.”
“The drawings?”
“And the letters. And Butch’s testimony about his brother-in-law spending a lot of time where we found the freezer. And Francesca’s testimony about him breaking into her house. We also have his computer. Once we go through his files, who knows what we’ll find?”
“I hope you’re right.”
“You don’t sound like you hope anything of the sort. You already have your mind made up about Butch. Even though we found the remains in the cellar.”
“So?”
“Did you check the cabin? Was it locked?”
“Yes.”
“If it was Butch who put that bag there, how could he have gotten in? Dean’s the one who can pick any lock in existence. He even had a set of lock picks on him. That, if anything, should put your mind at ease. If Butch was the one who took those remains up there, he would’ve found the cabin locked up, just like you did.”
“Unless he’s the one who locked it in the first place,” Francesca said.
“Oh, come on,” Finch snapped. “That cabin’s a vacation rental. How would Butch have a key? Dean’s got to be our man.”
“Possibly.” Jonah sounded unconvinced, and Francesca felt equally torn.
“Hang on a sec,” Finch said. “Hunsacker’s trying to talk to me.”
They heard voices but couldn’t make out any words until Finch came back on the line. “Dean just confessed.”
“To what, exactly?” Francesca asked.
“To killing Julia,” Finch replied. “He admits it was her remains in that freezer.”
“Did he also confess to the other murders?” Jonah wanted to know.
Finch checked with Hunsacker again. “Not yet. But we’ll get him on those, too. We have plenty of time. I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” he said, and hung up.
Francesca watched Jonah hit the end button and toss his phone on the desk. “They have letters, a bloody freezer, human remains. They even have a confession.”
“Then it must be Dean.”
He nodded. “Has to be.”
So why couldn’t she accept that? Why did she feel so apprehensive?
Because she was a skeptic. And she’d always had a hard time admitting she was wrong. “So we can relax, let Finch and Hunsacker finish up.”
Jonah framed her face with his hands. “Why not? Last I heard we were kicked off the case. And I have the only woman I’ve ever really loved right here.”
She smiled at his statement but, just in case they were doing Jill and Vince a disservice, she had to voice her concerns. “He could’ve figured out a way to move April’s body. He might be mentally ill, but that doesn’t mean he can’t overcome obstacles.”
Tilting up her chin, he kissed her lightly on the lips. “I can’t argue with you there.”
“It’s interesting that Butch is the one who turned him in, though.”
Another kiss, this one deeper, told her he preferred to be distracted. “According to Finch, he didn’t believe his brother-in-law was guilty until they found the blood.”
That made sense, but… She put her hands on his chest to stop him so she could think clearly. “What about that line, the one that was repeated so often in Dean’s letters?”
Jonah hadn’t read the letters, but she’d told him about them while they were on the phone. “‘I wish I could’ve protected you from Butch’?”
She could feel the beat of his heart through his shirt and relished the freedom to touch him again. Although she and Jonah hadn’t discussed the future, she knew he’d be part of hers, that what had happened here would change their lives. The details would be difficult to share with Adriana. But she didn’t want to think about the moment when she’d have to come face-to-face with the reason they’d been apart. She had Jonah with her now. That was all that mattered. “You remember it word for word, which means you think it’s significant, too.”