You Can't Run by Hope Davis (best way to read books .txt) 📗

“Our land transfer records.”

All the papers were scans of old documents and were handwritten, in cursive. “There aren’t typed versions?” She asked, knowing there probably weren’t if they had been given these. She had dealt with handwritten property transfer records in La Junta  but that was a much smaller area, and a much less technologically savvy operation. She expected Denver to be more advanced with everything she had seen so far. And well, this stack seemed, huge.

“Not for the area we’re looking into. That area hasn’t really been of interest to the government ever. And they had a scribe working to type everything still handwritten up, but unfortunately, they were cut years ago due to budget. Didn’t seem necessary to the officials.”

“Until now.” She grumbled as she grabbed a stack. Land transfer records were often written in a difficult to understand shorthand. “What quadrant am I looking for?”

Atlas checked something on his phone and scribbled down three different 16-digit identifiers.

“It’s one of these three. The grid has been reassigned a few times.”

“Of course.” Naya stood and headed towards the door. “Want another coffee before we start?”

 “Please.”

They looked through the old property documents for the rest of the day, flagging entries as they pertained and putting them aside. After hours of cross referencing and elimination, they finally narrowed it down to three potential owners. Atlas grabbed his laptop from his desk and brought it in the room, and they used it to pull up the DMV database. The first result was the farmer who had found the body, Benjamin Rodgers. The other two were also farmers in the area, but no one either of the detectives were familiar with.

Atlas checked his watch. “It’s only five, lets head out there and see if we can get some interviews in?”

“Sounds good.” Naya grabbed her jacket, thankful that today was a day Derek was around, so she didn’t have to worry about her brother too much. It was also Friday and she figured one or more of Vance’s friends would come over to hang out after they got off work, so he wouldn’t be alone even if she stayed late.

They hopped into the car, Naya in the passenger side, like usual.

“I’m surprised.” Atlas said without elaborating.

Naya waited a minute but eventually she asked, “At?”

“The sheriff never asks to drive.”

She smiled at his tone. “Less liability. I haven’t ever used the fancy driving skills they teach at the academy. La Junta was so small and the area around it so barren, you could run, but you literally couldn’t hide.” She joked. “But really, most of the cases I had were mind games. They weren’t about finding a needle in a haystack, they were about who wasn’t who they pretended to be.”

“That makes sense, I suppose.” They turned from the main highway onto the same empty stretch of road as before.

This time when she surveyed the landscape she felt a small pang of homesickness.  She should call and update her parents, she hadn’t been here that long, but it was weird to not see them every weekend. She had seen them every Sunday for dinner for the past twenty-nine years, excluding when she had been in the academy, so to go two weeks was a long time.

He phone buzzed and she glanced down to see a text from Kevin. Without her permission, her face broke out into a huge grin.

“That one of the husbands?” Atlas asked, clearly noticing the change.

“Maybe.” She joked as they turned off the single-lane cement road and onto a dirt one which abruptly ended as they came up to a farmhouse. At least this one looked like it was regularly kept up unlike the abandoned one from the night before.

By the time they stepped out of the truck, Benjamin Rodgers had come out and was standing on the porch with a beer in his hand eyeing them.

“Hey Ben!” Atlas called out in a friendly tone. Naya could see he was trying to start things off lighthearted instead of confrontationally, and she couldn’t agree more.

“Ah detectives.” Ben lifted his beer to them. “Can I get you two a cold one?”

Naya shook her head. “Afraid we’re on the clock Ben.”

He smiled sadly. “I was afraid of that. Everything okay?”

Atlas pulled a map out of his pocket that Naya hadn’t even seen him slip in there, it was map of the area almost identical to the one they had on the whiteboard. The only difference was that on this one, only the places where the bodies were found had been circled.

“I’m afraid not. I’m not sure if you’ve seen the news, but we found another body.”

“Jesus,” He muttered, taking a long pull from his beer. “You think it was the same person?”

“There are some similarities in the case.” Atlas said noncommittally, as he laid the map on the porch railing and Ben came to stand next to him. “You see here is where you found that young girl. And we found another woman here,” He pointed to the circle, “Last night. But here’s our problem. Whose land is this here?” Atlas gestured to the area encompassing both circles.

Ben held out his hand. “May I?”

Atlas lifted his hand off the map so Ben could bring the it closer to his face. “This one’s a toughie. You see, I’m the only active farmer around here anymore. Most of the other guys have died or given up and moved away to the city for an easier life. There just isn’t much demand for home grown wheat anymore.” He moved the map a bit before holding it up to the lone, bare porch light. “You see here,” he drew an imaginary line down the map. “This is where my land ends. Where you found that second woman, well that was old Dave’s plot.